IGE’s John Gallagher at Historic Marrakesh Declaration Conference
Top: Chechnya Grand Mufti Mezhiev Salah (center) spontaneously leads other religious leaders in traditional Islamic songs after dinner the first night, stating he was moved to sing because the he felt such “welcome and peace”…
Bottom: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, D.C. and Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, who embraced each other before sitting down, in a show of solidarity.
Al Haj U Aye Lwin, a distinguished scholar of Islam and one of IGE’s partners from Myanmar, spoke in Marrakech on the importance of mutual respect and equal citizenship.
Within the context of protecting rights of minorities in Islamic territories, the importance of protecting the rights of women was also raised.
International religious and NGO leaders in a private meeting with His Eminence Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah.
Left: IGE CEO with good friend/partner, Brian Grim, President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Council on the Role of Faith.
Right: IGE CEO John with Cheikhna Al Mahfoudh Bin Bayyah, son of His Eminence Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah.
Left to right: Knox Thames, Special Advisor for Religious Minorities at US State Department; Karen Thomas Smith, Protestant delegate to Morocco’s National Council of Churches; John Gallagher, IGE CEO; and, Dwight Bashir, Co-Director for Policy and Research at U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.