On April 1 and 2, 2019, in Hovburg - Vienna, the World Grandfather, His Grace Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj, participated in the conference: "Additional meeting of the human dimension" - respecting the principles of tolerance and non-discrimination, including promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief.
Full speech of the World Leader:
Principles of tolerance and non-discrimination, including the promotion of freedom of religion and belief
Bismilahi, Rrahmani, Rrahim!
In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful!
Dear organizers of this conference!
Thousand brothers, representatives of religions in Albania! It is a special pleasure to participate in this event and let me congratulate and bless you on the qualities of the Bektashi World Leader as well as millions of believers around the world: Good luck and prosperity to your families! May the Most High God reward you for the devotion you confess to him!
The principles of religious tolerance have been embedded since the birth years of Islam, through those dark ages where ignorance was extended to human souls. A religion or belief cannot be born and developed without having in its embryo, the embryo of religious coexistence, that of communicating with the heart to everyone, regardless of race, color or ethnicity. This is not the place to make history, but Muslim historiography, and not only, has long evidenced the miraculous behavior of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) towards his enemies, on the day he entered Mecca as a liberator. He overcame within himself any sense of revenge, inviting his followers to outline the great forms of Islamic universal mercy. But even in the years that followed, even after severe physical and doctrinal attacks, the idea of religious tolerance nurtured Islamic followers in all the countries where they represented this religion, where they tended to be educated in this divine spirit. Even if you consider the religious contexts in the first centuries of the birth of Islam, I think I remind you today of the wonderful expression of our Prophet, who commands opponents: “We will make it possible for them to see the signs. our horizons and within themselves, to the extent that it becomes clear to them that it (the Qur'an) is true. Is it not enough that your Lord is Witness over all things? (Qur'an, Fussilet: 53).
Although our fate, as Albanians, has gone through the Balkan riots and beyond, we can at least be proud of the spirit of tolerance between religions. This act, of course, is the will of God, but it is worth not forgetting for a moment that the clergy and places of worship, mosques, churches, tekkes or others, with that proverbial compassion for the Homeland, have been able to educate whole generations of believers with devotion unwavering towards the Creator.
It is this devotion that has filled our hearts with the love for the brother we have on our side, and in many cases we have even found great inspiration within the religious family, adding relevant values to the biological family itself.
The Bektashi tariqat to which I belong, from the eight centuries of its birth and development, from Asia to Europe to the United States of America and Canada, they resemble a wide and majestic river, which in the depths of its waters, holds the pearls of love for the Creator, the Homeland, the family and the most precious human morality. Fed with reverence for the essence of the goodness found in every human being, we have always perceived sin as his enemy, while the sinner as a wing-broken bird in the storm, seeking not mere mercy but also help to escape. Our motto in this context, have been and remain the famous verses of Xhelaludin Rumiu, who says:
Come on! Come on! Whoever you are, come again!
Unbeliever, fire-worshiper or idolater if you are!
Our seat of Islam is not a nest of pessimism!
You have broken your repentance a hundred times, come again!
When diversity is valued as an element of dialogue, then the religious mosaic is filled with light and in the face of this light every satanic spirit is blinded. Only in this sense we will make it possible to promote the fundamental freedoms of religion and belief. The inner unity embodied with so much effort and sacrifice within every religion or belief, philosophy and doctrines that guide us, we are worth considering as an existential spirit for their harmony, but never as a phenomenon that strengthens us to "jump ”In attacking other religious communities!
We have been and remain sons of one God. Let me remind you of the precious saying of Pope John Paul II in 1982 in Nigeria: “We worship God and declare complete submission to Him. In this sense, we can call each other brothers and sisters because of our belief in one God. ” I believe that our religious solidarity and brotherhood will remain not just a unifying philosophy, but a holy spirit, a guide to action, a reality that is worth caring for all. The times we are going through, the recent events in New Zealand or the Netherlands, make us more aware in our unity of a universal peace.
Thank you!
Bektashi World Leader,
His Grace,
Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj