Al-Azhar to sue France over prophet cartoons
During a visit to Cairo by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Al-Azhar’s Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb rejected any form of insults to the Prophet Muhammad and vowed to sue France over the publication of controversial cartoons.
CAIRO — Egypt’s Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, met Nov. 8 with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at Al-Azhar amid a dispute between France and the Muslim world over the publication of derogatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Tayeb said Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world, rejects freedom of expression if it protects insults to the prophets.