World Bulletin / News Desk

Al-Azhar's Senior Scholars Council has accepted the resignation of prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the prestigious religious institution said in a statement on Monday.

Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb, who chaired the meeting, declined to vote, according to the statement.

Last week, al-Qaradawi, the president of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, resigned from Al-Azhar's most authoritative body to protest Tayeb's support for the army's July 3 ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.

In his resignation letter, al-Qaradawi said he wanted to "register the position taken by free scholars."

"I'm tendering my resignation… to the great Egyptian people, not to the Grand Imam who does not own the Azhar," he wrote.

The prominent scholar went on to assert that the post of Al-Azhar Grand Imam – like the presidency – "has been usurped by the military coup."

Al-Tayeb openly supported the military's overthrow of Morsi following mass protests against his administration.

The Qatar-based Al-Qaradawi has repeatedly criticized the move and chastised Egypt's new military-backed rulers.

He also blasted what he described as al-Tayeb's failure to invite members of the Senior Scholars Council to meet "in light of the recent massacres and grave incidents that have terrorized the Egyptian people, particularly the dispersal of the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins."

On August 14, hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators were killed when security forces violently cleared two sit-ins in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares.