ÚLTIMA HORA: Fallece Mohamed Sayed Tantawy, imán y rector de la mezquita y universidad de Al Azhar, y líder de la delegación islámica que negocia con el Vaticano las bases del 'diálogo interreligioso' entre católicos y musulmanes (vía Al Jazeera)
X- Tantawy, generalmente descrito como "la voz del islam moderado", lanzó en 2007 una fatua para que los periodistas "mentirosos" con el islam fueran condenados a recibir "80 latigazos" seguidos de una "ejecución civil".
- NUEVO DIGITAL (04/03/10) - Nuevo encuentro 'interreligioso' Vaticano-islam: Roma recuerda a los católicos que deben "respetar la dignidad humana" de los musulmanes mientras insiste en expurgar los libros de "acontecimientos históricos" que dividan a los "creyentes"
- NUEVO DIGITAL - ARCHIVO/SELECCIÓN: SANTA ALIANZA CONTRA UN CONTINENTE INFIEL Y LAICO: LA IGLESIA CATÓLICA, EMBAJADORA DEL ISLAM EN EUROPA
Seguimiento:
ALJAZEERA.COM
Al-Azhar head dies in Saudi Arabia
Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, Sunni Islam's most senior religious figure, has died during a visit to Saudi Arabia.
The 82-year-old Egyptian, who had previously undergone heart surgery, suffered a heart attack as he boarded a flight early Wednesday morning, Egyptian television said.
He was admitted to the Amir Sultan hospital in Riyadh where doctors proclaimed him dead.
Tantawi - who headed al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning - was known for his controversial ban of the niqab, which he said had no basis in Islam.
He also wrote a number of books, including a 15-volume, 7,000-page encyclopedia on the interpretation of Quran.
His body is likely to be sent back to Cairo on Wednesday evening, local television said.