Name Ahmed el-Tayeb | Role Imam | |
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Full Name Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed el-Tayeb Education Al-Azhar University (1977), Al-Azhar University (1971), Al-Azhar University (1969), Paris-Sorbonne University | ||
Grand imam sheikh of al azhar ahmed el tayeb concludes visit to kuwait
Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed el-Tayeb (Arabic: أحمد محمد أحمد الطيب) is the current Grand Imam of al-Azhar and former president of al-Azhar University. He was appointed by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, following the death of Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy in 2010. He is considered to be one of the most moderate Sunni clerics in Egypt. He holds a Ph. D in Islamic philosophy from the Paris-Sorbonne University and has been president of Al-Azhar University since 2003. Between 2002 and 2003, el-Tayeb served as Grand Mufti of Egypt. El-Tayeb is a hereditary Sufi shaykh from Upper Egypt and has expressed support for a global Sufi league.
Contents
- Grand imam sheikh of al azhar ahmed el tayeb concludes visit to kuwait
- Grand imam of al azhar sheikh ahmed el tayeb tours zakat house meets awqaf foundation officials
- National Democratic Party
- Muslim Brotherhood
- Opposition to sectarianism
- Jews
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Awards and honours
- Books
- References
In late 2016, at a conference of over a hundred Sunni thinkers in Chechnya, Tayeb defined orthodox Sunnism as "the Ash'arites and Muturidis (adherents of the theological systems of Imam Abu Mansur al-Maturidi and Imam Abul Hasan al-Ash'ari) ... followers of any of the four schools of thought (Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki or Hanbali) and ... also the followers of the Sufism of Imam Junaid al-Baghdadi in doctrines, manners and [spiritual] purification." The conference was believed to have been designed to take an "uncompromising stand against the growing Takfiri terrorism that is playing havoc across the world," and some news sites reported that the scholars present concluded that "Salafism/Wahhabism, the state religion of the Saudi Kingdom flourishing in almost all Muslim-populated courtiers because of the massive Saudi funding ... [does not represent] mainstream Sunni Islam."
Grand imam of al azhar sheikh ahmed el tayeb tours zakat house meets awqaf foundation officials
National Democratic Party
Prior to his appointment as the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and president of al-Azhar University, he was a member of Mubarak's National Democratic Party's Policies Committee. He initially refused to resign from his position in the National Democratic Party (NDP) by saying that there was no conflict between his role at Al-Azhar and membership in the party.
In April 2010, he resigned from his post in the party.
Muslim Brotherhood
In an article published shortly after his appointment as president of Al-Azhar University, he was described as "a regime loyalist and member of Mr Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party [who] takes a firm stance against the Muslim Brotherhood".
Tayeb was quoted as saying that Al-Azhar University would "never be an open field for the Brotherhood".
The same article reported that the Muslim Brotherhood's leader, Mohammed Badie, had congratulated Tayeb on his appointment. At the same time, the Brotherhood senior member, Sheikh Sayed Askar, also an Azharite, accused the government of "promoting one of its own at the expense of people better suited to the post".
Criticism of intensified after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Some Muslim Brotherhood members accused him of being "a remnant of the ousted Mubarak regime and National Democratic Party".
In 2011, following the Egyptian revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood held a rally at the Al-Azhar mosque to oppose what it described as the Judaization of Jerusalem. He said at the rally that "the al-Aqsa Mosque is currently under an offensive by the Jews" and "we shall not allow the Zionists to Judaize al-Quds [Jerusalem]". He also alleged that Jews around the world were trying to prevent Islamic and Egyptian unity.
The rally was criticized by the New York Daily News as antisemitic.
He backed the June 2013 Egyptian revolution against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Opposition to sectarianism
He has strongly rebuked the Salafi anti-Alawite preaching, which has increased since the Assad government, dominated by Alawites, cracked down on the Islamist rebels in the Syrian Civil War.
Jews
In an interview which aired on Egypt's Channel 1 on October 25, 2013 (as translated by MEMRI), Tayeb stated, "Since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago, we have been suffering from Jewish and Zionist interference in Muslim affairs. This is a cause of great distress for the Muslims.".
He also argued that "the Quran said it and history has proven it: 'You shall find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists'". He also claimed that Jews consider non-Jews to be "extremely inferior" and that Jews "practice a terrible hierarchy, and they are not ashamed to admit it, because it is written in the Torah – with regard to killing, enslavement, and so on".
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
He has strongly condemned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and stated that it is acting "under the guise of this holy religion and have given themselves the name 'Islamic State' in an attempt to export their false Islam" and (citing the Quran).
"The punishment for those who wage war against God and his Prophet and who strive to sow corruption on earth is death, crucifixion, the severing of hands and feet on opposite sides or banishment from the land. This is the disgrace for them in this world and in the hereafter they will receive grievous torment".
He has been criticized for not expressly stating that Islamic State was heretical. The Ash'ari school of Islamic theology - to which El-Tayeb belongs - does not allow calling a person who follows the shahada an apostate.
Tayeb has strongly come out against the practice of takfirism, declaring a Muslim an apostate, which is used by Islamic State to "judge and accuse anyone who doesn't tow their line with apostasy and outside the realm of the faith" and declares "jihad on peaceful Muslims" by using "flawed interpretations of some Qur'anic texts, the prophet's Sunna, and the Imams' views, believing incorrectly that they are leaders of Muslim armies fighting infidel peoples in unbelieving lands".
Awards and honours
Books
This includes: