In her column in the daily Al-Riyadh, Dr. Hasna Al-Quna'ir, a lecturer at the King Saud University, blasted organizations and parties that have Islamic names - such as "the Muslim Brotherhood," "Hizbullah" and "Jaysh Al-Islam" - but are actually extremist and violent organizations that try to monopolize the religion and exploit to their own ends. The Islamic names of these organizations, she says, are meant to give them an air of sanctity and convince people that they are acting in the name of Islam, but in fact they spread terror, undermining security and tarnish the reputation of the Islamic faith.
Dr. Hasna Al-Quna'ir (Source: Rudaw.net)
The following are excerpts from her column:[1]
"In recent times, some organizations and parties have given [themselves] names that make it seem as though they are fit to be called Islamic and follow the directives of Islam, when this is not really the case… Among the organizations that have assumed these Islamic names are the Muslim Brotherhood; Ikhwan Man Ta'a Allah ["The Brethren Obedient to God"];[2] the Lebanese Hizbullah ["Party of Allah"]; [the Houthi] Ansar Allah ["Supporters of Allah"], an armed political-religious movement based in Sa'dah in northern Yemen; Jasyh Al-Islam ["The Army of Islam"], a Salafi-jihadi Palestinian organization [operating in Gaza] that supported Al-Qaeda… and in 2015 expressed support for ISIS; the Pakistani Jaysh Muhammad ["Army of Muhammad"], which India, the U.N., the U.S. and Britain regard as a terror organization; Ansar Al-Islam ["Supporters of Islam"], a Salafi Kurdish organization in northern Iraq… and many others.
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"These names are nothing but tactical labels meant to enflame [the masses] and convey an ideology replete with extremist notions. [The purpose of these labels is] to monopolize the religion, promote [the organizations'] interests, patronize the people - especially simple folk - in the name of Allah, the Prophet and Islam, and make [the organizations] seem holier, more virtuous and closer to Allah than other people - as though Allah authorized them to speak in His name and to rule over His believers. [These organizations] have gone so far as to become religious and political forces that determine people's destiny and the policy of states…
"By incorporating the terms 'Allah,' 'Islam,' and the like in their names, these organizations and parties no doubt cloak themselves with sanctity, which causes simple people to join them, not understanding that their activity [actually] harms Islam and Arabs' national security. The fact that the movement founded by Hassan Al-Banna in 1928 chose the name 'Muslim Brotherhood' reflects a deep sense of superiority over the entire Egyptian society of the time, and later over all Muslims. It also reflects an unhealthy and alarming sense that [the movement] has an exclusive monopoly over Islamic authority. The violence and hatred attributed to Islam are exclusively the result the Muslim Brotherhood's extremist thinking, and there are examples and religious rulings that [reflect its self-perception as] the only Islamic organization in a jahili [i.e., pre-Islamic ignorant] environment that does not embrace Islam, as explicitly stated in the books of one of [the Muslim Brotherhood's] leaders, Sayyid Qutb…
"As for the Shi'ite Lebanese Hizbullah… its sense of superiority over all Muslims, not [only] over all sectors of the Lebanese people, is even greater than that of the Muslim Brotherhood. The fact that its leader [Hassan Nasrallah] claims to be a descendent of the Prophet [Muhammad] led him and his followers to choose the name Hizbullah ["Allah's Party"], which appears in Verse 56 of Surat Al-Maida [the fifth surah of the Quran]: 'Whoever allies themselves with Allah, His Messenger, and fellow believers, then it is certainly Allah’s party that will prevail'… [Quranic exegete] Al-Tabari [838-923] claimed that 'Allah's party' [in this verse] refers to the ansar,[3]… who devoutly cleaved to Allah and did not refrain from making sacrifices for His sake, who supported the Prophet and devoted all their efforts to this, and who promoted the Muslims' cause…' [Note] how this interpretation of 'Allah's party' in the verse differs from [the character of] that terror organization [the Lebanese Hizbullah], which supports the Fool of the Jurisprudent[4] and realizes his terrorist agenda that is destructive for the Arab homeland.
"Many of these Islamic organizations and groups have perpetrated terror attacks in many countries all over the world. These terrorists use certain interpretations of the Quran and Hadith that take [the text] out of context in order to justify their violent attacks on others, including murder and mass murder. In the recent years, terror attacks have taken place all over the globe: in Africa, Asia, Europe, Russia and America, harming Muslims and non-Muslims [alike].
"How appropriate are Allah's words [in Quran 23:53], pertaining to these extremist religious groups that have spread corruption throughout the world: 'Yet the people have divided it [the religion] into different sects, each rejoicing in what they have.' That is, the believers have split into sects and groups, turning their religion into several religions, although they had been commanded to be united, and each sect exulted in its status and claimed to be in the right while the others are in the wrong. This [verse] warns us against religious division."
[1] Al-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), December 10, 2020.
[2] This was a Wahhabi tribal militia, founded in 1911, which served as the army of Saudi Arabia's first king, Ibn Sa'ud, when he was still the Sultan of Nejd. The militia, led by hardline Islamists, played an important part in Ibn Sa'ud's takeover of the Arabia Peninsula and his subsequent founding of the Saudi kingdom..
[3] This refers to the Muslim residents of Yathrib (now Medina) who helped Muhammad and his followers after the came to the city in 622.
[4] This is a play on the term 'Rule of the Jurisprudent', referring to the Iranian regime and the cleric who heads it, currently Khamenei.
