A top official of Cairo's Al-Azhar university, which US President Barack Obama referred to as a "beacon of learning" in an appeal for reconciliation with Muslims, warned Wednesday that a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran risks destroying ties.
"If the government fails to stop this, this will be the latest manifestation of religious terrorism, and it would ruin America's relations with the Muslim world," said Sheikh Abdel Muti al-Bayyumi, who sits on the Sunni Muslim seat of learning's highest council, the Islamic Research Academy.
"This will give an opportunity to terrorism. Are they trying to fight terrorism or encourage it?" Bayyumi asked.
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The Dove World Outreach Centre, a small church in Gainesville, Florida, has vowed to mark Saturday's ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks by burning Korans as they remember the almost 3,000 people killed by Al-Qaeda hijackers.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has denounced the plans of the church's pastor, Terry Jones, as "disgraceful."
It was from Cairo that Obama gave a keynote address to world Muslims in June 2009, seeking to end a sharp downturn in US relations with the Islamic world during the administration of his predecessor George W. Bush.
