Pope Francis overjoyed.
In the very heart of Christianity, Muslim students in Rome can now enroll through the local “Dar al Salam” mosque in Egypt’s Al-Azhar University to train to become imams.
The prestigious Cairo university is a reference point for the Sunni Muslim world, with a yearly enrolment of some 90,000 students. Al-Azhar University is associated with the Egyptian mosque of the same name, and is one of the chief centers of Islamic learning in the world.
It is also alma mater to a number of notorious Sunni clerics, including Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the principle ideologues behind the Muslim brotherhood.
The unauthorized “Dar al Salam” mosque has been at the center of controversy especially since erecting a minaret in 2012 to the consternation of the local population.
The mosque’s new alliance with the Al-Azhar University, known for its ties to Islamic fundamentalism, will not help to quell people’s concerns that the house of worship could become a breeding ground for extremism.