An Al-Azhar University professor was suspended for inviting Iranians to a conference he was planning to organize at his department, Youm7 reported Thursday.
Sabry Mohamed, head of the geography department at the Faculty of Humanities for girls will be suspended until his investigation reaches an outcome per a decision by head of the university Abdel Hay Azab.
Reporting anonymous sources at Al-Azhar University, Youm7 said that Mohamed invited Iranian personalities to the conference without an approval from the administration of the university; hence the investigation was ordered and the conference was canceled.
In 2014, Azab suspended comparative jurisprudence Professor Ahmed Kereima for three months for travelling to Shiite-majority Iran without permission from the university.
The Endowment Ministry closed the shrine of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohamed, Oct. 22-24 to prevent “Shiite fallacies” coinciding with the Day of Ashura, in which Shiites commemorate the killing of the Imam.
Although senior officials at the Endowment Ministry and Al-Azhar University descend from Al-Azhar, they are independent from Al-Azhar, the most prestigious religious institution in the Muslim world.
Despite Al-Azhar University and Endowment Ministry’s positions, Al-Azhar criticized the Sunni “hard-line stance” on Shiite on the occasion of Ashura Day.
Egypt is part of a coalition fighting Shiite Houthis in Yemen, but supports the Russian intervention in Syria on President Bashar al-Assad’s side.
