RNA – Shaykh Dr. Ahmad Mahmoud Karimah, the director of the Department of Contemporary Islamic Jurisprudence at Egypt’s famous al-Azhar University has said that the his visit to Iran has caused unease within the university. The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs has announced that because Dr. Karimah visited Shi’ite seminaries in the Iranian holy city of Qom, his membership in the council is suspended.
Earlier this month, a delegation headed by Dr. Karimah traveled to Qom to discuss the possibility of establishing collaborative relationships between al-Azhar and seminaries in Iran. Dr. Karimah added that he did not expect such a severe attack from al-Azhar over his visit to Iran.
Hujjat al-Islam Zamani, the vice president of the International Islamic Seminaries of Qom stated that he invited Dr. Karimah for personal purposes and not as a representative of al-Azhar University. Dr. Karimah emphasized that he only went to Iran in his capacity as a professor to teach comparative jurisprudence in relation to the five Islamic schools of thought. Besides meeting with various Shi’ite sources of emulation and scholars in Qom, he visited Sunni scholars in Kurdistan and learned about the jurisprudence of the Ahlul-Bayt (A).
He added that that Salafist cells within al-Azhar University which are affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood spread rumours about his trip and led vicious attacks against him and caused the suspension of his membership.
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