CAIRO, Feb 18 (MENA) - Grand Imam of Al Azhar Ahmed el Tayeb left here Tuesday heading for Bahrain to partake in the activities of the Intra-Islamic Dialogue Conference, set to open Wednesday.

The gathering holds the slogan “One Nation, One shared Destiny,” and is to be held under the patronage of Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. It is organized by Al Azhar Al-Sharif, the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA) in Bahrain and the Muslim Council of Elders, with the participation of a cluster of more than 400 scholars, religious leaders, Islamic thinkers and intellectuals from different parts of the world.

The conference aims to strengthen cooperation among Islamic countries and Muslim unity.

The grand imam of Al Azhar is scheduled to meet - on the sidelines of his visit to the Bahrain kingdom with King Hamad and a number of Bahraini officials and scholars participating in the conference.

The gathering also aims at achieving rapprochement among institutions and scholars from various schools of Islamic thought.

The grand imam is scheduled to deliver a speech during the opening of the event, highlighting the necessity of the Islamic world’s unity to face up to contemporary challenges.

The gathering aims at establishing a mechanism for permanent scientific dialogue at the level of Islamic scholars and authorities in the Muslim world.

It would also shed light on the shared commonalities and broad areas of agreement among Muslims who are followers of different schools of Fiqh.

Enhancing the role of scholars and religious authorities in bridging the rift between different religious sects and rejecting hate speech and promoting mutual understanding and respect will also figure high on the gathering's agenda. (MENA)

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