CAIRO -- One of Egypt's top Muslim clerics says America's relations with the Muslim world will be damaged irreparably if radical pastor Jerry Jones carries out his threat to burn Qurans at his splinter church in Gainesville, Fla.
Jones operates Dove International Outreach Center, a church with about 50 members.
He and associates now say they will not burn Muslim holy books, as once planned, to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"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 Bayyoumi, who sits on Sunni Muslims' highest council at Al Azhar's Islamic Research Academy.
Al Azhar is one of the Muslim world's most respected learning institutions. President Obama called it "a beacon of learning" during his address to the Muslim world in Cairo in 2009.
...lot of good having Nobama speak at Al Azhar. get it yet? Al Azhar is what makes Islam Islam.
