Sisi kisses head of veteran Islamic scholar Ahmed Omar Hashem

CAIRO – 27 April 2022: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi kissed sheikh Ahmed Omar Hashem’s head and shook his hands warmly during a ceremony celebrating Lailat al-Qadr, the one night in the holy month of Ramadan in which it is believed that Quran was first revealed to Prophet Muhammed.

On Wednesday, Sisi was heading out of the hall for a break, but stopped to greet Hashem, a veteran member of Al-Azhar Council for Senior Scholars, to the applause of the attendees.

Hashem, 81, supported the ouster of late President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. In the aftermath of Morsi’s overthrow, a Muslim Brotherhood supporter pretended to want to kiss Hashem’s hand after a speech, but instead spat on it, revealing he was against the removal of Morsi.

Hashem was once the president of Al-Azhar University and is popular among Egyptians for his sermons after Gomaa prayer on T.V. for many years.