Middle East News
Muslim clerics call for unity after Egypt church bombing (Extra)
Jan 7, 2011, 11:45 GMT
Cairo - Top Muslim clerics used their Friday sermons to discuss tolerance and call on Christians and Muslims to unite against terrorism, as they condemned a deadly bombing outside a Coptic church in Egypt last week.
Coptic Christians around the world are celebrating their Christmas Day on Friday.
Egypt's Grand Mufti, Ali Gomaa - the second highest religious figure in the country - talked about the story of the birth of Christ and the co-existence between Islam and Christianity in his sermon.
'Some people tried to disturb our joy with Christmas by this heinous crime that has caused grief across the country,' Gomaa told thousands gathered at a Cairo mosque. 'Such crimes, which do not differentiate between Muslim and Christian or between a man and a woman, were rejected by the prophet (Mohammed).'
He also asked people to ask God to 'spare us disorder and chaos' in their prayers.
The Doha-based Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, meanwhile, stressed that 'those behind the blast have harmed Islam, whether they were Muslims or not.'
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