His Holiness – Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad(aba) delivered a historic keynote address on 8 October 2019 at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Headquarters in Paris. The event was attended by over 80 dignitaries and guests, including diplomats, politicians, academics and the representatives of think tanks, as well as business leaders and various other professions.
In this historic address His Holiness commends the foundational objectives of UNESCO highlighting that over 1400 years ago, Islam instructed Muslims to pursue these same goals in the interests of the peace and prosperity of mankind. His Holiness stresses the importance of education for all parts of society stating that access to education, for both girls and boys, is the means of ensuring peace and stability. Furthermore, he refutes the allegation that Islam is a religion that has failed to encourage intellectual advancement; rather, he emphasises how, from the very outset, Islam taught that human beings should continually seek to push the boundaries of human knowledge and that there is no contradiction between science and religion. The entire address revolves around the discussion of Islamic values of intellectual advancement that have served mankind in the past and are continuing to do so.