Prime Minister Hesham Qandil thanked Sheikh Mohamed Abdel Rahman El-Oriefy for his calls to Arab investors to support Egypt and described their Saturday meeting as “magnificent.”
Qandil said: “We were very pleased with his sermon yesterday which showed his love for Egypt and its soil. We have sent with him a message of love from our people to the people of Saudi Arabia.”
El-Oriefy delivered the Friday prayers sermon in Amr Ibn Al-Aas mosque to a crowd of thousands. His reception was generally positive, but his arrival in a car with diplomatic licence plates angered several activists.
The Saudi cleric delivered a lecture at Al-Azhar University before his Friday sermon. He was welcomed to Al-Azhar by Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb. He delivered another lecture at Al-Hossary mosque in 6th of October on Wednesday.
El-Oriefy said Egypt always was and would continue to be a leader and called on Arab investors to invest in the country in order to help it out of its current economic crisis. He criticised the Shi’a of Iran and the building of shrines over graves, calling it forbidden.
The Wahabi preacher has been known to issue controversial fatwas such as forbidding a man from being alone with his daughter and imploring Saudi authorities to ban women from joining the country’s Olympic delegation.
He praised President Mohamed Morsy “for running the country with wisdom despite the many conspiracies and traps being set for Egypt.”
His visit to Egypt has been hailed as a great event by the Muslim Brotherhood whose website carried favourable coverage of his lectures and sermon.
His visit comes two weeks after he made statements in support of Egypt in a sermon dedicated entirely for discussing Egyptians and their place in Islam. The minister of information thanked El-Oriefy on 30 December and ordered that the sermon be broadcast on state television.
