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Ex-mufti of Jerusalem Invited to Moscow by Soviet Government

March 4, 1953
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The ex-Mufti of Jerusalem has been invited to visit the Soviet Union, the Manchester Guardian reported today. The dispatch stated that the Soviet Ambassador to Cairo was said to have passed on an invitation to the ex-Mufti from Moslems in the USSR.

The Guardian dispatch, citing other evidences of Soviet interest in the Arab world, said that a group of ten Soviet Moslem students had come to Cairo and asked to be permitted to study at the El Azhar University, and that they reported that other Soviet Moslems would follow them to Cairo. The Guardian also reported an alleged bid by Russia to Saudi Arabia to permit the operation of an airline from the USSR to Mecca because many Soviet Moslems wish to make the pilgrimage to the shrine of Islam.

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