The newly appointed Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayyeb, has criticised hard-line clerics as posing a “serious threat” to Islam since they “focus on rituals and outward manifestations of piety at the expense of true spiritual development”. "We should confront preachers, whose ideas are very extremist. They should be excluded from all media outlets because they care for dramatic performances rather than stressing religious facts," el-Tayyeb, 64, said. On Friday, from hospital in Germany, President Hosni Mubarak named el-Tayyeb, a moderate, Western-educated Islamic scholar to head Al-Azhar, the pre-eminent theological institute of Sunni Islam, the faith's majority sect. He took over from Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, who died of a heart attack in Saudi Arabia on March 10 after heading Al-Azhar for nearly 14 years. “I'm going to hold meetings with those preachers who shout on TV screens to amend their style and broker new programmes to raise the awareness of young people," el-Tayyeb told official Egyptian television on Sunday night. He added that new methods of preaching would be adopted by Al-Azhar clerics to suit this era's young people, who tend to prefer "quick action to traditional ways". The top cleric is highly respected throughout the Muslim world, offering guidance on issues of faith in Egypt and other Islamic nations. He oversees an extensive network of Islamic schools, a university and religious institutes that open their doors to Muslims from around the world. The Sheikh of Al-Azhar also advises the State on religious matters. Meanwhile, el-Tayyeb said the approach of banning most things, which had become common among the majority of Muslim clerics was unacceptable. "This practice of tahreem [banning] is imported from abroad," he argued. El-Tayyeb, however, said he would never issue a decree to ban wearing the niqab (a full-face veil) as his predecessor Tantawi did, stressing that he would initiate dialogue with the veiled girls to learn about their opinions. "The niqab is not mandatory in Islam. It's a tradition," el-Tayyeb added. The French-educated el-Tayyeb, previously served as Egypt's Mufti, the nation's top religious law expert for a brief stint before stepping down in 2003 to head Cairo's Al-Azhar University. He is an expert on religious philosophy and issues of faith, and has written books about science, Marxism, Islamic philosophy, and Islamic culture. El-Tayyeb also said he would never show up at any conference with Israelis attending, pointing out, however, that he could have meetings with other Jews. "I can neither deal with Israelis, nor travel to Jerusalem to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque until the Israeli occupation [of Palestine] is over," he said. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. But anti-Israel sentiment runs high in Egypt.
