The Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, denounced the offensive cartoons that were published by the French satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo", describing them as "a crime against humanity."
Al-Tayyib said - in posts on his accounts on social media platforms, published in Arabic, English and French - that “our Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, is more precious to us than ourselves, and insulting his greatest virtue is not freedom of opinion, but an explicit call to hatred, violence, and breakdown of all human and civilized values.”
He added, "The justification for this under the pretext of protecting freedom of expression is a short understanding of the difference between the human right to freedom and crime against humanity in the name of protecting freedoms."
Our Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, is dearer to us than ourselves, and offending his greatest character is not freedom of opinion, but an explicit call for hatred and violence and a breakdown of all human and civilized values. The justification for this under the pretext of protecting freedom of expression is a short understanding of the difference between the human right to freedom and crime in the right of humanity in the name of protecting freedoms.
- Ahmad Al-Tayeb (@alimamaltayeb) September 3, 2020
The Sheikh of Al-Azhar's comment came after the French newspaper - Al-Wednesday - published insulting cartoons of the Holy Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, coinciding with the start of the judiciary trial of the accused in the January 2015 events in France, which were the attacks that targeted the newspaper’s headquarters, policemen and a shop selling Jewish food. , And resulted in the deaths of 17 people within 3 days.
French President Emmanuel Macron said - during a visit to Lebanon on Tuesday - that he is not in a position to pass judgment on the decision of "Charlie Hebdo" to republish those cartoons, adding that France enjoys freedom of expression.
As for French Prime Minister Jean Castex, he posted a brief tweet on Twitter, saying "Charlie always."
The publications of the Sheikh of Al-Azhar have been interacted with on social media platforms, in conjunction with the rise of the tag "Except Allah's Messenger" in the list of most discussed topics.
The offensive cartoons, when they were published in 2005 and 2006, sparked a wave of outrage throughout the Islamic world.
I think most of us knew and it went unnoticed https://t.co/g3Nled8scF
- Ahmed Jamal (@ ahmed_1403199) September 3, 2020
The return of French scum https://t.co/hXelgNL4EU
- Abdullah Altahawy (@AbdullahTahawey) September 3, 2020