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Saudi bloc gives Qatar 48 more hours to accept demands

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Foreign ministers of nations boycotting Qatar will meet in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss their next steps.

Kuwait’s emir has been mediating between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours to end the blockade [File: EPA]

Saudi Arabia and three allies boycotting Qatar have agreed to a request by Kuwait to extend by 48 hours Sunday’s deadline for Doha to comply with a set of demands, according to a joint statement on Saudi state news agency SPA.

Kuwait had received a response by Qatar to a list of 13 demands presented to it by a Saudi-led bloc of Arab countries, Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA said on Monday.

Without stating whether Qatar had rejected the ultimatum as was widely expected, KUNA said Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah asked Saudi Arabia and three other countries that have boycotted Qatar to grant it a 48-hour extension. Kuwait is mediating in the crisis.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates(UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on it on June 5, accusing it of supporting “terrorism”. The allegation is rejected by Doha.

After more than two weeks, the four countries gave Doha a 10-day ultimatum, which expired on Sunday night, to comply with a 13-point demand list in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures.

There was no other information about Qatar’s official response, but the Qatari foreign minister has already said that Doha would not meet the demands, saying the list “was meant to be rejected”.

Speaking on Saturday, the foreign minister said Doha offered instead “a proper condition for a dialogue” to resolve the Gulf crisis.

“Everyone is aware that these demands are meant to infringe the sovereignty of the state of Qatar, shut the freedom of speech and impose auditing and probation mechanism for Qatar,” he said during a visit to Italy’s capital, Rome.

“We believe that the world is not governed by ultimatums, we believe that the world is governed by the international law, it is governed by an order that does not allow large countries to bully small countries.”

Speaking in Rome on Saturday, Qatar’s foreign minister said no one has the right to issue an ultimatum against his country [AP]

But Saudi Arabia and its allies have insisted the demands were non-negotiable.

The foreign ministers of the four countries will meet on Wednesday in Egypt’s capital, Cairo, to discuss their next steps, according to a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry.

The UAE ambassador to Russia, Omar Ghobash, has previously said that Qatar could face fresh sanctions if it does not comply with the demands.

The demands submitted by Saudi Arabia and its allies included that Qatar shut down the Al Jazeera network, close a Turkish military base and scale down ties with Iran.

In the list, the four Arab countries also demand that Doha sever all alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups, including Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and ISIL (also known as ISIS), and pay an unspecified sum in compensation for what they claimed to be “loss of life and other financial losses caused by Qatar’s policies”.

A US state department official said on Sunday that Washington encourages “all parties to exercise restraint to allow for productive diplomatic discussions. We are not going to get ahead of those discussions. We fully support Kuwaiti mediation”.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Yet! Another hate crime.

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Recently, Hate crimes and islamophobic attacks has been on the increase, and Muslims are the majority at the receiving end, while the media is relatively silent about this attacks.

 

Yet another of such attack, a week down and the perpetrator has not been brought to book

 

“I genuinely believe it’s something to do, it’s definitely a hate crime, I believe it’s something to do with islamophobia, maybe”.

 

This were the words of Jameel Muhktar who was attacked with acid alongside his 21years old sister while they were in their car.

 

Jameel Muhktar who got blinded by this incident affirmed that if the victim were whites, and attacker was Asian, the suspect would have being arrested within 24hours.

 

We pray Almighty Allah grant the victims quick recovery, make them firm upon this path of Felicity (Islam) and restore whatever they might have lost due to this incident. Aamin

 

Syria : At least eight killed in Damascus bombing

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State TV says security forces minimised death toll by preventing attackers from targeting busy areas in the capital.

State TV says casualties minimised as attacks thwarted in biggest attack on capital since March [Reuters]

Three car bombings have struck Damascus, according to state media, killing at least eight people and injuring a dozen others in one of the blasts, in the biggest such attack in the Syrian capital since March.

One of the suicide bombers blew himself up at Tahrir Square in central Damascus after being encircled by the authorities on Sunday.

State TV said eight people were killed and at least a dozen others wounded in that attack.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors developments through a network of activists on the ground, put the death toll at nine.

The other two car bombs were pursued and destroyed by security forces on the road to Damascus airport southeast of the city.

