Grand Mufti Invites President Obama to Address Muslims From Top Mosque

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FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Obama could address Muslims from top mosque
Egypt's grand mufti invites president to speak at prominent sharia center

By Aaron Klein

TEL AVIV, Israel – The grand mufti of Egypt has invited President Obama to address Muslims around the globe from one of the most important mosques in the Islamic world.

The invitation to speak from Egypt's Al Azhar mosque follows an announcement over this past weekend that Obama will travel to Egypt next month to deliver his promised address to the Muslim world.

According to Al-Masri Al-Yawm, a state-run Egyptian newspaper, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and other scholars from Egypt's Al Azhar University invited Obama to use the mosque as venue for the president's upcoming visit, explaining it would promote a culture of dialogue between Islam and the West.

Al Azhar University is the most respected Sunni Islamic learning center in the world and the second oldest degree-granting school. Clerics at the university's attendant mosque decide Islamic sharia law matters for Sunni Muslims internationally.

The university opened studies in AD 975. It was founded by the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt, which is descended from the daughter of the Islamic figure Muhammad.

It is highly unusual for a non-Muslim to speak at the mosque. An Egyptian official, contacted by WND, could not think of any non-Muslim world leader who had received an invitation.

Obama had pledged he would deliver an address to the Muslim world within his first few months in office. His first interview as president was with Al Arabiya, a pan-Arab television network.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Saturday the city where Obama will deliver the address has not been selected.

Gibbs said Obama decided on Egypt because the country "in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world." He said the issues of democracy and human rights "are things that are on the president's mind, and we'll have a chance to discuss those in more depth on the trip."

"This isn't a speech to leaders," Gibbs said. "This is a speech to many, many people and a continuing effort by this president and this White House to demonstrate how we can work together to ensure the safety and security and the future well-being, through hope and opportunity, of the children of this country and of the Muslim world."