Jakarta, NU Online

The General Chairman of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU), KH Yahya Cholil Staquf (Gus Yahya), said that Egypt was the closest ally to NU.

 

He made the statement when he received a visit from the Egyptian Ambassador to Indonesia Ashraf Sulthan at the PBNU headquarters, Jalan Kramat Raya 164, Jakarta, on Tuesday (11/1/2022).

 

"Egypt is NU's closest natural ally," said Gus Yahya.

 

He said that the world was currently faced with various issues. "This world is experiencing a major civilization problem and Islam is required to be able to provide answers to that problem," explained the leader of the Raudlatut Thalibin Islamic Boarding School, Leteh, Rembang, Central Java.

 

Gus Yahya assessed that strengthening the cooperation between Egypt-Indonesia and Al-Azhar-Nahdlatul Ulama was important.

 

"So, it is understandable and natural that Egypt and Indonesia, Al-Azhar and Nahdlatul Ulama continue to strengthen cooperation with each other," said Gus Yahya.

 

On that occasion, Ashraf said that he had put more concentration on several important issues at the international level, one of which was related to the practice of tolerance and fighting terrorism.

 

Ashraf hoped that the meeting could lead to other meetings to discuss the future agenda more maturely.

 

"We have the same target. We have the same goal. We are wide open to Indonesia. It is a very useful meeting. We can collaborate on bilateral agendas and the international exchange of ideas is very important because we have the same values," said Ashraf.

 

The meeting went smoothly. The conversation between the two figures was relaxed. Ashraf added, Islam in Indonesia was very strong.

 

He admitted that he admired the concept of Pancasila. According to him, Pancasila is a concept littered fully with Islamic values.

 

"What I like here is the concept of Pancasila. Pancasila is a concept that really translates Islamic ideas and values, which has a goal of being tolerant to be able to live together with others. This is the most important thing," said Ashraf.

 

Contributor: Nuriel Shiami Indiraphasa

Editor: Sudarto Murtaufiq