Al-Azhar University is the most prestigious institution in all of Sunni Islam. Not long after 9/11, the New York Times hailed it as moderate.
In Islamic theology, jihad warfare is fard kifaya, an obligation of the community as a whole but not of every individual believer. Jihad becomes fard ayn, obligatory on every individual Muslim to aid in some way, when a Muslim land is attacked.
“Deputy Rector of Al-Azhar University, Sheik Muhammad Ashur: Our Enemies Support the Offspring of Pigs and Apes,” from MEMRITV, September 30 (thanks to Wimpy):
Following are excerpts from an address by Sheik Muhammad Ashur, deputy rector of Al-Azhar University, which aired on Al-Alam TV on September 30, 2011:
Muhammad Ashur: I say to all my brothers and sisters: Jihad has become an individual duty incumbent upon each and every one of us, because our enemies have grown arrogant and have persisted in their great tyranny. In an even uglier display, they publicly declare their support and defense of injustice, even though they boast that they denounce any injustice and that they are the ones who legislate human rights.
But the rights of what human are they defending and supporting? They support the unjust oppressors, the offspring of pigs and apes.
The Qur’an says that Allah cursed the disobedient Jews and transformed them into apes and pigs (2:62-65; 5:59-60; 7:166).