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Africa North
The "Sahwa" of Awad al Qarni
2010-05-08
If someone could translate this into prose that doesn't cause my eyes to cross, I'd be grateful.
[Asharq al-Aswat] The name Dr. Awad al Qarni, the Saudi cleric, not to be confused with Aaidh al Qarni, has featured in the headlines recently after he was accused of funding the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and money laundering. At first, the Egyptian prosecution mixed up Awad with Aaidh but there is a difference between the two men. The famous Saudi cleric and celebrated scholar Sheikh Aaidh al Qarni, who contributes to this newspaper, completely denied the allegations and explained that he had nothing to do with the entire story. The Egyptian State Security Prosecutor Hisham Badawi ended the confusion over the name of the Saudi cleric who was charged with funding the Muslim Brotherhood and money laundering by announcing that the accused in this case is Saudi cleric Awad al Qarni and not Aaidh al Qarni.

We are not concerned here with the judicial and legal details. This is the concern of those involved in the case including suspects, lawyers, the prosecution and the judiciary. Sheikh Awad al Qarni refuted the accusations levelled against him, describing his name featuring on the list of those involved in funding the Muslim Brotherhood as a Zionist conspiracy and arguing that the charge was pre-planned, as quoted in his interview with Saudi Arabian daily Okaz on April 29, 2010. I sincerely hope that Sheikh Awad al Qarni is relieved of all these legal pursuits.

What matters to me here is not the Egyptian accusations made against Sheikh al Qarni, but rather his comments on the matter as printed in Okaz newspaper. To be honest, the man spoke openly and clearly about the position of the Islamic movement in Saudi Arabia in his capacity as a leading figure within it, and about the changes taking place in Saudi society and the battles that are now being fought not only between the so-called liberals and Islamists, but also between Islamists themselves over women's issues, education and intolerance towards each other. These heated arguments concern every Saudi citizen.
Posted by:Fred

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