Saudi Arabia and Egypt Islamic bodies in sync against militants
Top Saudi scholars have recently condemned Muslim Brotherhood as terror group
Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s Islamic institutions and Al Azhar, Egypt’s influential Islamic centre, are united in exposing “misleading ideologies’ of radical groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, according to a senior Saudi official.
“There is consensus between Al Azhar and the religious authorities in the kingdom in warning against the misleading ideologies of the Brotherhood and the militant groups,” Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs and Call Abdulatif Al Sheikh added.
He cited a recent statement issued by the Saudi Senior Scholars Council, Saudi Arabia’s top Islamic body, which condemned the Brotherhood and designated it as a terrorist group.
“The statement came to consolidate the kingdom’s efforts in confronting the misleading Brotherhood,” Al Sheikh told the Sout of Al Azhar magazine. “This consensus will bear fruit for Muslims and spare them the misleading parties and their sedition,” he added.
Radical ideas
“It is necessary to stand firm against calls launched by the extremist groups underestimating the religious institutions and established scholars with the pernicious aim of monopolising the scene for spreading their radical ideas,” the official added.
“We and Al Azhar represent the top of Islamic call, exchange visits and ideas as well as discuss all issues.”
The minister’s remarks come amid an intensified Saudi campaign against the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
The Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs has recently initiated a series of lectures across the kingdom to expose dangers of militant and terrorist groups.
In 2014, Saudi Arabia outlawed the Brotherhood, listing it as a terror organisation.
In late 2013, the group was banned in Egypt, its birthplace, after a spate of violent attacks unleashed in the country following the Islamist group’s removal from power after massive street protests against its divisive rule.