Egypt’s Azhar Religious Sheikh to visit Karbala

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: The Local Administration of southwestern Iraq’s sacred city of Karbala has announced on Thursday its complete readiness to receive Egypt’s Al-Azhar Religious Authority, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayib, who expressed wish to visit the sacred cities of Karbala and Najaf.   “We have heard that al-Azhar’s Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayib, has expressed wish to visit Karbala and Najaf cities, and I think that such visit shall make us very happy, because it carries several messages, most important of which is the Islamic unity and the high vision by the most ancient religious authority and Islamic university in Egypt and the Islamic World, which is the Honest al-Azhar,” Deputy Chairman of Karbala Province’s Council, Nuseif Jassim al-Khitaby, told IraqiNews.com news agency.   The Sheikh of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayib, has expressed wish to visit the sacred Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbal, in response for an invitation by the Chairman of the Sadrist Trend, Shiite Cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.   “The position of the Local Government of Karbala is stemming from the position of the Religious Authority and its Representatives in Karbala, which supports the said visit, because it reflects the Islamic unity at a circumstance we mostly need,” Khitaby said, adding that “The Sheikh of al-Azhar represents the decent address among other Islamic principles, because he represents the ‘middle status’ calling for forgiveness, rejection of divisions and striving to express love, because Islam is the Religion of Love.”   SKH (IT)     549