Malcolm X in Cairo at the al-Azhar Mosque in 1964, Obama at the al-Azhar Mosque in 2009 where he made his first overseas speech.
http://www.csmonitor.com/1992/0210/10111.html/(page)/2
Malcolm X, traveling without any administrative support, took up offers of help from the sympathetic expatriate community. When he wasn’t meeting with African heads of state, days were spent in conference with senior officials of the Al Azhar Islamic Center, who are authorities of Sunni Islam. It was here that Malcolm X sought official consent for his break-away movement and support for himself as a genuine minister of Islam.
It is apparent that there was distrust at first, that he was considered a “pseudo Islamic leader,” but in the end, Al Azhar Islamic Center supported his movement. One person quoted at the time said, “They saw the possibility of him bringing people to Sunni Islam.” Today, Al Azhar pragmatically describes Malcolm X as “an Islamic reformer.”
Malcolm X in Cairo at the al-Azhar Mosque in 1964, Obama at the al-Azhar Mosque in 2009 where he made his first overseas speech.