The Norwegian Bridge Builder Award Committee awarded His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin AbdulKarim Al-Issa, Secretary-General of the Muslim world league and Chairman of the Muslim Scholars Association, its 2021 World Award, and the Oslo-based Award Committee confirmed that His Excellency had done an extraordinary job of bridging the relationship between followers of religions and civilizations with a remarkable and tangible contribution, as a leading global force for peace and harmony between nations and religions, and to combat extremist ideologies.
In a ceremony hosted by the Opera Hall in the Norwegian capital, His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Al-Issa received the award, along with the World Council of Churches in Geneva, and Rabbi Miguel Malkir, amid the large presence of international political, national and parliamentary leaders, heads of major international organizations, a wide range of leaders of Norwegian religious and community diversity, as well as the participation of the Former Prime Minister of Norway, who moderated the dialogue at the award ceremony, Mr. Kjell Bondevik, President of the Dialogue for Peace Foundation, Mr. Amer Sheikh, and winner of the Award for Building the Building of The Peace Prize. Bridges for the past year, Dr. Tedros Gebresos, Director-General of the World Health Organization and Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Mr. Jagan Shabagan.
While Dr. Mohamed Al-Issa received congratulations from a number of Norwegian and European officials, the award committee described His Excellency as a leading global force in moderation and combating extremist ideologies, and a clear and distinct voice for peace and cooperation between nations and religions, stressing that “honoring is a recognition and encouragement to continue great efforts to promote tolerance, respect and love”.
the committee said at a ceremony honoring His Excellency. “This is the first time that the Norwegian capital has witnessed a meeting of high-level representatives of Islam, Judaism and Christianity to highlight respect and tolerance among themselves, and to express a clear ambition for greater interfaith cooperation”.
In his speech after receiving the award, His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin AbdulKarim Al-Issa explained that talking about “building bridges” is a talk about the active participation of the peace industry, stressing that construction means actual work, and that the presence of bridges means opening the way to achieve the construction, and then comes religious and intellectual awareness as well as community, civilization and political to cross these bridges in order to reach safety, where the gate of understanding and cooperation, to reach the peace of our world and the harmony of our national societies around the world.
His Excellency stressed that the alternative to bridges is the interruption and gap, which caused the clash of civilizations, whether between religions, cultures, even policies, economies, and even humanitarian actions, some of which have been distorted through selective distribution, or the pursuit of special interests behind them, stressing that there is nothing worse than providing assistance to those in need in order to achieve sectarian or political interests, or any other inhuman objectives.
The Secretary-General of the league of the Islamic World reiterated the warning of unfairness in the distribution of the Covid 19 vaccine, saying: “It is a shame that the rich are affected and the poor become in the face of the pain of poverty, the pain of disease, the pain of cruelty of disregard and injustice, and just as the disease does not differentiate between anyone, treatment must not differentiate between anyone”.
On the religious, cultural, political and other gaps that cause conflict and clash, Dr. Al-Issa said, “Our distance from each other will build walls of fear, suspicion and misunderstanding, and this will result in many of us feeling spontaneous anxiety from the other, then hatred, then conflict, and this is what has already happened with regret”.
His Excellency called for effective dialogue that answers all questions with transparency and clarity, and effectively addresses problems, not formal dialogue or courtesy dialogue, as well as solidarity among followers of religions and civilizations in the face of the exchange of accusations and misperceptions, and in the face of hate speech, particularly the discourse of the trial of history, as well as in the face of acts of violence and terrorism.
His Excellency continued: The choice of the wise before the painful chapters of history is to look forward, tolerance and coexistence with love and cooperation, as well as to be aware that history is calculated on its owners and not on those who came after them, mistakes and even historical crimes cannot be inherited, and we Muslims have a Qur’anic verse in which God says: ” That was a people that hath passed away. They shall reap the fruit of what they did, and ye of what ye do! Of their merits there is no question in your case.”
Adding: “What is better is that everyone has a real and effective awareness that the difference and pluralism between human beings is the nature of this diverse life, and that there is absolutely no justification for hatred and exclusion for the sake of different religion and culture, or even politics, or otherwise, otherwise we will decide not to live on our planet in peace”.
Dr. Al-Issa criticized “some” right-wing or left-wing extremism, which resulted in the distortion of the image of national poles, the division between them and the abuse of the image of the media lined negatively, while at the same time blaming exclusion for the emergence of religious, sectarian and ethnic racism, as well as marginalizing the role of women who are a key factor in the prosperity of societies, which were able to be a wonderful inspiration with their words and actions, adding in this context” if God had not honored us with the grace of women who are our first incubator, and the first teacher and inspiration For us, today we wouldn’t be here celebrating our awareness of building bridges!”
And his Excellency returned to call for real peace, and said: “We want a sincere and sustainable peace, made by the true will of peace, a peace that embraces history”. stressing that “this peace can only be when it comes from the depths of the soul with its sincerity, purity and love for all.
He explained that sincere love in its comprehensive sense is the greatest peacemaker, stressing in this context the responsibility of the family and education, from childhood to the early stages of youth, which requires focusing the educational process on teaching shared values in an interactive way, pointing out that the world learned how to manufacture weapons of mass destruction but did not learn values.
The Bridge Builder Award has been awarded over several years to a number of world’s most prominent figures, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, King of Norway, Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and current Director-General of the World Health Organization, and over the past years the annual handover ceremony of the award is attended by the royal family, the Prime Minister of Norway, and a number of ministers and parliamentarians.
The winners were announced from the Nobel Peace Center headquarters and published on their website.
