Halal for Turkey, forbidden for Morocco: International Union of Muslim Scholars a Brotherhood trumpet for attacking countries

Sarah Rashad

The political nature of the Brotherhood’s International Union of Muslim Scholars since its establishment in 2014 is confirmed on a daily basis. Although the union presents itself as a religious entity concerned with Muslim issues, those in charge of it have not succeeded in concealing the political character that dominates its performance and fatwas.

The union wears a double face when it pressures on issues and overlooks others, while it denounces agreements to restore relations between Arab countries and Israel, completely overlooking Turkey’s return of its ambassador to Tel Aviv.

Commenting on the recent agreement concluded by the Kingdom of Morocco with Israel, the union said in a statement that it reaffirmed its firm positions on normalization, adding, “This is a step that is not legally permissible and does not fit with the status of Morocco, which chairs the Al-Quds Al-Sharif Committee, but rather contradicts the positions of the Moroccan people, who always support the Palestinian cause.”

The International Union of Muslim Scholars, which is based in Doha, stressed the invalidity of all recognition of Israel or of some of its usurpation of the land of Palestine and the rights of its people, chief among them the liberation of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing its adherence to all the fundamentals of the Palestinian cause, no matter how many exaggerations.

In September, the union issued a similar statement in which it criticized the normalization of relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and Israel, while the union’s president, Ahmad al-Raysuni, in an interview with the Anadolu Agency, condemned the UAE’s tendency to normalize relations, denouncing the decisions of the governments of the two countries that agreed to this.

Overlooking Turkey’s normalization

However, the union overlooked Turkey’s policies with Israel and even put itself in the service of Ankara, which was evident in its ignorance of commenting on Ankara’s decision to return its ambassador to Tel Aviv.

Montasser Hamadeh, a Moroccan researcher who specializes in the affairs of political Islamist groups, commented, “People are free to object to the normalization of relations with Israel or its support, including intellectual names that work on issues of thought, religion and other things, by publishing articles, research or statements, etc.”

“But this freedom becomes irresponsible when duplicity is exercised in dealing with normalization on the grounds that it is permissible and another on the grounds that it is forbidden,” he added through his Facebook account, referring to Turkey’s normalization.

Hamadeh described the International Union of Muslim Scholars as an “ideological missionary institution that represents only itself,” stressing that Morocco is not concerned with what emanates from the union.

Since its establishment, the Brotherhood has relied on the union to justify its policies and give them religious justification, as it includes religious scholars affiliated with the group from several Arab countries, and it passes through their subordination what it wants to clarify.

The union derives its continuity from the religious figures represented in it, especially the media polishing process provided by Al-Jazeera and other media in support of the group. The union always repeats its fatwa against the Brotherhood being a non-terrorist organization.