Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, has experienced backlash for wishing Christians across the world a merry Christmas on 25 December.
أهنئ إخوتي وأصدقائي الأعزاء البابا فرنسيس، والبابا تواضروس، ورئيس أساقفة كانتربري د. جاستن ويلبي، وبطريرك القسطنطينية برثلماوس الأول، وقادة الكنائس، والإخوة المسيحيين في الشرق والغرب بأعياد الميلاد، وأدعو الله أن يعلو صوت الأخوَّة والسلام، ويسود الأمان والاستقرار في كل مكان.
— أحمد الطيب (@alimamaltayeb) December 25, 2022
His original tweet read: “I congratulate my dear brothers and friends Pope Francis, Pope Tawadros II, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Justin Welby, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople along with other church leaders and all Christian brothers in the East and West for the occasion of Christmas.”
Al-Tayeb followed up with a second tweet, “pray[ing] to Allah that the voice of brotherhood and peace will be louder, and that safety and stability will prevail everywhere.”
Responses to al-Tayeb have been polarised between supportive and inflamed, with many either saluting the Imam for his tolerance or disparaging him for allegedly straying from his beliefs.
اتق الله ياشيخ
“ماذا عملت فيما علمت؟ ”
أعد للسؤال جواباًوعالمٌ بعلمه لم يعملن
معذبٌ من قَبل عباد الوثن ..يعني احنا نقنع النصارى بخطئهم أنهم يحتفلون بعيسى عليه السلام ويقولون إنه ابن الله وليس نبي فقط!
ونعلم الغلابة من المسلمين أن هذا كفر!
أُمال لما نقنعك هنقول ايه؟
— د. ماجد جابر العنزي (@majedalenzi) December 25, 2022
They Christians say Allah has a son! They say Issa is the son of Allah!
They insult Allah! They insult your Lord!
Then we come to congratulate them? For what?!
For the birth of the ‘Lord’?
Congratulations, your Lord was ‘Born’?!— Muhammad Ameen (@muhammadammiie) December 26, 2022
The backlash has prompted Dar Al-Ifta, Egypt’s leading Islamic authority, to release a statement on 26 December saying that there is no “objection to congratulating non-Muslims on their holidays and occasions.” Furthermore, the statement insisted that this is not a deviation from religion “as some extremists claim.”
“Congratulating non-Muslim partners of the homeland and holidays is good neighbourliness, and the greeting is returned with kindness and good coexistence,” the statement concluded.
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