CAIRO - Many Azhar sheikhs will not be able to travel to the US and some European countries this Ramadan because they can not get entry visas before the beginning of the holy month. The US and Canadian embassies in Cairo have not been able to issue visas to the sheikhs, who used to lead prayers and give religious lessons to members of Muslim communities in America during Ramadan, which starts next Wednesday. Officials at the American and Canadian embassies justified their stance by saying that they did not receive clearances from the security agencies of their respective countries, triggering criticism by the local media. Each Ramadan, more than 1,00 sheikhs of al-Azhar, the highest seat of Sunni Islam learning, used to get entry visas to the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. But this year, the number of visas has dropped sharply due to security reasons. The embassy officials said that security and administrative procedures were behind what they called "the low number of visas issued to Al-Azhar sheikhs". In the meantime, the sheikhs have complained repeatedly about what they said was an unjustified intransigence by the officials of Western embassies.
