Tolerance is a virtue

International Peace Convoys, a campaign organised by the Muslim Council of Elders and chaired by Dr. Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar and Chairman of the Council, has sent convoys to Germany and Spain to promote Islam's message of peace, coexistence and rejection of violence.

The campaign is aimed at projecting true Islam which rejects the extremist, violent and terrorist acts of extremist organisations like ISIL (Dae'sh).

Other two convoys already in Pakistan and Indonesia continued to promote the Council's message of peace and tolerance as part of the second phase of the campaign.

In Munster City, Germany, the campaign's convoy met with officials from Pax Christi International, a global peace movement with an active network in more than 50 countries and five continents.

During the meeting, official of Pax Christi stressed that they are ready to fully cooperate with the Muslim Council of Elders to achieve its goals to serve humanity. The members of the convoy explained that the Council's mission and responsibility are to promote the culture of tolerance and peace.

In Munster, the convoy also visited the Centre for Religious Studies, AFAQ e.V., a community organisation, to discuss peace, ways of confronting extremism and terrorism and protecting the Muslim youth in western countries from erroneous extremist ideology and raising awareness about the danger of takfiri group.

The convoy members organised other meetings, an iftar feast and a lecture to stress that Muslims should first protect their bodies, money and time and reject self-inflicted violence as well as violence against others.

In the German city of Osnabruck, the convoy met with members of the Muslim community. A member of the group lectured a group of people on the fact that Islam wants people to achieve inner peace to promote peace with others, where one of God's Divine Names,"As-Salam" (in Arabic) means the source of peace, safety and perfection.

While in Madrid, Spain, the second convoy met with members of the Community of Sant'Egidio, and visited the Mezquita AbuBakr mosque, also known as Abu-Bakr Mosque or Madrid Central Mosque, the seat of the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain (UCIDE).

In Seville City, the capital of southern Spain’s Andalusia region, the convoy organised a lecture at the University of Seville on the message of peace in Islam. The lecturer highlighted that Islam protects and promotes freedom of belief as a basic human right, both in time of peace and in time of war.

The convoy also visited Valencia City where a member delivered Friday sermon (khutba) and a lecture at the Islamic Cultural Centre.

In Pakistan, a convoy from the second phase of the effort continued to promote the Muslim Council of Elders and visited the Egyptian Embassy. The Egyptian ambassador showed full cooperation and support for the convoy, including arranging press meetings and an interview with Express News TV channel.  –End-

Image by: en.wikipedia.org