Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Top Egyptian cleric Tantawi dies of heart attack
8:46 AM | 
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CAIRO: Egypt’s top cleric Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, a controversial figure in Egypt, died on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia of a heart attack suffered while boarding a plane, state media said.
Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar -- Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning -- was in Riyadh to attend the King Faisal awards ceremony, a local news agency said.
Tantawi, 81, was boarding a plane early Wednesday morning when he suffered severe pain and fell on the stairs, Egyptian television said.
He was rushed to the Amir Sultan hospital in Riyadh where doctors pronounced him dead.
An Egyptian official said that Tantawi had died of a heart attack.
Immediately after the announcement of his death, sombre music played on Egyptian television to footage of Al-Azhar mosque. The news of his death was "an indescribable shock," his son Amr Tantawi told Egyptian television.
"The family has decided that since God chose for him to die on Saudi land, he will be buried in Al-Baqie" cemetery in Islam's second holy city of Medina, his son added.
Tantawi was appointed head of Al-Azhar by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1996.
The softly spoken cleric with a trim white beard, who was always seen wearing a traditional Azharite white turban, has long been a controversial figure in Egypt.
He spoke out against female circumcision and took a stand against the full face veil as "un-Islamic."
But many saw him as an employee of the state who moved Al-Azhar in line with government policy.
"He was the weakest head of Al-Azhar ever because he saw himself only as a government employee," Islamist and political analyst Kamal Habib said.
In January, a council of leading Muslim clerics, directed by Tantawi, supported the highly unpopular government's construction of an underground barrier along the border with Gaza to impede tunnelling by smugglers.
Construction of the barrier drew angry condemnation from the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip, which relies on the tunnels for food and fuel, as well as the weapons and other contraband the barrier is designed to stop.
In 2007, he urged Egyptian Muslims to vote on a series of unpopular constitutional amendments put forward by the ruling National Democratic Party and boycotted by many.
In October last year, a national row broke out after Tantawi banned the niqab, or full face veil, in all residences and schools affiliated to Al-Azhar, except in classrooms where the teacher is male.
The top cleric also sparked controversy in 2008 after shaking hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a religious conference.
Pictures of the handshake during the UN-sponsored religious dialogue caused a furore in Egypt, where a 1979 peace treaty with Israel remains highly unpopular.
He said at the time he did not know the octogenarian Peres.
The Al-Azhar institution is tasked with propagating Islamic culture and religion around the world.
Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar -- Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning -- was in Riyadh to attend the King Faisal awards ceremony, a local news agency said.
Tantawi, 81, was boarding a plane early Wednesday morning when he suffered severe pain and fell on the stairs, Egyptian television said.
He was rushed to the Amir Sultan hospital in Riyadh where doctors pronounced him dead.
An Egyptian official said that Tantawi had died of a heart attack.
Immediately after the announcement of his death, sombre music played on Egyptian television to footage of Al-Azhar mosque. The news of his death was "an indescribable shock," his son Amr Tantawi told Egyptian television.
"The family has decided that since God chose for him to die on Saudi land, he will be buried in Al-Baqie" cemetery in Islam's second holy city of Medina, his son added.
Tantawi was appointed head of Al-Azhar by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1996.
The softly spoken cleric with a trim white beard, who was always seen wearing a traditional Azharite white turban, has long been a controversial figure in Egypt.
He spoke out against female circumcision and took a stand against the full face veil as "un-Islamic."
But many saw him as an employee of the state who moved Al-Azhar in line with government policy.
"He was the weakest head of Al-Azhar ever because he saw himself only as a government employee," Islamist and political analyst Kamal Habib said.
In January, a council of leading Muslim clerics, directed by Tantawi, supported the highly unpopular government's construction of an underground barrier along the border with Gaza to impede tunnelling by smugglers.
Construction of the barrier drew angry condemnation from the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip, which relies on the tunnels for food and fuel, as well as the weapons and other contraband the barrier is designed to stop.
In 2007, he urged Egyptian Muslims to vote on a series of unpopular constitutional amendments put forward by the ruling National Democratic Party and boycotted by many.
In October last year, a national row broke out after Tantawi banned the niqab, or full face veil, in all residences and schools affiliated to Al-Azhar, except in classrooms where the teacher is male.
The top cleric also sparked controversy in 2008 after shaking hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a religious conference.
Pictures of the handshake during the UN-sponsored religious dialogue caused a furore in Egypt, where a 1979 peace treaty with Israel remains highly unpopular.
He said at the time he did not know the octogenarian Peres.
The Al-Azhar institution is tasked with propagating Islamic culture and religion around the world.
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