Azhar launches inquiry into Islamic scholar’s visit to Iran

Islamic scholar Ahmed Kerima will be referred to investigations following his visit to a Shia seminary in Iran, Al-Azhar University said in a strongly worded statement issued Thursday.

The Islamic university refuted media reports that Kerima went to Iran heading an official delegation from Al-Azhar. The university has sent no delegations to Iran, the statement declared, expressing its “deep dissatisfaction” with Kerima’s actions, which it called “a stark infringement of Al-Azhar and a violation of its bylaws.”

The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs will temporarily suspend Kerima’s membership until the results of the investigation are released, the council said in an official statement, as per Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb’s orders.

Kerima was not available for comment to Mada Masr.

In a telephone interview with the privately owned Mehwar television channel, the scholar said he went to give a lecture in Iran’s Sunni Kurdistan area in order to mobilize against what he described as the increasing influence of Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood thought.

“[The conflict] between Egypt and Iran is political and not religious. We are not in direct animosity with the Iranians, who are not infidels. I went for a scientific mission, and the supporting documents are in front of Al-Azhar's administration,” Kerima said.

During the trip, Kerima appeared in photos with clerics identified by the Iranian Hawzah News Agency as Shia scholars. The news agency stated that Kerima was on an official Al-Azhar visit, and also reported that Kerima stopped at religious and media institutions in the Shia city of Hawzah, according to the satellite channel CNN Arabic. During the trip, Kerima allegedly presented a draft project for cooperation between the Hawzah seminary and Al-Azhar to confront “Islamic extremism."

Muslim Brotherhood supporters circulated the photos widely on social media platforms, lambasting the visit as an indication of a possible rapprochement between Egypt and Iran.

Kerima has been a vocal opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood and staunchly defended the military’s ouster of Brotherhood-affiliated former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The controversial preacher appeared on a program broadcast on the Al-Manar channel, which is owned by the Shia Lebanese group Hezbollah. In the interview, he made controversial statements against the companions of Prophet Mohamed, accusing them of “snatching” the caliphate from Prophet Mohamed’s cousin Ali. Shias believe that Ali should have been the first caliph following Prophet Mohamed.

Al-Azhar accuses Iran of spreading Shia discourse in the Sunni Muslim world.