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Social media exposes true face of Brotherhood

Many Arab Muslims look upon these clerics as their role models and own their audio CDs or books.

Instigating innocents

The Arab world has been socially and intellectually stunned by the statements made by some popular Muslim clerics recently. Many Arab Muslims look upon these clerics as their role models and own their audio CDs or books.

These scholars have now been unmasked, largely due to the social media and the Arab Spring. Arab societies witnessed the true face of these clerics, who hold views very similar to those held by the banned Muslim Brotherhood group.

People have taken to the social media to question the viewpoints of these scholars. They are questioning the rationale behind their instigation of Jihad in the name of religion. These clerics are always quick to criticise counter-viewpoints held by others.

The most recent issue that was picked up by the Arab media was a programme hosted by Al Arabiya channel, which was hosted by Dawood Al Sherian. The aggrieved parents of young children who went for Jihad in the war-torn Syria were featured on the show. Their young children, they said, do not know how to return and whom they will be fighting. Their parents said their sons were lured by four famous Muslim clerics in the Arab world — Mohammed Al Ereifi, Tariq Al Suwaidan, Adnan Al Arar and Nabil Al Owadi. Al Sherian declared that these clerics should be forced to perform Jihad in Syria instead of luring innocent children!

A number of prominent Muslim scholars speak about the virtues of Islam on TV and release books. Following this, they impart political teachings that mirror the ideologies of the Muslim Brotherhood.

They impart their teachings in countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, where the Brotherhood is active. They teach students how to run demonstration campaigns and fight contradictory viewpoints. Students were also taught how to spread rumours in the society to stir public sentiments against the government.

Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said on his Twitter page that human rights groups “lost its credibility” with the “misuse of the Political Islam partisan movements”.

Speaking to Khaleej Times in this respect, FNC Member Afra Al Basti said the social media has unmasked the Muslim Brotherhood. Social media, she said, worked as a double-edged sword for the Brotherhood, because on the one hand, it boosted their popularity initially and uncovered their true faces after a while.

In the past, Afra said, these Muslim clerics did not instigate people, rather they built their reputation and popularity. “They did not talk about politics in their TV programmes, but after the social media appeared, especially Twitter, they created accounts and posted their views about the revolutions in the Arab world. These views always favour the Muslim Brotherhood and oppose liberal governments,” she said.

They led campaigns to stir and instigate people against their governments, she noted. Afra believes that the solution to the problem is to “disregard those clerics and not to give them value”.

Mohammed Yousuf, Chairman of the UAE Journalists Association, said some Muslim clerics deceived people through their teachings. “Many channels hosted them. These clerics traded on people, held courses for the youth and even exploited marital relationships.”

Yousuf said the “covert intentions” of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked members like Kuwaiti Muslim cleric Tareq Al Suwaidan began showing his true face. When he was banned from giving cultural lectures, Al Suwaidan attracted students to his educational courses which he held at tourist spots like the Egyptian resort of Sharm Al Shaikh on the Red Sea. Al Suwaidan and his students were code-named as ‘the fifth line (queue)’ by the Brotherhood.

Al Suwaidan’s job started right after the Muslim Brotherhood group in Egypt was overthrown. Their work focused on stirring agitations and attacking governments.

The Kuwait-based Muslim Brotherhood group is the oldest in the Gulf region, Yousuf pointed out. They regard themselves as the leaders of the organisation in the region.

Yousuf said that the Muslim Brotherhood has sleeper cells in most Arab countries, including GCC states. They play on the sentiments of the people. They kept on sending their message to their peers in Egypt to carry out terrorist attacks on tourists like the bombing of a tourist bus in Sinai recently, which claimed lives of a number of Chinese tourists.

Their assault on the UAE and other adjacent countries, he said, is part of an “organised meida campaign” launched by them. They follow Muslim cleric Yousuf Al Qaradawi, who, every now and then, instigates a riot during his Friday prayer sermons, and during his meetings with his followers.

They are now threatening the police and the army by pouring petrol in front of their homes and setting it on fire to terrorise innocent people and instill fear in the security forces.

malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com