Heads of Hajj Organization of Islamic Countries met upon the invitation of the President of Religious Affairs Prof. Dr. Ali Erbaş in the program of exchanging Eid greetings.

Speaking in the program hosted by the Religious Affairs, the President of Religious Affairs Erbaş said Eid Mubarak and Hajj Mubarak to the guests and continued, “I express my pleasure to be with you in this city where Islam was born, and I express my gratitude for your participation in our invitation and greet you all with respect and affection.”

The President Erbaş stated that hajj is a great worship which incorporates the basic principles of Islamic thought and Muslim life by through the meaning of each of its part, and further said, “It is a school that teaches us the basic principles and values of Islam, the existence, the purpose of creation, the consciousness of servitude, humanitarian values, good morality both theoretically and practically.”

Stating that hajj is a congress of the brotherhood of Muslims and a worship in which universal consciousness is experienced, the President Erbaş said, “In this respect, hajj is the declaration of the ummah consciousness to the world. Here we are like members of a family with our brothers and sisters from all over the world. We observe here that the differences in languages and colours are related to Allah's verses.”

Emphasising that Allah has made all Muslims brothers with a divine decree, the President Erbaş said, “His Prophet Muhammad Mustafa likened Muslims to the organs of a body and He said that all believers will feel the pain and grief of a believer. He stated that a Muslim who does not want his brother or sister to have what he wants for himself cannot be a perfect believer. Therefore, we should be sensitive to each other like the organs of a body, connected to each other like the bricks of a building and side by side like the teeth of a comb.”

“We must fight against the Islamophobia industry”

Pointing out that Muslims have two great universal principles and morals in the name of faith, morality and the future, the President Erbaş, continued:

“The first is the tawhid that they meet in worship to Allah. The second is the morality of unity they meet in brotherhood. The only way Muslims can build a better life and a future is to render these two principles dominant. As a matter of fact, the situation of the Islamic world, which is under the siege of enormous crises in social, cultural, political and economic terms, shows the importance of these principles. Therefore, we, who are obliged to reintegrate the principles of right, law, mercy and compassion of our supreme religion, Islam, have important responsibilities. In this context, we must fight against the Islamophobia industry which has dirty interests and racism behind tries to portray Islam as an ideology that nurtures violence and terror, as an anti-Islamic project.”

“We must take actions against the activities carried out against believers to lose their unity and strength.”

The President Erbaş called for fighting together against structures benefiting from exploiting religion and establishing a terrorist organization and said, “We must fight against terrorist organizations that exploit the most sacred values and concepts of our faith, terrorize in the name of Islam, ruin Muslim regions, and do the greatest evil to our religion of peace and well-being, our unity and solidarity. In addition, we must take actions against the activities carried out for the disintegration of the believers and the loss of their unity and strength by producing sedition and fights over ethnic differences, denominational and spiritual differences which are conducive to mercy and easiness.”

“When we strengthen the solidarity and cooperation among us, many problems in our geography will be solved easily.”

Underlining that the processes that the Islamic world is going through today make it more important for Muslims to come together more and consolidate their unity and solidarity, the President Erbaş concluded that:

“When we, as Muslim ummah, strengthen the solidarity and cooperation among us, and when we improve our joint works by combining our opportunities, many problems in our geography will be able to be solved easily. For that reason, we should be in a closer relationship as religious institutions and organizations of Muslim countries and communities. We should improve our work, such as sharing our experiences, developing cooperation in the field of religious service and education, and producing joint solutions to current religious issues.

With these feelings and thoughts, I say again Eid al-Adha Mubarak to you and all of our brothers and sisters in your countries, and I supplicate Allah Almighty that our pilgrims here return to their countries healthy and secure.”