Grand Imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi

By Sobhi Mujahid, IOL staff

CAIRO, February 4 (IslamOnline) – The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi ruled as "forbidden" that any Arab or Islamic country helps foreign forces launch a military offensive against Iraq.

“We strongly refuse attacking Iraq, as it is a sort of aggression on Islam, and that’s why all possible efforts should be geared up to turn the specter of war away,” Tantawi said in response to a question about the presence of American troops in some Arab countries in preparation for a looming war against Iraq.

“Under Shariaa (Islamic Law) it is not allowed to give any support to these foreign troops to carry out their aggressive plans,” He affirmed in an open discussion in the Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) last Saturday, February 1.

The grand imam of Cairo’s thousand-year-old prestigious centre of learning and highest authority for the Islamic world had issued a fatwa to the effect that Arab and Islamic countries should not allow their territories to be used in launching a military offensive against any Muslim countries.

“We stand with the Iraqi people and against any aggression on its land. We will never accept injustice and aggression against any Islamic and Arab country whatever it is,” he contended.

“When we show our objection to any aggression against the innocent and isolated Iraqi people, we are defending not the Iraqi regime, but the Muslims living there, as they are part and parcel of us,” Tantawi told the Kuwaiti Al-Ra’i Al-Am daily in September.

The religious leader condemned any attack against civilians as a gruesome act abhorred by all of monolithic religions. He also slammed the U.S. for attempting to interfere in the internal affairs of Al-Azhar

In another related development, the supreme Shiite authorities in the Iraqi city of Najav recently issued two fatwas (religious edicts) calling on Muslims to defend Iraq against a looming military strike and considering any sort of support to the United States smack of a highly forbidden action and a great sin.