Salt Lake City | Friday, 03 March 2023 |
The spiritual leader of Muslims in the Caucasus has concluded a four-day visit to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
While in Salt Lake City (February 28–March 3, 2023), Haji Allahshükür Hummat Pashazade, Sheikh Ul-Islam, and Grand Mufti of the Caucasus, met with the First Presidency and Elders David A. Bednar and Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He also made stops at Welfare Square, the Conference Center, Brigham Young University, the Utah State Capitol, and local Jewish and Muslim communities.
“I feel that the Church of Jesus Christ demonstrated a fraternal attitude towards us Muslims,” Sheikh ul-Islam said through an interpreter in an interview Friday morning at the Grand America Hotel, just a few blocks south of Temple Square. “This is what the Almighty ordered to all of us, all humankind. And we do the same. I wish for all, all over the world, to follow this right path, this path of God.”
The Grand Mufti first met Elder Rasband and other Church leaders in September 2021 at the G20 Interfaith Forum in Italy. “Hello, my old friend,” said Elder Rasband upon reuniting with the Muslim leader and his delegation in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 3, 2023.
“I am especially grateful to meet you wonderful brothers and sisters from Azerbaijan,” Elder Rasband said. “I want you to know, we will be your friends.”
Elders Gary E. Stevenson (in Indonesia during the 2022 R20 Religion Forum) and Ulisses Soares (in Kazakhstan during the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in 2022) have also met the Grand Mufti.
Elder Jack N. Gerard of the Seventy, who visited Sheikh ul-Islam in Baku, Azerbaijan, in late 2022, said Church leaders were “honored that the Grand Mufti and his delegation would come to the United States to see a variety of leaders, but specifically to come to see the First Presidency of the Church.”
Sheikh ul-Islam was joined in his visit to Utah by a delegation of more than a dozen Azerbaijani government, and civic and religious leaders. Among them was Khazar Ibrahim, ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States of America.
Ibrahim praised the Church’s openness to other faiths.
“Crystal clear is tolerance — tolerance, tolerance, tolerance,” Ibrahim said. “The Church embraces every faith. … We should not only develop [tolerance and inclusiveness], we should also show others and we should be more vocal and more active in helping others follow this path, which is the only path for the harmony of the world.”
Sahib Novruz Oglu Nagiyev, Azerbaijan’s deputy chair of the state committee on Religious Associations, said he was inspired by his visit to Welfare Square and the help offered to people in need of all faiths. “We, in our turn, now will think about this example and model and try to practice it in Azerbaijan,” he said through an interpreter.
The Grand Mufti said his impressions from visits with the First Presidency and other Church leaders are “very, very positive.” The meetings with Church leaders took place in the Church Administration Building, which features wood imported from the Caucasus and other areas.
“That was very impressive and meaningful for me,” the Grand Mufti said. “I wish I had visited Utah before. From the very first minute, I felt that warm hospitality.”
Sheikh ul-Islam said he conveyed greetings to the First Presidency from Azerbaijan’s president and people. In response, he said, the First Presidency asked him to convey their greetings and best regards to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.
The Muslim leader asked the First Presidency to pray for Azerbaijan. He said he was moved to hear Church Prophet and President Russell M. Nelson promise to honor that request.
The Sheikh, who has been a Muslim leader for 44 years, said he was also inspired on Wednesday by the organ music he heard in the Conference Center.
“I love organ music. I used to listen to organ music [at every chance],” he said. “I had that chance in Salt Lake City too. And, believe me, I felt my soul raised high when I was listening to that music.”
“I wish the First Presidency and the elders longevity and blessings from the Almighty to let them serve people and their state as long as possible,” the Sheikh said. “I am positive our relations will have very impressive and good results because it is the will of the Almighty.”