Mohamed El-Sayed looks into the clamour over allegations that a number of Al-Azhar scholars were denied visas to Spain and the United States this Ramadan Every year during Ramadan, Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Religious Endowments dispatch preachers to different countries around the world to address Muslim communities abroad, and lead them in special communal prayers. This year, however, a number of preachers were reportedly denied visas to travel to Spain and the United States. Shortly before the start of the holy month, the Spanish Embassy in Cairo received 26 visa requests for Muslim scholars and preachers. It took until two weeks into Ramadan for the visas to arrive. "The delay in granting visas to the scholars was neither premeditated, nor did it stem from a hostile position towards the scholars," said a source at the Spanish Embassy in Cairo who preferred anonymity. "The delay was mainly because of the complicated procedures through which every visa application must go. It takes a long time because Spain is part of the Schengen visa system, which permits entry into every EU member country." The Spanish Embassy must thus obtain permission, the source said, from all the countries involved before granting a visa; "that's why it took such a long time." Three of the 26 preachers who applied for the visas were rejected because they failed to meet the requirements, the source said. "We don't draw distinctions between Islamic scholars and ordinary people. But there are certain rules all people have to comply with before getting the visa." She did not provide details on the specific reasons for the rejections. One scholar, Sheikh Abdel-Hamid El-Atrash, head of Al-Azhar's fatwa (religious edicts) committee, was denied a visa to travel to the United States this Ramadan, and ended up going to Australia and Switzerland instead. Several press reports claimed that El-Atrash was denied the visa because he had issued a fatwa a few weeks ago condemning the US's presence in Iraq, and legalising Iraqi resistance against US occupation. Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi told Al-Ahram Weekly that there was no problem of any kind between Al-Azhar and any foreign embassy concerning the issuance of visas for its scholars. John Berry, media officer at the American Embassy in Cairo, reiterated the Grand Imam's words. "There was no problem in granting visas to Al-Azhar preachers this Ramadan," he said. Asked about allegations that some Al-Azhar scholars were on a US "blacklist" because they had issued fatwas against America that appeared in last week's local papers, Berry was quick to deny the existence of such a list. "We don't have a blacklist of Al-Azhar sheikhs who are banned from traveling to the US. The embassy maintains very good relations with, and respect for, Al-Azhar and its scholars. We cannot punish any scholar because of a fatwa he issued, for this is his own opinion." On another track, Rose El-Youssef magazine had claimed that, following several incidents where individuals allegedly pretended to be preachers in order to get visas to the United States, the embassy had instituted a stringent "religious knowledge test" for all religious scholars who applied. Berry told the Weekly that, "all the news about difficulties or tests the scholars have been subject to are fabricated." By and large, Berry said, all visa applications are sent to a "central name bank" in the United States to verify the applicant's legal status and to make sure that he/she is not banned from entering the US. "The whole story about Sheikh Abdel-Hamid El-Atrash is fabricated," he said. Shawqi Abdel-Latif, the Religious Endowments Ministry's first undersecretary for preaching affairs, also denied that the ministry's preachers had any visa difficulties whatsoever. "This year we sent 170 preachers and 250 Quran reciters abroad. The US got the lion's share -- 80 of them," Abdel-Latif told the Weekly, stressing that the ministry is keen to fulfill the needs of Muslim communities around the world during the holy month of Ramadan. According to Abdel-Latif, "only three per cent of our preachers were denied visas this year -- mainly for failing to meet [specific] visa requirements. The preachers we send usually don't have problems getting visas because we hand- pick them very carefully. We only select those whose knowledge of the country they are traveling to, and command of its language, are good."
