CAIRO, July 24 (IslamOnline.net) - The Islamic Research Academy, Al-Azhar’s highest and most influential arm, denied Saturday, July 24, any US preconditions for receiving religious missions to serve American Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

"Foreign countries only ask Al-Azhar for scholars without dictating any such conditions whatsoever," Sheikh Ibrahim Atta Al-Fayoumi, the academy's secretary general, told IslamOnline.net.

He said countries can ask that Al-Azhar mission consists of PhD holders but nothing more than that.

Al-Azhar sends scholars to most world countries each year to lead prayers during Ramadan, a holy month to Muslims that will fall this year in October.

Al-Fayoumi said US Ambassador David Welch met with Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi to ask for names selected for this year Ramadan mission to facilitate visa application procedures.

Tantawi had met with a US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) delegation, with Al-Azhar role in dispatching preachers abroad on agenda.

He told the commissioners that before sending Azhar scholars abroad, "we talk to them on how to address such societies and the importance of respecting their laws".

Tantawi approved dispatching five senior scholars to American Islamic centers to preach and disseminate Islamic culture during the forthcoming Ramadan.

The approval comes at the request of the US Administration, a fact affirmed by Welch during his meeting with the grand imam.

In 2003, Al-Azhar sent five scholars to San Francisco, Arizona Islamic Center, Dar El-Da'wa Mosque in New York, Houston Islamic Da'wa Center and Al-Farouq Center in Texas.

The new five scholars will be located according to the requests of American Islamic centers.

On criteria judging the selection, Sheikh Al-Fayoumi spoke of special exams that tests, inter alia, memorization of the Noble Qur'an, Arabic language and general knowledge.

He denied that speaking English or other foreign languages count.

Al-Fayoumi pointed out that those selected for American mission "have been nominated without exams, as they are senior and highly reliable officials in Al-Azhar."

This is the second time Al-Azhar sends scholars to the US since the 9/11 attacks.

The prestigious seat of learning had refused in 2001 and 2002 to send scholars to the States during Ramadan due to the strict measures adopted by the US in the wake of the 9/11.

Al-Azhar started sending scholars back in 2003 after the US ambassador apologized for Sheikh Tantawi about any convenience the scholars suffered in airports.

Established in 359 AH (971 CE), Al-Azhar mosque drew scholars from across the Muslim world and grew into a university, predating similar developments at Oxford University in London by more than a century.

Al-Azhar, which means the "most flourishing and resplendent," was named after Fatima Al-Zahraa, daughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), who gave rise to the Fatimid dynasty which governed Egypt from 969 to 1171 CE.

The first courses at Al-Azhar were given in 975 CE and the first college was built 13 years later.

Al-Azhar first admitted women students in 1961, albeit in separate classes.