University grants doctorate to grand iman
The senior Muslim leader Grand Imam Shiek Al-Azhar, Dr Muhammad Sayid Tantawy, will tomorrow be conferred with an honorary doctorate from the Prince of Songkhla University.
The liberal arts doctorate is in recognition of his role in promoting peace and moderate Muslim ideology, according to university president Assoc Prof Boonsom Siribumrungsukha. A university council statement said Muhammad had made great contributions to Islamic studies. He taught Muslims to follow moderate ideology and to live with others in a multi-denominational world, the announcement said. Boonsom said Muhammad was an "internationally recognised religious leader who takes part in peace building in the region and the world". Former prime minister and vice chairman of the university council Chuan Leekpai will preside at the campus ceremony here. Muhammad has taught at Islamic universities in several countries and written books on the Koran and Islamic law. Considered one of the world's most influential Islamists, he once said extremism was the enemy of Islam. He is opposed to hardliners and their approach to female circumcision. In 1997 he said "[Islamic legal scholars] are unanimous in agreeing female circumcision has nothing to do with religion". He revealed his own daughter had not been circumcised. Muhammad, now 79, was appointed Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar in 1996. It is one of the oldest and most respected Islamic universities in the world. Many students from Thailand have travelled to Egypt to attend.
The Nation HAT YAI
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