The grand sheikh of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb placed accentuation on the leading role of unity stressing, “All Shias and Sunnis are Muslims and votaries, staying in a same boat,”.
“What al-Azhar seeks is unity, inasmuch as this is not a time for dispersion and disputation,” the grand Egypt cleric pointed out.
Ahmed al-Tayeb went on to dismiss what media projects these days in portraying Sunni countries attacked by followers of other Islamic sects. In his line enemies try to level the accusation of intervening other countries’ affairs on these groups.
“We demand Sunni youths not to buy these made up remarks, since real votaries do not believe these takes leading to dispersion.”
His comments come as there has been anti-Shia propaganda spreading in Egypt by Wahabi Salafist groups in recent years.
The Salafists provoke sectarian strife in Egypt to advance their divisive agenda.
The rising anti-Shia sentiments have sometimes led to tragic events.
In June 2013, an angry mob led by the Egypt’s Saudi-backed Salafist sheikhs torched Shia residences in the small village of Zawyat Abu Musalam in Giza governorate, killing four citizens, including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Hassan Shehata.
/129