Iran’s President, Egypt’s Al-Azhar Sheikh to Meet in Cairo Tomorrow

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is slated to hold talks with Sheikh of Egypt’s Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb in Cairo tomorrow, Egyptian media reports said on Monday.

During their meeting, Ahmadinejad and Sheikh al-Tayyeb will discuss Islamic, Arab and international issues as well as Al-Azhar’s role at both local and regional levels, al-Youm al-Sabe news website reported today.

Tomorrow’s meeting will be the first of a kind between Ahmadinejad and Sheikh al-Tayyeb.

Head of Iran’s Interests Section in Cairo Mojtaba Amani yesterday announced that President Ahmadinejad is slated to take part in the upcoming Cairo Islamic Summit.

The summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is slated to be held on February 6-7 in Cairo. The OIC Summit is titled ‘The Islamic world: new challenges and growing opportunities.’

Earlier this month in a meeting in Cairo, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Sheikh al-Tayyeb stressed unity among Muslim nations.

During the meeting, Salehi said enemies of Islam are trying to stir rift between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

“Enemies have made great efforts during recent years to cause a rift among Muslims and also to intensify it,” the Iranian minister said, and called on Muslims to avoid conflicts and rely on commonalties instead.

Salehi invited the Sheikh of Al-Azhar to visit Iran to hold talks with Iranian clerics.

Sheikh Al-Azhar, too, urged Muslims to foster unity and said enemies should not be allowed to achieve their objectives to create conflicts in the Muslim world.