Human Fraternity Dialogues

H.E. Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam is the secretary general of the Higher Committee on Human Fraternity, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Elders, and the former legislative and legal advisor to Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb. He was awarded papal knighthood—“Knight Commander with Star of the Order of Pius IX”—by Pope Francis for his services towards spreading tolerance and interfaith dialogue. He is the first Arab and Muslim to receive this accolade.

Her Excellency Shamma Al Mazrui is the United Arab Emirates' minster of state for youth affairs. She is also the chair of the Emirates Youth Council and the vice-chair of the Arab Youth Center. She serves as the chairperson for Special Olympics UAE, the secretary general of the Education and Human Resources Council in the UAE, a board member of Emirates Foundation, and a Global Leadership Council member of UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited. H.E. Al Mazrui holds a MPP with distinction from the University of Oxford (2015) and a B.A. in economics with a concentration in finance from New York University Abu Dhabi (2014). She was the UAE’s first Rhodes Scholar.

His Eminence Ahmed Al-Tayeb is the grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar. He is widely regarded as a preeminent Sunni Muslim religious leader in the world and has served as the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar (the chief center of Islamic and Arabic learning in the world) for over a decade. His Eminence Professor Al-Tayeb is the chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders, considered to be the first independent international authority to enhance peace among Muslims and between Muslims and non-Muslims. In 2019, Grand Imam Al-Tayeb made history alongside Pope Francis when they came together to sign and launch the Document on Human Fraternity, arguably the most important bilateral interfaith document of modern times.

His Eminence Cardinal Miguel Ayuso is president of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Cardinal Ayuso has taught courses in interreligious dialogue in Cairo and Rome, participated in meetings and conferences on interreligious relations in various countries in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe, as well as written several important publications on issues related to Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Thomas Banchoff is director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and serves as vice president for global engagement at Georgetown University, where he is a professor in the Department of Government and the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Ryann Craig is special assistant to the vice president for mission and ministry and director of academic initiatives in Georgetown University's Office of Mission and Ministry. From October 2019 through December 2023 she was the director of student programs and an assistant research professor at the Berkley Center, as well as a faculty fellow at the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service at Georgetown University. Before joining the Berkley Center, she worked in academic support and student advising as assistant director of academic support at the Catholic University of America. She recently served as a copy editor for the International Qurʾānic Studies Association’s journal and monograph series (2016-2018) and has been involved in a number of religious minority cultural heritage preservation initiatives in the United States, Germany, and Israel/Palestine. Craig completed her Ph.D. (Catholic University of America) on the use of Quranic proof texts by medieval Christian Arabic and Syriac authors while in residence as a doctoral fellow at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem. She is co-editor with Vasile-Octavian Mihoc of A Contested Coexistence: Insights in Arabic Christianity from Theology to Migration (Harrassowitz, 2020).

Monsignor Séamus Horgan is the first counsellor of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See to the United States of America.

Rashad Hussain serves as President Joe Biden's ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. In this role, he works as principal advisor to the secretary of state and advisor to the president on religious freedom conditions and policy. Hussain has previously served as President Obama’s special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference and deputy associate counsel to Obama, focusing on national security, new media, and science and technology issues.