[10] In an article published shortly after his appointment as president of Al-Azhar University, he was described as "a regime loyalist and member of Mr. Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party [who] takes a firm stance against the Muslim Brotherhood".

At the same time, the Brotherhood senior member, Sheikh Sayed Askar, also an Azharite, accused the government of "promoting one of its own at the expense of people better suited to the post".

[11] In 2011, following the Egyptian revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood held a rally at the Al-Azhar mosque to oppose what it described as the Judaization of Jerusalem.

"The punishment for those who wage war against God and his Prophet and who strive to sow corruption on earth is death, crucifixion, the severing of hands and feet on opposite sides or banishment from the land.

[18][19] The Ash'ari school of Islamic theology – to which El-Tayeb belongs – does not allow calling a person who follows the shahada an apostate.

[21] The conference was believed to have been designed to take an "uncompromising stand against the growing Takfiri terrorism that is playing havoc across the world.

[22] On 7 November 2017, he met Pope Francis in the Vatican, to discuss spreading the culture of peace and coexistence and renouncing extremism and Islamophobia.

[23] In February 2019, they met again in Abu Dhabi during the Pope's visit to the United Arab Emirates,[24] where he also signed the Document on Human Fraternity.