Source: IslamOnline.net

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-10/15/article06.shtml

On October 15, 2005 IslamOnline.net reported, "Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world, has decided to shun American officials and freeze cooperation with all US institutions after Washington denied one of its senior officials an entry visa. 'Grand Imam Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi decided to ban US officials from entering the headquarter of Al Azhar Sheikhdom in Cairo suspended cooperation with official American institutions,' well-placed sources told IslamOnline.net on Saturday, October 15. 'He also decided not to send Al-Azhar scholars to the US in the future even if Washington granted them entry,' they added. After weeks of procrastination, the US Embassy in Cairo refused to give Sheikh Abdul Hamid Al-Atrash, the head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, an entry visa, giving no reasons."