State TV said the casualty toll had been minimised because the security forces had prevented “the terrorists from reaching their targets”, saying they had aimed to target busy areas on the first day back to work after the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Footage broadcast by state TV from Tahrir Square showed roads scattered with debris, several badly damaged cars, and another one that had been turned into a pile of twisted metal.

Footage broadcast another of the blast sites showed what appeared to be the remains of a person and badly damaged vehicles outside a mosque in the Baytara traffic circle near the Old City.

Damascus has been spared the large-scale battles that have devastated other major Syrian cities during the country’s six-year civil war.

 

But dozens of people have been killed in bombings, particularly on the outskirts of the city.

In mid-March, bomb attacks on a courthouse and restaurant in Damascus killed 32 people. They were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

That came days after two explosions that left 74 dead in the capital’s Old City and were claimed by the hardline Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance, led by the former al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Silence during Fitnah is Golden A response to ‘Saudi Is a Holy Land – What's My Own with Qatar?!

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Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem

Al-Imâm Ahmad (Allâh’s mercy on him) was describing the people of desires: ‘They are different types in the Book; opposers to the Book; unanimous in opposing the Book. They speak (freely) about doubtful matters confounding the ignoramuses among the masses therewith.’ [Al-Aadaab Ash-Shar’iyyah 1/209]

The trio of Al-Imâm Al-Bukhârî, Ahmad and al-Hâkim recorded that the Messenger of Allâh (sallaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam) said: ‘There shall be tribulations, whoever sits therein is better than whoever stands; whoever stands is better than whoever walks; whoever walks therein is better than whoever paces. Whoever makes himself prominent in it shall be consumed by it. Whoever (however) has the means of safety or refuge from it. Let him take it.’ Amr bn Aal-Aas (may Allâh be pleased with him) said to his son: ‘O my son, take this advice from me. A just ruler is better than rain (from the sky), a fierce lion is better than an unjust ruler. But an unjust and tyrant ruler is better than a pervading tribulation.’ [Al-Aadab Ash-Shar’iyyah 1/172]

Al-Imâm Ahmad (Allâh’s mercy on him) also said: ‘…do not fight in a tribulation; stay put in your house. This is what the scholars of all the regions have agreed upon.’ [Ibn Jauzi’s Manaaqib Al-Imâm Ahmad 166]

Shaykhul-Islâm Ibn Taymiyyah (Allâh’s mercy on him) said: ‘The Prophet (sallaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam) forbade from fighting during tribulation. That therefore is from the fundamentals of Sunnah; that is the position of the people of Sunnah and Hadith; so also the scholars of Madînah, its jurists and others.’ [Al-Istiqaamah: 1/32]

Therefore in the face of the happenings in the Muslim World of recent, the pervading silence that has come from the People of Sunnah is from the Sunnah. It is not cowardice or hypocrisy.

Read : Saudi is a Holy Land – what is my own with Qatar? 

Meanwhile some people have taken the silence for granted. They think the People of Sunnah are vanquished and conquered. So the People of Sunnah have been repeatedly bashed by some elements who hitherto were nowhere to be found as far as the Sunnah of Muhammad is concerned. All of a sudden they became champions of Islamic Law brandishing wanton ignorance imbued in their flawed inclination and allegiance to evil thoughts of the Muslim Brotherhood and all other stupidities.

One of those voices is the writer of ‘Saudi Is a Holy Land – What’s My Own with Qatar?’ A crafty write-up written to blemish the Land of Tawheed and its scholars, Salafiyyah and its callers; and defend Ikhwaaniyyah and its goons.

Expectedly the write-up has attracted some myopic cheers and thumbs-up hence the propriety of this response to, once again, set the record straight, defend the noble cause and assuage the People of Sunnah, and of course, send the sellers of evil thoughts back to their holes.

وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلَكِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لا يَعْلَمُونَ

“But honour, power and glory belong to Allâh, his Messenger (Muhammad Sal-Allaahu ‘alayhi Wa Sallam), and to the believers, but the hypocrites know not.’ [Munaafiqoon 8]

One of the people of knowledge has said Allaah the Mighty Lord, in His Legal and Universal Will, allows conflict to be between the truth and falsehood, guidance and misguidance such that each of them will have its helpers and followers, defenders and upholders. And every time the truth appears and increases in glows and clarity, the falsehood becomes rapacious and more exposed.

