Religious and political leaders in much of the Muslim world have slammed what they see as insults to Islam in a row about depictions of the prophet Mohammed in France.
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi and the influential Al-Azhar religious institution on Wednesday condemned the satirical cartoons.
“Abusing prophets and messengers is contempt for noble religious values,” al-Sissi told a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of the prophet.
“If people have the right to express what is in their minds, I think that should stop when it comes to hurting the feelings of more than 1.5 billion Muslims,” he said, adding: “Stop hurting us.”