CAIRO (AA) – Egypt's Al-Azhar and the ultraconservative Nour Party have underlined the need to expedite national reconciliation to resolve the political crisis triggered early this month by the ouster of elected President Mohammed Morsi.
At a meeting Tuesday between Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb and Nour Party Chairman Younis Makhioun and the latter's deputy Bassam al-Zarqa, al-Tayeb reiterated Al-Azhar's readiness "to exert all efforts to render reconciliation efforts successful and bring the country to safety."
"Al-Azhar is keen not to exclude any party from the reconciliation process," al-Tayeb stressed, according to an official Al-Azhar statement.
Egypt has been in the throes of a political crisis since the army ousted Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, following June 30 mass demonstrations against his regime.
Under the terms of a military-imposed roadmap, the powerful army also suspended the constitution and installed the head of Egypt's constitutional court as interim president.
Both the leader of Al-Azhar and the Salafist Nour Party have supported the army-backed roadmap for Egypt's post-Morsi transitional phase.
Since Morsi's ouster, thousands of his supporters have been staging daily demonstrations and sit-ins to demand his reinstatement.
The Muslim Brotherhood insists on Morsi's return to office as a precondition for national dialogue and reconciliation.
Meanwhile, al-Tayeb on Tuesday met with of a group of young activists from the "June 30 Front", comprised of groups that had spearheaded calls for Morsi's ouster.
According to Al-Azhar's Tuesday statement, the meeting tackled Al-Azhar's anticipated role in the upcoming period.
It also noted that the young activists in attendance had voiced hope that the religious body would play a more prominent role in spreading moderate Islamic teachings, stressing their keenness to see Al-Azhar's independence maintained.
Egypt's Al-Azhar represents the highest seat of Islamic scholarship in the Sunni-Muslim world.
