His own fatwas have often been challenged by a rival authority, the ancient university of al-Azhar.
Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, whose offices were attacked, is the university's ultimate authority.
Both the government and al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world's highest authority, condemned the incident.
Azhar Mahmood, too, is coming back from a lean spell, but he's a quality performer.
Al Azhar is nothing less than the premiere Islamic university in the entire world.
Gilani would not confirm the detention of Masood Azhar, the leader of another militant group, Jaish-e-Muhammad.
The men, who were released, were Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar.
Maulana Azhar maintains a low profile these days and no longer wields the same power.
His response was a typically polished 33 before being caught behind off Azhar Mahmood.
Al-Azhar al-Sharif institute in Cairo said it sought to "re-establish ties based on mutual respect and understanding".
BBC: Pope resigns: Sunni authority al-Azhar eyes better ties
Maulana Azhar immediately formed the Jaish-e-Mohammad with help from Sheikh Omar and some of Pakistan's highest clerics.
Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood took four wickets each as the provincial side fell short of their target.
The bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque as people were leaving evening prayers, said police official Azhar Iqbal.
His papacy got off to a rocky start with al-Azhar, which accused Benedict of repeatedly addressing Islam negatively.
BBC: Pope resigns: Sunni authority al-Azhar eyes better ties
"Arafat served his people all his life until he faced his God with courage and honesty, " Azhar said.
Another key post, the minister of religious endowments (Awqaf), went to Osama al-Abd, the president of al-Azhar University.
And Al Azhar has bullied the Egyptian government into granting it power to censor all books on Islam.
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Proponents of nearly all varieties of Islamic legal thinking--mu'tazila, ahl-al-hadith, and usuli alike--found intellectual homes in Al Azhar.
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Its imam would be a senior Islamic scholar, drawn from Cairo's al-Azhar university.
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"This is the big question, " says Dr Mokahmer Abu Sada, who teaches politics at Al Azhar University in Gaza.
Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi Azhar gave the opening prayer at Cairo's al-Jalaal mosque, starting the official funeral ceremony.
Earlier Pakistani Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi had been held.
Back in the UK, Azhar's preaching had long been influential among the most militant British-Pakistani campaigners involved in Kashmir.
Al-Azhar University, a revered 1, 000-year-old seat of Sunni Muslim teaching in Cairo, has come out strongly against any change.
And, over the course of the next four decades, the Saudis steadily purchased the ideological direction of Al Azhar.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: How the Saudis control the voice of Islam in America
Maulana Masood Azhar and Sheikh Omar, as the latter is known, stayed active.
Al-Azhar (which means the "most flourishing and resplendent" in English) was named after Fatima al-Zahraa, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
BBC: Pope resigns: Sunni authority al-Azhar eyes better ties
This was immediately followed by attacks and calls for death of the 36 year-old graduate of Al Azhar Islamic University.
But, after Azhar had been caught behind off Ben Hilfenhaus, the dismissal of Butt proved the catalyst to Australia's victory.
Hundreds of students at Egypt's al-Azhar university broke into the offices of the country's top Muslim cleric of the al-Azhar mosque.
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