CAIRO: A Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated MP tabled a questioning plea against the Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawy regarding his recent comments to a Qatari daily newspaper indicating that the bastion of Sunni Islam would welcome Israeli officials if they wanted to visit.
Tantawy had told Al Arab daily on Friday that his office is open to Israeli political figures, including the Israeli president and prime minister if this will boost the peace process.
“Why not? he was quoted as saying.
The recent controversy involving the Azhar Sheikh comes on the heels of another media lashing he received following the release of photos of him shaking hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a Washington conference.
Some local newspapers like Al Osbou, went as far as asking him to resign.
Tantawy reacted by calling those who published the photos “a group of lunatics
This is the second PA questioning against Tantawy to be submitted in less than one month. Brotherhood MP Hamdy Hassan, head of the Brotherhood’s media committee in parliament, had tabled the previous questioning soon after the aforementioned photos were published.
Hassan is however not optimist about any future change. “We present questionings and in such cases the government responds with silence.
Tantawy’s recent comments in the Qatari daily also come days after he denied recognizing the Israeli president when he shook his hand during the UN religious dialogue conference last month.
“It was a passing hand-shake and I didn’t recognize him, Tantawy said defending himself. “What did they want me to do, refuse to shake hands with a president of a country we are at peace with? Tantawy told the Qatari newspaper.
“His statements contradict each other and many believe that by shaking Peres’s hand he made a mistake and that he is in a very weak position now, said Hassan.
Tantawy’s detractors accuse him of going beyond the requirements of his position as Sheikh Al Azhar to please the ruling regime. “He acts like a government employee, according to their policies. He does not represent the institute [of Al Azhar] nor Muslims as a whole, Hassan added..
Moreover, Tantawy was publicly criticized for statements he made on TV, which some believed to be “insulting to the Palestinian cause .
When he was allegedly asked about the Gaza blockade, he replied that he was not unaware of it.
At a time when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has been gaining immense support and sympathy from Egyptians, the Sheikh impatiently said “Why all the fuss over Gaza?
“Any 7-year-old will tell you about what’s happening in Gaza, Hassan commented. “Tantawy has a habit of insulting those who disagree with him and he is offending Al Azhar in the process.
