CAIRO: The grand Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the country’s top Islamic authority, offered greetings to Coptic Pope Tawadros II on the occasion of Easter. Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb met the pope on Sunday morning at the papal headquarters at the St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbassiya, Cairo. Tawadros described Al-Tayyeb’s visit to the cathedral by saying “it reflects love, affection and the bond between him and Al-Azhar’s Grand Sheikh,” Al-Masry el-Youm newspaper reported. In a statement, the Al-Azhar Imam said the brotherly ties binding Egypt’s Muslim and Christian communities set a model for co-existence and tolerance. Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, has received several high dignitaries and state officials who expressed their greetings to Egypt’s copts in celebration of Easter. Easter marks the end of a 55-day period of fasting for Copts. The country’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam and Minister of Religious Endowments Mokhtar Gomaa also visited the cathedral to extend their best wishes.