Sheikh Tantawi, Egypt's top cleric dies aged 81

You —

Egypt's foremost Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, has died, aged 81, while on a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Tantawi was the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar mosque and head of the al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's centre of learning and scholarship.

Read more @ BBC News

Inna lillah wa inna ilaihi raaji'oon

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You — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 - 22:12

Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi obituary

Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, who has died aged 81 of a heart attack while in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, used his position as one of Islam's leading spiritual authorities to champion Islamic moderation worldwide. In 1996, the president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, had appointed Tantawi grand imam of the Al-Azhar mosque and head of the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Sunni Islam's pre-eminent centre of learning, a position he held until his death. He shared platforms with the Prince of Wales and, in 2008, spoke at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies on the value of dialogue between civilisations.

At the same time, he provoked a fierce backlash from Islamic hardliners, not least for his condemnation of the niqab, or full-face veil, a position he broadcast widely last year during the debate over its prohibition in France. In 2009, he banned women wearing the full veil from entering Al-Azhar's campus.

Crucially, he described the 9/11 attacks as "acts of terror directed against innocent people", and went further. Countries harbouring terrorists, he insisted, should be "punished and held in contempt". He told a conference in Kuala Lumpur in 2003: "Extremism is the enemy of Islam." He condemned suicide bombings, telling the press: "If it is against... women, children and old men, then it is not resistance but infidelity."

In November 2008, there were calls in Egypt for his resignation after he shook hands with Israel's president, Shimon Peres, at a UN-sponsored interfaith conference in New York. He initially astonished reporters by claiming that he was unaware that it was Peres approaching him with outstretched hand. Subsequently, he accused those who published the pictures of the handshake as being a group of lunatics. He then fanned the controversy by saying that if any Israeli officials wanted to visit Al-Azhar, he would welcome them.

Read more @ The Guardian

malik — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 - 21:08

May Allah have mercy on him.

He accepted Shia muslims as equal to any other sect in Islam, even though
the oppressive Egypt goverment still bans rallies and processions for Imam Hussain in Moharram. A lot of people condemned Tantawi for saying Shias are muslims too. They wanted him to be anti-shia, but he feared only Allah and not his opponents.

I think they poisoned him.

http://www.jafariyanews.com/2k8_news/feb/10alazhar_shiastudents.htm

http://www.jafariyanews.com/2k8_news/feb/10alazhar_decision_feras.htm