Friday, March 06, 2009

Vatican-Al Azhar deal attracts Muslim ire

A proposed agreement between the Holy See and Cairo's Sunni Muslim Al Azhar University to rewrite school books to eliminate any offensive language about each others' religions has drawn fire from Egyptian scholars.

"Muslims respect all other religions," Sheikh Youssef el-Badri, a preacher and a former official from Al-Azhar, told IslamOnline.net.

"I challenge anybody to find any such offensive materials in our school books."

Officials from Al-Azhar met with cardinals from the Vatican in Rome on February 24-25 to discuss steps for building world peace and friendly relations.

They proposed rewriting school books to eliminate any offensive language about each others' religions.

"Scholastic books should be revised in order not to contain material which may offend the religious sentiments of other believers at times through the erroneous presentation of dogmas, morals or history," the clerics wrote in a statement.

The document did not explain how the world's two largest faiths intend to implement the task.

The statement has provoked the anger of Egypt's religious scholars, including some from Al-Azhar.

They insist that textbooks in Muslim countries do not contain any offensive material, but it is the West that needs to revise its own textbooks.

"Muslims are in no need to rewrite their books," says Taha Riyan, a professor of religious principles at Al-Azhar University.

"Islam calls for respect for other faiths."

Al-Azhar officials say Grand Imam Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi had ordered a revision of school textbooks a long time ago and that these books do not have a sliver of offence against any of the other religions.

Like many, El-Badri believes the problem lies with Westerners who defame Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
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(Source: CTHN)