Tantawi’s [garbage] achievements, Spreading Corruption

Tantawi is is the head of al-Azhar (highest scholar institute in Egypt)

- He himself said ‘Ana ragel fi dawla muwadhaf’ (I am an employee of this country). Meaning he is not independent and simply works for the state. He is typically and comically referred to by most Egyptians as ‘Sayyid Beh Okay’ – someone who says okay to everything (the government wants).

- Agreed with Women’s conference in Beijin conference, with point number 7, which was about same-sex marriage. He said: “what’s wrong with that, its sexual health”. Approving of same-sex marriage.

- He said: ‘Applying the rules of shariah will take a long time until everyone is convinced, contentment and satisfied’ – implying that people need to be satisfied (or are comfortable) with shariah before it can be applied fully.

- He agreed with Mubarak’s decision to send members of the Muslim Brotherhood political party to military courts for trials.

- He is known to frequent the ‘Loins/Rotary Clubs’ a Jewish Masonic social club network in Egypt (there is a fatwa from al-Azhar in May 1985 banning Muslims from joining these Loins and Rotary clubs)

- He made riba/interest ‘halal’ (when he was told that hundreds of scholars disagree with him, he responded ‘they are nothing’)

- He declared suicide bombers in Palestine as not being Shuhada (martyrs) while the Azhari scholars league responded by saying they are martyrs, the people are ahl al-harb and they are in a state of war.

- He agreed with the decision by the minister of Education to ban Hijabi’s from entering schools, until they get their guardian’s consent. This is a stupid law, since many girls wear hijabs and come from non-practising families (even secular ones) or may be converts.

- Shaykh Nabawi el-’Ish, who was the head of Fatwa committee in Al-Azhar, gave a fatwa banning relations with the current Iraqi ruling system, due to it being imposed by an occupied force. He also said that anyone dealing with them is going against the laws of Allah. Then David Welsh, the American ambassador in Cairo, visited Tantawi objecting with the Shaykh’s fatwa. So in 2003 Tantawi made a decision to remove Shaykh el-’ish from his position and transfer him to a rural outpost. He also said that al-Azhar is an Egyptian organisation and is not qualified to give fatawa (he was the grand Mufti at the time).

- He fired Shaykh abul-Hasan the former head of Fatwa committee at al-Azhar, because he made a statement declaring that it is haram to aid the American occupation of Iraq and he called for jihad against this occupation.

- One time Mubarak was ill and some journalists wrote about a change of leadership and Tantawi declared that hadd al-Qadhf (80 lashes) should be applied on them.

- Tantawi convinced the governor of Cairo to dismantle the Azhari Scholars League and assign set up a new establishment that are advocates of himself.

- Under the guise of developing al-Azhar, he agreed with the law that makes the Azhari secondary school three years instead of four (i.e. reducing the education and learning).

- He forwarded, for internal review/investigation, the following professors Dr Ibrahim al-Khouli, Dr Mahmoud Himaya and Dr Yahya Ismail (who left Egypt subsequently) because they disagreed with his fatawa.

- He said women are allowed to be president and that they are qualified for the position.

- He said that France has the right to ban hijab.

- He was once asked if it was halal or haram to go to beaches where women dress in bikini etc, he retorted: ‘did the state ask you to go?’. Again avoiding the crux of the matter and not dealing with the issue.

- He was once asked about running Miss Egypt beauty pageant where women wear swim suits etc, if it was halal or haram – he responded ‘we advise the government not to run such competitions’. Again he avoided giving a fatwa or making a clear definition.

- At the UN conference he shook Shimon Perez’s hand with both his hands (sign of admiration and respect)

- (from the interview, according to Shaykh Wajdi) He once chased a journalist beating him with a shoe and calling him ‘Son of a Dog’ amongst other insults.

- He agreed to allow foreign forces/troops to be stationed in the country (Egypt) – even though they may be using it to attack neighbouring states.