Tantawi :Islam prohibits attacks on innocent people

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi Tuesday denied foreign pressures while setting down curricula offered by the institutions of the world's highest religious Sunni authority.

At a meeting with an American delegation, Sheikh Tantawi said the syllabuses are laid down by the scholars of Al-Azhar with no influences whatsoever from inside or outside parties. He told the delegation, which included congressmen, of the difference between Jihad in Islam and terrorism.

Islam considers the attack on one person an aggression on the whole of humanity, as it is a religion reaching out to all those seeking peace, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar added.

He noted that Azhar had led world religious institutions that condemned the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.