Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, President of Al-Azhar University, criticized what he called the role played by the Vatican in the continuous attack on Islam and the Muslims, and its efforts to destabilize the roots of the Islamic civilization. Al-Tayeb said yesterday, in a press conference held on the occasion of the Global Meeting of Al-Azhar Graduates: "When we are dealing with the West, we find the ‘Religious’ West, represented by the Vatican, and the ‘Secular West’, and "both share a common aim of undermining Islam and destabilizing the roots of the Islamic civilization". He also criticized the Islamic dialogue conferences, describing them as similar to ‘courtesy and public meetings’, which makes obvious the reason behind its poor outcomes.
He called on the need for Muslims to take advantage of their Islamic intellectual assets, and for its better use through a well-organized Islamic speech, saying: "We should utilize this asset, rather than the policy of ‘loud voices’, which dominates the language of religious discourse nowadays.