Ahmed El-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the top religious authority in Egypt, said that insulting Islam and Muslims has become a tool to attract votes in the elections.<\/p>\n
Tayeb\u2019s remarks come while French President Emmanuel Macron had said France would not renounce cartoons, after a French teacher was killed for showing pupils cartoons distorting the image of Prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n
Macron\u2019s remarks have triggered Muslim nations\u2019 anger. Also, campaigns to boycott French products have been circulated and encouraged on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese caricatures insulting our great prophet, adopted by some newspapers, magazines and polices \u2026 are an explicit hatred to this true religion and its prophet who was sent by Allah as a mercy for the worlds,\u201d Tayeb said in a ceremony to celebrate Prophet Muhammad\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Islamic world and its religious institutions, in the forefront of which is: Al-Azhar has hastened to condemn the repugnant murder of a French teacher in Paris,\u201d Tayeb said, condemning, however, insults against Islam.<\/p>\n
Tayeb called on the international community to pass an international resolution that would criminalize hate or discrimination against Muslims.<\/p>\n
He also highlighted the importance that Muslim people \u201cpositively integrate\u201d into the societies they live in, in a way that preserves their religious and cultural identities and protects them from political Islamist groups, provocations of the extreme right and racism.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuslim citizens have to abide by peaceful, legal and rational ways in resisting hate speech and gaining their legitimate rights,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He said he is \u201cwholly surprised\u201d that some countries that have been promoting itself as a sponsor of culture, civilization, enlightenment, knowledge, modernity and human rights are now holding a call for hate on the other hand.<\/p>\n
Egypt Today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahmed El-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the top religious authority in Egypt, said that insulting Islam and Muslims has become a tool to attract votes in the elections. Tayeb\u2019s remarks come while French President Emmanuel Macron had said France would not renounce cartoons, after a French teacher was killed for showing pupils cartoons distorting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":200324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[66183,2486,2484,45791],"class_list":["post-200322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-ahmed-el-tayeb","tag-al-azhar","tag-egypt","tag-grand-imam"],"yoast_head":"\n