Sunday, September 18, 2016

Saudi mufti loses royal favour


Many people especially the Salafis around the world are firm in their belief that the institution of Islamic scholarly learning in Saudi Arabia are not influenced by the ruling royal elite. However, the recent events in the kingdom has proven otherwise. One such event is the dismissal of Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, the grand mufti, widely believed to be upon the orders of the king Salman himself.

Abdulaziz Al Sheikh
Since the establishment of the Saudi royal kingdom in the Arabian Peninsula, its successive rulers have bribed or terrorized the Wahhabi clerics in the country to submission. The rulers have used the fatwas extracted from these scholars to push forward their nefarious political agenda. Therefore, most Saudi influenced or funded religious institutions have long lost their credibility in the Muslim world.   

It is not common or perhaps strange for a Saudi mufti to speak in public out of his own accord to inform the people what he believes about a certain matter. The muftis have always spoken to public in the form of religious rulings or decrees. These rulings have to be harmonious or in consistent with the policies of the royal court. The mufti and the highest scholarly institution over which he presides is totally controlled by the rulers of the state.

It certainly is not an isolated incident for Al Sheikh to make such a huge controversial public comment concerning the people of Iran to say that Iranians are not Muslims. It is most likely that Al Sheikh has secretly been mandated or commissioned to make such a move in order to widen the sectarian divide within the nation of Islam.

It seems that Al Sheikh has taken upon himself the medieval papal authority of excommunication. His obnoxious method of excluding anyone or even whole communities (who abhor Saudi-Zionist alliance) from the fold of Islam has disastrous consequences upon all Muslims.

For decades Saudi rulers have used Wahhabi clerics as tools to justify their oppressive rule over the people of Arabia and discarding them whenever they want and appointing others who would do their bidding without any hesitation.

The Wahhabis who now calls themselves Salafis are at the forefront of fermenting a worldwide conflict between Sunnis and Shias within the house of Islam. Though the Salafis are spearheading a movement for collision with Shias, no Shia institution of Islamic learning has issued a religious ruling claiming that Salafis are not Muslims.
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Written by: Ibrahim Nazim
16 Dhul-Hijjah 1437
18 September 2016, Sunday

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