Le Drian is visiting with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb. French President Emmanuel Macron is also endeavoring to calm Muslim sensibilities following protests worldwide by tens of thousands of Muslims, as well as “intense boycotting campaigns of French products across the Arab and Muslim world.” Macron, in an […]
Al-Azhar grand imam says man who beheaded teacher doesn’t speak for Islam, but warns against ‘insulting religions’
Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, said: “I declare that Islam, its teachings and its Prophet are innocent of this wicked terrorist crime….At the same time, I emphasize that insulting religions and attacking their sacred symbols under the banner of freedom of expression is an intellectual double standard and an open invitation to hatred.” No […]
Sheikh of al-Azhar: Burning the Qur’an is an act of terrorism
Al-Tayeb’s words here are carefully chosen. If ever challenged as to whether he condemns terrorism, he can say, why, yes, of course he does, with this in mind. Meanwhile, he can participate with his friend Pope Francis in interfaith counterterror efforts, working to get blasphemy against Islam included in definitions of terrorism accepted among non-Muslims. […]
Pope embraces imam who has endorsed jihad suicide attacks against Jews and wants converts to Christianity killed
Pope Francis and the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, early this year published “A Document On Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” and it’s as filled with falsehoods and wishful thinking as one would expect coming from a practiced deceiver such as el-Tayeb and someone so eager to be deceived as Pope […]
Vatican creates special committee to promote document on dialogue with Islam accused of “devaluing person of Jesus”
“The Vatican has created a special committee to draw out the principles contained in the controversial Abu Dhabi document, signed last February by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar.” This joint declaration is entitled “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together”; its utopian aim is world peace. This Abu […]
Raymond Ibrahim: Eliminate Israel, Eliminate Islamic Terrorism?
The plague of Islamic terrorism is based on “grievances” against Israel — so says Al Azhar, the world’s most prestigious madrasa (or Muslim “university”) that co-hosted Barack Obama’s 2009 “A New Beginning” speech. During a recently televised Egyptian interview, Ahmed Al Tayeb — Al Azhar’s grand imam, once named the “most influential Muslim in the […]
Robert Spencer: Pope Francis, Defender of Islam
My latest over at The Geller Report: Pope Francis received a noteworthy honor last week when Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Cairo’s al-Azhar, thanked him for his “defense of Islam against the accusation of violence and terrorism.” Has any other Pope of Rome in the history of Christianity ever been heralded as a “defender […]
Al-Azhar Grand Imam thanks Pope Francis for his “defense of Islam”
In reality, Islam is unique among world religions in having a developed doctrine, theology and legal system mandating warfare against unbelievers. Unless and until that is confronted, Muslims will continue to commit acts of violence against non-Muslims, including Christians. The Pope is betraying the Christians of the Middle East and the world, and all the […]
Raymond Ibrahim: ‘The Real Bomb Is in Islam’s Books’
During his visit to Egypt last week, “Pope Francis visited al-Azhar University, a globally respected institution for Sunni Islamic learning,” and “met with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the imam of the government-run Al-Azhar mosque and an Islamic philosophy professor.” This has been reported by several media outlets, often with much fanfare. Unfortunately, however, Sheikh Tayeb, once […]
Pope in Egypt: “Let us say… ‘No!’ to every form of violence…carried out in the name of religion”
It’s hard to be Egyptian: water turning to blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, diseased livestock, boils, hailstorms, locusts, darkness, death of firstborn, and now Pope Francis. Seriously, Francis notes the “incompatibility of violence and faith” and says: “Let us say once more a firm and clear ‘No!’ to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred […]
After Palm Sunday jihad massacres, Pope Francis to Egypt to reach out to Muslims
“A main reason for the trip is to try to strengthen relations with the 1,000-year-old Azhar center that were cut by the Muslim side in 2011 over what it said were repeated insults of Islam by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict.” What did Benedict say? Andrea Gagliarducci of the Catholic News Agency explains that after a […]
Raymond Ibrahim: Christianity and Judaism Breed Terrorism Just Like Islam?
Egypt’s top Muslim cleric and head of Al Azhar, Dr. Ahmed al-Tayeb, recently spoke before the religious representatives of some 50 nations during a Cairo-based conference. The sheikh demonstrated once again that he is a master of exhibiting one face to fellow Muslims — one that supports the death penalty for “apostates,” calls for the […]
Egypt: All art is “immoral,” says top cleric, known as a “moderate” around the world
Art has a largely negative impact on human morality. So says Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al Azhar madrassa and arguably the “most influetial Muslim in the world.” In a recent televised interview, Tayeb was asked “To what degree does art influence the morals of the youth.” The sheikh responded that art […]
Top Muslim university rejects reform, stands by “terrorist curriculum”
Much of the curriculum of Al Azhar—the Islamic world’s most prestigious university, located in Cairo—is based on Islamic books written in the medieval era or earlier. These books—histories, biographies of Muhammad, hadith (words and deeds of the latter), tafsirs (Koran exegeses), etc.—are often criticized by more reform-minded Muslims for being too backwards, teaching things such […]
Dialogue between Vatican and al-Azhar to restart in April after five-year lull
Why has there been this “five-year lull”? Because “Al-Azhar froze talks with the Vatican in 2011 to protest comments by then-Pope Benedict XVI.” What did Benedict say? Andrea Gagliarducci of the Catholic News Agency explains that after a jihad terrorist murdered 23 Christians in a church in Alexandria 2011, Benedict decried “terrorism” and the “strategy […]
Raymond Ibrahim: Meet Ahmed al-Tayeb, the “Most Influential Muslim in the World”
There’s nothing like knowing Arabic—that is, being privy to the Muslim world’s internal conversations on a daily basis—to disabuse oneself of the supposed differences between so-called “moderate” and “radical” Muslims. Consider the case of Egypt’s Dr. Ahmed al-Tayeb. Hardly one to be dismissed as a fanatic who is ignorant of the true tenets of Islam, […]
Egypt: Top Islamic institution preaches “religious freedom” to West, while supporting death penalty for apostates at home
In a statement titled, “The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies Calls on Al Azhar’s Sheikh to Renounce His Remarks Which Contradict Religious Freedom and Support Violent Extremism,” the institute blasted Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb’s recent remarks concerning apostasy, first reported in the English here. Though Tayeb is often portrayed as a “moderate” and “reformer,” the […]
Islam is both a religion and polity, says leading Egyptian cleric
What is the role of Islam in Muslim society? Is it just a religion to be practiced privately, as Christianity is understood in the West? Or does it call for theocracy—governance according to the laws derived from it, also known as Sharia? Dr. Ali Abdel Raziq, whose 1925 book arguing against the caliphate caused an […]
Egypt’s highest Islamic authority — a “moderate” — says apostasy punishable by death
The line between “moderate” and “radical” Muslim continues to fade. On the question of apostasy in Islam—whether a born or converted Muslim has the right to abandon Islam for another or no religion—the radical position is well known: unrepentant apostates are to be punished with death. Yet one of the Muslim world’s greatest authorities, the […]
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Pope Embraces Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar
So is the jihad over? No, just enabled. My latest in FrontPage: AP reported breathlessly Monday that Pope Francis “embraced the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the prestigious Sunni Muslim center of learning, reopening an important channel for Catholic-Muslim dialogue after a five-year lull and at a time of increased Islamic extremist attacks on Christians.” Why […]