American Jewish Committee awards Mauritanian Islamic scholar
Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah has been praised for his bridge-building efforts and his firm stand against religious extremism
WASHINGTON – The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has awarded its prestigious Human Dignity Award to Mauritanian Islamic scholar Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah.
Shaykh Bayyah teaches Islamic studies at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and is known as a champion of religious freedom, peace, and improving Muslim-Jewish relations.
He has been praised for his bridge-building efforts and his firm stand against religious extremism.
He is known for his personal piety and scholarship in both traditional Islamic and secular academic scholarship.
The tribute goes on to say that Shaykh Bayyah has established Islamic scholarly foundations in support of religious freedom, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and interfaith cooperation.
In 2016, he rallied hundreds of Muslim scholars around these ideas as co-convener and author of the Marrakesh Declaration, which rejects the persecution of religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries.
He has also spoken out against the practices of the terrorist group ISIL, stating, “Islam must not call for war. Islam invites peace.”
Shaykh Bin Bayyah is the second recipient of AJC’s Human Dignity Award.
The first recipient was Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians.
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