O Allaah make the truth dearer to us and falsehood more hated.

From the outset, he denied being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood [al-Ikhwaanul-Muslimeen] and any interaction with groups such as The Muslim Congress, Tadaamunul-Muslimeen, etc, that make allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood. He said ‘I am not a member…I have no interaction…’ We hope he is not double-speaking, and clandestinely selling a lie. He claimed it is just ‘the mere fraternity that exists amongst brothers of the same faith.’ Anyway, your denial of Ikhwaaniyyah is your first defeat more importantly when you are discovered a liar.

Even your bogus denial of Ikhwaaniyyah but free interactions with all ‘including those in the Salafi class and the haraki trend!’ speaks volumes. It depicts you as nothing but someone treading a confused path.

مُذَبْذَبِينَ بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ لا إِلَى هَؤُلاءِ وَلا إِلَى هَؤُلاءِ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَلَنْ تَجِدَ لَهُ سَبِيلا

‘(They are) swaying between this and that, belonging neither to these nor to those, and he whom Allâh sends astray, you will not find for him a way (to the Truth – Islâm). [Nisâ: 143]

People of such Manhaj like yours are the most dangerous because they can easily blend with any gathering upon the precept of ‘Likulli maqaam maqaal’ – for every gathering is its suitable approach, a maxim people of talawwun – Da’wah multi-culture have often invoked to cause problem within the ranks of the righteous.

إِنَّ شَرَّ النَّاسِ ذُو الْوَجْهَيْنِ الَّذِي يَأْتِي هَؤُلَاءِ بِوَجْهٍ وَهَؤُلَاءِ بِوَجْهٍ

‘Verily the worst of the people is the two-faced person who goes to so-and-so with a face but to others with another face.’ [Bukhârî and Muslim]

So your Manhaj is that of confused specie.

But you have nowhere to hide. Your soft and hard spot for the Muslim Brotherhood is not farfetched from your tirade.

وَلَوْ نَشَاءُ لأرَيْنَاكَهُمْ فَلَعَرَفْتَهُمْ بِسِيمَاهُمْ وَلَتَعْرِفَنَّهُمْ فِي لَحْنِ الْقَوْلِ

‘Had we willed, we could have shown them to you, and you should have known them by their marks, but surely, you will know them by the tone of their speech!’

So it did not take you much time before you declared for Yûsuf Qaradawee – who is your intent of defence. Lest a right thinking person should castigate you with him, you went double speaking again – which is your hallmark in the article. You wrote: ‘But there is hardly a contemporary scholar whose love has completely overwhelmed my heart like the distinguished scholar, Shaykh Muhammad Sâlih Al-Uthaymeen.’

Did you write: ‘Whose love has completely overwhelmed?’ Are you sure you are not telling another lie? Okay, but you must agree you went pretentiously aboveboard. If the love of Shaykh Uthaymeen – rahimahuLlaahu ta’aala (remember the love did not even make you ask Allaah to show him mercy), indeed has overwhelmed your heart. Where is your love for Allaah and His Prophet? You would say we should not take you literally, but the basis of every word is its reality.

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ فَوَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَا يُؤْمِنُ أَحَدُكُمْ حَتَّى أَكُونَ أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ وَالِدِهِ وَوَلَدِهِ

On the authority of Aboo Hurairah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (salaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam) said: ‘I swear by He in Whose Hands is my soul, none of you believes until I am more beloved to him more than his parent and child.’ [Bukhârî and Muslim]

Your real man is Yûsuf Qaradawee [may Allâh rectify us and him]. It is from him you learnt your wretched Fiqhu Waaqee and other evils. You learnt nothing from Shaykh Uthaymeen (Allâh’s mercy on him) if you indeed learn anything you will never later come and say evil about the present-day Mufti of Saudi Arabia. And you will never malign the rulers of the Land of Tawheed. It is Qaradawee that taught you that, not Uthaymeen. Stop the lie.

What you claim to know is Fiqh Waaqee (the Jurisprudence of Current Affairs), good of you. You brand yourself a researcher in global politics and a Da’wah activist (like the people in MURIC and MUSWEN and ‘MUSU’). You indeed said you are a progressive thinker!

