May 11, 2009

by Jerry Gordon, The Iconoclast, May 11, 2009

When the White House announced President Obama long-awaited speech to the Muslim ummah, the venue had not been determined. As noted in this WorldNetDaily report by Aaron Klein, an invitation has been extended by the Grand Mufti of the Al Azhar Mosque – ancient Egyptian center of Sunni jurisprudence and Sharia theology. Klein noted:

The invitation to speak from Egypt’s Al Azhar mosque follows an announcement over this past weekend that Obama will travel to Egypt next month to deliver his promised address to the Muslim world.
According to Al-Masri Al-Yawm, a state-run Egyptian newspaper, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and other scholars
from Egypt’s Al Azhar University invited Obama to use the mosque as venue for the president’s upcoming visit, explaining it would promote a culture of dialogue between Islam and the West.

Al Azhar University is the most respected Sunni Islamic learning center in the world and the second oldest degree-granting school. Clerics at the university’s attendant mosque decide Islamic sharia law matters for Sunni Muslims internationally.

It is highly unusual for a non-Muslim to speak at the mosque. An Egyptian official, contacted by WND, could not think of any non-Muslim world leader who had received an invitation.

Al Azhar Mosque and University is considered the equivalent of the ‘Vatican’ in Sunni Islam. It is the bastion of Sharia law. It is also an institution that harbors principals like Grand Imam Sheik Tantawi whose hateful articulation of Koranic proscriptions of Jews, Christians and other infidels should make President Obama uneasy to be speaking there. (Continue Reading this Article)