Syrian Cleric Abd Al-Rahman Kuki Accuses the Sheik of Al-Azhar, Tantawi, of Treason over His Position on the Veil

Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian Islamic preacher Sheik Abd Al-Rahman Kuki, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on October 20, 2009. Following this interview, in which Kuki attacked Al-Azhar Sheik Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi for his ban on the niqab on Al-Azhar campuses, the preacher was arrested by Syrian authorities. Tantawi recently announced that he was planning to sue Al-Jazeera TV and Kuki.

Faysal Qassem, interviewer: What is the meaning of this crazed campaign against the Sheik of Al-Azhar, just because he asked a female student to remove her niqab? Some people are saying that what he did was a civilized act.

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Sheik Abd Al-Rahman Kuki: I salute the noble, venerable women, the Muslim women who wear the niqab, or the hijab, who refuse to follow the Zio-American agenda, which is manifest in the words of the so-called Sheik of Al-Azhar, the women who refuse to forsake their religion, their honor, and their faith. They know that the campaign launched by the Sheik of Al-Azhar against them is part of the Zionist Crusader campaign against Islam.

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Why did the Sheik of Al-Azhar choose this timing? It coincides with the Goldstone Report, in order to conceal the traitors. It coincides with the attack on the Judaization of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to conceal this. The timing is intended to disrupt the Palestinian reconciliation, and coincides with the overt Crusader European onslaught against the veil. What the Sheik of Al-Azhar did amounts to treason and is a crime against Islam.

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The Sheik of Al-Azhar is participating in the Crusader campaign against Islam. What is the battlefield of the Sheik of Al-Azhar today? What is his field of action? His battlefield is Islam. His foremost enemies are the hijab, women’s modesty, the niqab. Has the Sheik of Al-Azhar launched an onslaught against the Jews? No. Has he come out against corruption? No. Against brothels and bars, against promiscuity? Against skinny jeans, against shameful clothes? Against corruption, bribery, favoritism, and nepotism? Absolutely not. He has never done any of that. He launches a war against modesty, honor, moral values, and Islam, against the noble, lofty values, against tradition, and religious duty, against any of the rites of Islam.

The Sheik of Al-Azhar must resign. I say to the Sheik of Al-Azhar: Go home, or go work for Sarkozy. You should become an advisor to Sarkozy, to George Bush, or to the man whose hand you shook – Shimon Peres.