Shaykh Muhammed Sayyid al-Tantawi, imam of al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Egypt:

Attacking innocent people is not courageous, it is stupid and will be punished on the day of judgement. ... It is not courageous to attack innocent children, women and civilians. It is courageous to protect freedom, it is courageous to defend oneself and not to attack.  (Agence France Presse, September 14, 2001)