September 27, 2009
Al-Azhar Park

Good Evening. I wish that after all my years in the Arab-speaking world that I could deliver these remarks in Arabic even close to the quality of English that was just used by the graduates of this two-year program. I am delighted to be with you here tonight and we are so honored to have with us Fadilet El Imam Al Akbar Sheikh Tantawi; His Excellency Minister of Awqaf Mr. Hamdy Zakzouk; Dr. Ahmad El Tayeb, the President of Al Azhar; Mr. Nossair Abdel Dayem, the Special Advisor for English to the President; all the distinguished Vice Presidents, Deans, English Language Fellows, Teachers, Graduates, Guest, and Colleagues.

It is really an honor to join you to celebrate the conclusion of the hard work of the students here and the achievement of the first graduates from the English Language Resource Center at Al Azhar University. I congratulate you all and agree that this is just a beginning and we look for great news of your futures.

I would like to take the opportunity as well to thank Al Azhar University, especially Fadilet Sheikh Al Azhar and the President of the University, for co-hosting President Obama in Cairo last June. In his historic speech, and many of you I think were there, he recognized that Al Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning for over a thousand years. Centuries before my own country was even founded, scholars at this great university studied law, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, geography and history. Al Azhar was looking to communicate across cultures a thousand years ago, as we try now through the use of language training to promote understanding. I see this is really nothing but a continuation of the tradition of Al Azhar as it has looked for ways to share its message of Islam and peace and tolerance around the world.

As I said, some of you had the chance to attend President Obama’s speech at Cairo University where he talked about a new beginning between the United States and Muslim communities around the world based upon mutual interest and mutual respect. He called on all of us to find ways to broaden our engagement with each other, especially in areas of education because, as he said, we all “must recognize that education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century.”

The Al Azhar University English Language Resource Center, I believe, is an outstanding example of the kind of engagement President Obama urged us to foster and develop. Together, Al Azhar University and the U.S. Embassy have created a multi-faceted partnership rooted in a shared vision of the importance of language and communication to education, knowledge, dialogue, peace and understanding.

It brings together American and Egyptian teachers and students; it deepens engagement between institutions and individuals. It fosters cross-cultural understanding, appreciation and respect.

Not yet two years old, the ELRC has grown and developed rapidly. We started with thirty participants from the Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies. We had two American teachers from our English Language Fellows program, and six Egyptian teachers from Al Azhar. By October 2008, we had doubled sessions, increased our enrollment to ninety, added two more American teachers, and opened the program to instructors from other faculties.

Our partnership is producing clear results that benefit the individuals, our great countries, and the institutions that we all represent. Three of the ELRC’s Egyptian teachers are now in the United States on Fulbright exchange programs to study language teaching and to teach Arabic to American university students. A fourth teacher traveled to the States as part of the State Department’s International Visitors programs for teachers of English.

The success of the ELRC has also inspired a program to improve the English of imams and Islamic counselors in Cairo. Of these counselors, Doa Mansour is here tonight representing this program. She successfully applied for a Fulbright scholarship and will soon be leaving to earn her Masters’ degree in comparative religion in the U.S. She’s not alone: an imam who participated in the program is in the U.S. already, and a third about to leave.

More recently, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dar Al-Iftah to offer an intensive, specialized English language course to ten senior assistants to the Grand Mufti. Their goal is to be able to work directly in English in the formulation and delivery of fatwas, and to represent the Dar al-Iftaa and the Grand Mufti abroad in interfaith discussions and relations with English-speaking Muslim communities.

But the most important result, I think, is the one we celebrate this evening. You, the fifty graduates here tonight, are the first class in what we hope will be a long tradition of partnership. Through this program, you have improved your English. More importantly, though, you leave this program with an enhanced ability to communicate with others. When you travel or study abroad, you won’t just be better students or teachers, you will be effective ambassadors for this prestigious institution of faith and learning, and you can participate fully and equally across the globe in matters of education and faith. I hope that you continue to create dialogue and to promote understanding. I know that you will be able to help dispel misconceptions and foster mutual understanding and respect. And together, when we have this dialogue, we can do much more.

Again, I congratulate you, your teachers, and everyone involved in this exciting program, on your hard work and achievement. Mabrouk!