Sheikh Ahmed Karima added that extremist groups like Wahabis and the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that spread violence in the name of Islam are another hurdle in this path.
They are not happy about Shia-Sunni unity and make attempts to foment discord among Shias and Sunnis, he said, according to iqna.ir.
Last month, Sheikh Karima said he plans to establish a society for promoting Islamic proximity in Egypt. He said he would go on with his plan despite all the pressures from Takfiris.
“The movement toward Islamic proximity began by Dr Shaltut (a previous president of al-Azhar) and late grand Ayatollah Borujerdi (a former Shia source of emulation) and we will, God willing, revive it so as to foil the plots of the US, Mossad and their cronies in the region,” the senior scholar said.
Earlier, Egypt’s judiciary decided to put Sheikh Karima on trial for visiting and giving lectures at a Shia seminary in Iran.
Karima was suspended from al-Azhar’s Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs– led by Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb – for giving lectures at a Hawza (Shia theological seminary) in Iran without the council’s permission.
He paid a visit to the holy city of Qom, Iran, in September and learned about the activities of Qom Seminary.
In his meetings with scholars in Qom, Karima called for cooperation between Qom Seminary and Al-Azhar and holding joint conference for confronting extremism.
MR/1664
Publish Date: 17 December 2014 - 17:46
Tehran, Dec 17, IRNA -- A prominent al-Azhar scholar described the schemes and plots hatched by the US and Zionist regime as the main hurdles in the way of Islamic proximity.