Mar 10th, 10:55pm
The White House praised Sheik Mohammed Tantawi, the top Egyptian religious leader who died Wednesday, as a voice for faith and tolerance.
Tantawi, who was 81, died after suffering a heart attack at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, authorities said.
As the grand sheik of al-Azhar University in Egypt, Tantawi was a voice for faith and tolerance who was widely respected in Muslim communities in Egypt and around the globe, and by many who seek to build a world grounded in mutual respect,
the White House said in a statement.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Tantawi's leadership at al-Azhar, which she called a beacon of Islamic learning for over a thousand years
and said he had played a major role in fostering dialogue among religions and ethnic communities.
Clinton recalled Tantawi's condemnation of terrorist violence after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when he said, It's not courage in any way to kill an innocent person.
Tantawi, who was also grand imam of al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, was born in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Suhag and held a doctorate in the interpretation of the Koran. He was named grand mufti of Egypt in 1986 and grand sheik of al-Azhar in 1996.
