TEHRAN - The grand imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar Islamic Center Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb has invited Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi to a conference on the prohibition of shedding Shia and Sunni blood.

El Tayeb in a letter to Makarem Shirazi stressed the need for maintaining Islamic unity, IQNA news agency reported Tuesday.

In reply to an earlier letter by Makarem Shirazi, el-Tayeb noted that neither Sunnis nor Shias benefit from sectarian disputes.

It is only the enemies of Islam who gain from discord among Muslims, he underscored.

“I have always highlighted the necessity of holding a conference with the participation of top Shia and Sunni scholars” to counter the threats against the Muslim Ummah, he added.

In his letter to el-Tayyeb a few weeks ago, ayatollah Makarem Shirazi had described Shia and Sunni as the two wings of the Islamic Ummah and stressed that sectarian conflicts are plots hatched by the enemies of Islam.

SP/P