Originally posted on Middle East Monitor, November 17, 2020
Council of Senior Scholars and the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta in Saudi Arabia on Sunday renewed its slanderous claims against the Muslim Brotherhood, Aram Media reported.
On its official Twitter account, the council posted a recording of its head, Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, saying: “The Muslim Brotherhood does not have any link to Islam. It is a stray group.”
Answering a question about those who call on the youth to join the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Nusra and Al-Qaeda, the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said: “These are stray groups. They do not have links to Islam. They profaned blood, violated honour, plundered money and corrupted the land.”
He reiterated that “anyone calling for joining these groups has committed a mistake and lost the right path.”
On Thursday, the council issued a statement claiming the Muslim Brotherhood “is a terrorist group that does not represent the method of Islam,” adding that it is “calling for rebellion against the rulers, wreaking havoc in the states, destabilizing co-existence in the country.”
Commenting on the statement, 18 scholar and ulama unions, including the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) issued a joint statement rejecting the claims.
The statement reiterated that the Muslim Brotherhood “is a preaching group that works hard to do the right thing, but sometimes commits mistakes. Many senior scholars, preachers and fighters are affiliated to it.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s Foreign Ministry Arabic Twitter account hailed the Saudi council’s statement and said: “We in Israel are pleased to see this approach against the exploitation of religion for incitement and sedition, and there is no doubt that all the monotheistic religions came to cultivate love and intimacy among people. We desperately need a speech that calls for tolerance and mutual cooperation for the advancement of the entire region.”
The Saudi Interior Ministry backlisted the Muslim Brotherhood in March 2014 following then Egyptian Defence Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s coup against the group in 2013.
Link to the original post: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201117-saudi-religious-body-muslim-brotherhood-terror-group-which-is-destabilising-region/
