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Al-Azhar Sheikh In Middle Of Controversy
CAIRO, Jan 23 (IslamOnline) - In response to waves of frustration within the Egyptian and Muslim communities caused by an alleged call by the Sheikh of Al Azhar, Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, for Muslims to visit Jerusalem, Tantawi denied the call.
"I haven't invited Muslims to visit Jerusalem, it was a senior official in the Palestinian embassy in Cairo who issued that invitation last week," Tantawi explained.
After urging Muslims to visit Jerusalem as an act of solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, Tantawi's alleged invitation provoked Muslim communities in Egypt and other parts of the Arab world.
Egyptian opposition papers and scholars at al-Azhar, the Muslim world's largest Islamic institution, fiercely criticized Tantawi's invitation. Moreover, Palestinian scholars, in solidarity, denounced Tantawi's call, describing it as an act normalizing relations with Israel.
The Egyptian Minister of Islamic Waqf and Religious Affairs, Hamdi Zakzouk, supported Tantawi, saying he never called for such a visit. Zakzouk explained that Barakat al-Farra, a vice-Palestinian ambassador, welcomed any Muslim visiting Jerusalem.
"After al-Farra encouraged Muslims to visit Jerusalem, Sheikh Tantawi said that he supports all whatever the Palestinians support," Zakzouk explained.
"We should not deal with the issue of Jerusalem as an Arab issue, it's rather an Islamic issue concerning all Muslims. Thus, the liberation of Jerusalem is the responsibility and the duty of all Muslims," Zakzouk said, urging all Muslims to support the Palestinian people until Jerusalem is set free.
However, Zakzouk did express support for Muslims visiting Jerusalem.
"If Muslims visited Jerusalem long ago, they would have known that it could never be given up and the Israelis would have known that they could not face one [billion] and 200 million Muslims," Zakzouk affirmed.
Zakzouk's strongly criticized Egyptian Parliament members who wanted to open an investigation into what they called "a bid for normalization" with the Jewish state.
An Islamic member of the Egyptian National Assembly interrupted Zakzouk saying: "It's inappropriate to infect Sheikh Tantawi's passport with an Israeli stamp."
Islamic delegates won about 17 seats of the 454-seat National Assembly in the last parliamentary elections in Egypt.
The head of the Egyptian Parliament tried to ease tensions in the session saying sarcastically: "Sheikh Tanatwi is willing to visit Jerusalem only with the stamp of president Yasser Arafat."
In an interview with the Egyptian opposition weekly al-Araby, Tantawi denied any link with such an invitation. But, nevertheless, said that he supported visiting Jerusalem as an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Asked whether visiting Jerusalem now is a means of cooperation and support for the Palestinian people, Sheikh Tantawi replied: "That's what our Palestinian brothers say, they have called upon all Muslims to visit Jerusalem and to pray in al-Aqsa Mosque."
"We would visit Palestine invited by our Palestinian brothers, the visit has nothing to do with the Jewish state," he affirmed.
When faced by some scholars who declared that the only way to go to Jerusalem is through holy war, Jihad, Tantawi said: "Why not? They can do whatever they like to do whether they go for Jihad or not, it's their own business."
"The most important thing [is] that they answer the demand of the Palestinians and stand united with them," he added.
In a conference held at al-Azhar last week, Tantawi urged Muslims to visit Jerusalem as a means of economic and moral support for the Palestinians. In response to this proposition, Egyptian opposition papers, including the weekly al-Araby and al-Osbou, launched fierce campaigns denouncing the invitation calling it " suspect".
A group of Muslim scholars said that any such visit would contribute to the flourishing of the Zionist economy.
"Jerusalem, the third Islamic holy site, is an occupied territory and the Muslims stand helpless before the Israeli tyrant," said Amin Habloush, secretary general of the Azhar Scholars Front.
"We should not appeal to the enemies, rather, we should fight and sacrifice our souls to purify Jerusalem from the Israelis," he added.
Islamic scholars considered any such visit an acknowledgment of the Israeli entity and an approval of Zionist crimes. Moreover, they affirmed that such a visit would bring more economic and tourism welfare to the Israeli enemy.
Egyptian Islamic thinker and intellectual Fahmy Houedy described the invitation as a political "trance".
"Such an invitation is ironic and pathetic, and ignorance of the political and strategic map of the region," said Houedy, a notable Islamic intellectual who writes weekly for the al-Ahram mainstream daily.
"The decision number 478 issued by the U.N. Security Council in 1980 described both Eastern and Western Jerusalem as one occupied city," said Abdallah al-Ashaal, Egyptian ambassador for the Egyptian foreign ministry.
"It's inappropriate for a notable official to call for such risky issue," he added.
An Egyptian journalist, Mahmoud Reda, asserted that the Islamic League of Gaza prohibited visiting the holy sites of Jerusalem under Israeli occupation.
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