Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb on Wednesday severely criticized extremist Islamist groups for calling the opposition “infidels,” ahead of 30 June protests planned by different opposition factions against president Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Peaceful opposition to the ruler is legitimate,” Tayyeb said in a statement on Thursday. “Armed opposition. on the other hand, would be considered mutiny,” the Grand Sheikh added in a statement that came less than 24 hours after his meeting Tuesday with Morsy.
The president had met on Tuesday evening with Tayeb and Coptic Pope Tawadros II to discuss the roles Al-Azhar and the church could play to achieve national reconciliation and avoid violence.
Tayyeb warned of violence and sedition. “Opposition has nothing to do with faith or disbelief,” he said.
A statement from Al-Azhar said that their institution, which has always worked to unify the nation, finds itself compelled to comment on fatwas issued by those who intrude on their jurisdiction.
Radical Islamic preacher Wagdy Ghoneim has said participation in the protests scheduled for 30 June is forbidden as President Morsy is a legitimately elected president.
Those who will join the protests on 30 June are “disbelievers” because the people should obey those in charge of their affairs, he added in a video posted on Youtube on Saturday.
Jama’a al-Islamiya leaders have made similar statements on Friday. One of the group’s Shura Council members, Safwat Abdel Ghany, said that the current dispute was not in fact about President Morsy, his policies, or Egypt's economic crisis. Rather, it represented a "war on Islam," he claimed.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
