The Muslim Council of Elders pavilion at the Iraq International Book Fair hosted a seminar entitled “Religious Education and the Imperative of Intra-Islamic Dialogue: Toward an Awareness that Unites the Ummah Rather than Divides It” featuring Dr. Salahuddin Al-Samarrai, Dean of the Faculty of Imam Al-A’zam University, and Dr. Samir Boudinar, Director of Al Hokama Center for Peace Research.
Dr. Samir Boudinar opened by stating that this event is part of a series of intellectual activities aimed at addressing one of the most critical issues facing the Ummah today: Muslim unity and confronting manifestations of intellectual and sectarian estrangement. He emphasized that religious education is not merely a knowledge curriculum but roots that extend deep into identity and shape how generations understand their heritage.
For his part, Dr. Salahuddin Al-Samarrai expressed appreciation for the efforts of the Muslim Council of Elders, under the chairmanship of His Eminence Prof. Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in strengthening dialogue among the components of the Islamic Ummah. He noted that education constitutes a primary pillar both in raising awareness of its importance and in combating discourses of division, hatred, and fanaticism.
He added that religious education and legitimate institutions form a fundamental axis in building the awareness of the Ummah’s children—not only at the level of academic specialization for scholars and students, but also for society as a whole, which needs an open religious vision. Religious education carries a great mission yet can be highly dangerous if poorly presented or superficially understood. Legal texts are vast, interpretive approaches are numerous, and educational institutions must therefore offer precise curricula that present religion in a rigorous scholarly language.
Dr. Al-Samarrai further explained that when proper understanding of texts is absent, knowledge can become a gateway to closed-mindedness or extremism. It is therefore essential to develop balanced, conscious curricula that encompass both religious sciences and contemporary knowledge. He praised the Al-Azhar model, which teaches natural sciences and astronomy alongside fiqh, the Qur’an, and Hadith, stressing that the religious scholar must be acquainted with the laws of the universe addressed by religion. He also pointed out that the Qur’an itself establishes the principle of natural and divinely ordained human difference, and that multiplicity in understanding and ijtihad is not evidence of contradiction but a space for enrichment when managed wisely. The Ummah was never built upon a single opinion but upon diverse views.
The Muslim Council of Elders is participating in the Iraq International Book Fair as part of its mission to promote peace, entrench the values of dialogue and tolerance, and build bridges of cooperation among humankind regardless of all races and creeds. The Council’s pavilion is located at the Baghdad International Fairground, Pavilion 16 – H6.