Looks like Islam lost a good guy

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

10 Mar 2010

 

 

Top Sunni cleric dies of heart attack

 

 

Sunni Islam's top cleric Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, a controversial figure in Egypt, died on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia of a heart attack suffered while boarding a plane, state media said.

 

Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar - Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning - had been in Riyadh to attend the King Faisal awards ceremony, Egypt's official MENA news agency said.

 

Tantawi, 81, was boarding an early morning flight when he suffered severe pain and fell on the stairs, Egyptian television said. He was rushed to the Amir Sultan hospital in Riyadh where doctors pronounced him dead.

 

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His rulings on a wide range of topics, such as the Islamic veil, abortion, suicide attacks, women prayer leaders and female circumcision, often caused a stir in the Islamic world and beyond.

 

Many however saw him as an employee of the state who moved Al-Azhar, which is tasked with propagating Islamic culture and religion around the world, in line with government policy.

 

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Last October, a national row broke out after Tantawi banned the niqab, or full face veil, in all residences and schools affiliated to Al-Azhar, except in classrooms where the teacher is male.

 

Many of his other rulings have also been controversial.

 

[color:red]In 2003, he said suicide bombers were "enemies of Islam," adding that "extremism is the enemy of Islam."

 

After the September 11 attacks on the United States, Tantawi said: "It's not courage in any way to kill an innocent person, or to kill thousands of people, including men and women and children."

 

He also rejected Osama bin Laden's call for a jihad, or holy war, against the West.[/color]

 

In 2007, Tantawi urged Egyptian Muslims to vote on a series of unpopular constitutional amendments put forward by the ruling National Democratic Party and boycotted by many.

 

[color:red]The top cleric also sparked controversy in 2008 after shaking hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a religious conference.[/color]

 

Pictures of the handshake during the UN-sponsored religious dialogue caused a furore in Egypt, where a 1979 peace treaty with Israel remains highly unpopular.