Salafi Shiekh Mahmoud Shabaan, who achieved notoriety after his remarks were lampooned by satirist Bassem Youssef in early 2013, was banned from teaching at Al-Azhar University after being accused to inciting violence, Youm7 reported Monday.
The Ministry of Religious Endowment stated Shabaan, who used to work in the Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies for Boys in Desouk, is not allowed to deliver sermons in any mosque.
The ministry stated Shabaan was delivering ideas and thoughts to students that do not match Al-Azhar’s moderate nature, adding “we are against all forms of extremism.”
Shabaan frequently appeared on Islamic television channels during the administration of former President Mohamed Morsi as a commentator on political and social issues.
In January 2013, Morsi issued a complementary declaration in response to anger at his unpopular November 2012 constitutional declaration, which gave his decisions immunity from appeal. Morsi spoke about his additional declaration in a January interview with a female journalist who did not wear a veil, to the ire of some Islamists.
“Every time they ask me for an interview or a debate and I figure out that I will be sitting in front of a woman, I refuse,” Shabaan said in an appearance on Al-Hafez TV, adding “bring me a man, I want one!”
His final statement was seized upon by pundits for ridicule, most notably Bassem Youssef on his program “El Bernameg.”
