Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantaoui, former rector of Cairo's prestigious al-Azhar University, praised the Palestinian suicide bombers Thursday. According to Tantaoui, "anyone who blows himself up among aggressors who destroy houses and kill women and children, while defending the honor of our brothers in Palestine is holy, because he blows himself up in the heart of an enemy who is raping his lands, disgracing our honor and killing people."
Tantaoui added that, "if the suicide bomber is in an Israeli town, and it is proved that there are aggressors there and he blows himself up, killing men, women and children, he is also holy, because he cannot distinguish between them." However, the sheikh said that the bombers should not detonate intentionally "among the weak [women and children]" because it did not conform to the tenets of Islam and humanity.
Some two months ago, Tantaoui took part in an inter-religious council in Alexandria, at the end of which he signed the council's closing statement that, "the murder of innocents - supposedly in the name of god - is sacrilege of His holy name and disgraces the religion worldwide." However, after participating in the council, Tantaoui received death threats from Islamic extremists, which may have caused him to change his attitude
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