Sources say Egypt pressing Al-Azhar 'to back UAE' against Iran

Sources say Egypt pressing Al-Azhar 'to back UAE' against Iran Submitted by MEE correspondent on Tue, 05/19/2026 - 15:45 The Sunni world’s top Islamic body shifted its line after a presidential warning that Egyptian jobs in the Gulf were at stake UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (right) receiving Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, at al-Shati Palace in Abu Dhabi on 12 July 2024 (AFP/UAE Presidency/file photo) Off Egypt ’s presidency has pressed Al-Azhar, the leading authority in Sunni Islam, to publicly back the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states in their confrontation with Iran , security sources and sources close to the institution’s grand imam said. The Cairo-based seat of Sunni learning has issued four statements since the start of the current war, including one that condemned Iranian strikes on the UAE as “the aggression of the Islamic Republic of Iran against its Muslim neighbour, the United Arab Emirates”. Al-Azhar has not condemned American or Israeli strikes on Iran in any of its statements, a shift from its position during last year’s war, when it described that conflict as “the aggression of the occupying entity against the Islamic Republic of Iran”.