خَيْرُكُمْ مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ وَعَلَّمَهُ

‘The best of you is he who learns the Qur’aan and teaches it.’

You emphasized the ‘self’ in you trying to equate yourself with the scholars. ‘I am “me” and they are “themselves”’ Please who are you? You can start all over again. Radarada. If not colonialism that beclouds your intellect and gives you English, and a platform like Facebook, can you write a Muqaddimah the like written by the student of Shaykh Uthaymeen, from the fifth level? It is a challenge anyway.

You have indeed said in ‘Secrets of the Rift’ that the intent of your write-ups are ‘those who are capable of independent thinking’. In other words, your desire has been to implant the thoughts of the mu’tazilah – those who pride in their intellect at the expense of the revelation. No wonder, this your writing and several others are always free of Qur’aan passages and hadith. Not even a weak hadith! And what is that ‘independent thinking’? Thinking devoid of understanding of the Salaf to issues. We can really see that picture of yours where you showcased (we dont’t want to say ‘show-off’) a ‘heavy’ library of books. So is this what you have been reading in those books (if that picture is not fake anyway).

Aboo Hayyaan did compose:

‘The fool thinks books alone can guide.’

Then you wrote: ‘I really sympathize with all my brothers whose role models are the Saudi’s scholars.’ That is your first assault on the scholars of the Land of Tawheed. Of course, your first disposition of apparent Ikhwaaniyyah. It is no secret; the greatest enemies of the Muslim Brotherhood are the scholars of Salafiyyah the bulk of whom are found in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Yours is not going to be an exception. So where is that love for Uthaymeen if the products of Uthaymeen are your enemies?

Having hit the scholars, you went for the rulers, you wrote: ‘Saudi’s shameless dance in the market place.’ To help you re-construct your expression, the Saudi rulers are shameless that they dance in the market place. And you wrote down-down, ‘a kingdom that is foolishly subservient to the enemies.’ ‘Whoever honours the ruler appointed by Allâh – the Mighty and Most High – in this world Allaah will honour him on the Day of Resurrection; and whoever disgraces the ruler appointed by Allaah – the Mighty and Most High – in this world, Allaah will disgrace him in the hereafter.’ Saheehah: 2297.

You better repent.

Yet he went specifically for Mufti ‘Abdul-Azeez bn Abdillâh bn Muhammad bn ‘Abdul-Lateef Aal-Shaykh [may Allâh preserve him]. He insulted him saying the fatwa (religious edict) issued by the Muftee on the gulf imbroglio was to legitimize ‘a shameful act’ and is itself ‘a spurious verdict.’

Allâh however protected the honour of the Mufti. He – Mighty Lord saved his name from his insult. Rather he was referring to one ‘Mufti Shaykh Ibrahim AlShaykh.’ In those simple words, Allaah exposed the ignorance of the fellow. Didn’t he claim he was an expert in global politics with special interest in Middle East? Nonsense, a common name of Mufti of Saudi Arabia you don’t know. An expert of Fiqh Waaqee indeed!

You have been told disgrace awaits people like you, unless he repents.

He was even told of his manifest and costly error, he felt too big to correct it. So go back and correct it, and everywhere it has been taken to. We later saw that he grudgingly but deceptively changed it to ‘Mufti Shaykh Al-Shaykh’ when his error hit him on the face. Yet he is wrong, his correct name is ‘Mufti ‘Abdul-Azeez bn Abdillâh bn Muhammad bn ‘Abdul-Lateef Aal-Shaykh [may Allâh preserve him].’ So go and do the needful, don’t be a stubborn ignoramus.

And know that the matter is indeed a Fitnah, not a fitan. You need to check your linguistic capability in Arabic. That error of calling a Fitnah a fitan is unpardonable. Well, a student in ‘Idaadee level may be excused not an international political analyst with special interest in Middle East like you! You said the crisis has divided the Ummah, haba, when the majority of the Muslims world over is not even aware. If you are indeed truthful carry out a survey in Tejuosho Market from the Muslims and ask them what is the matter. They will just look at you in dismay. So the matter does not really concern us, yes it does not concern us and you. Mind your business. Just as the crisis between the Sahaba did not concern us. Can you get that? So if that does not concern us, the happenings around the world do not concern us. Allaah will never ask a dead Muslim today what is happening in Pakistan and China. Prove it if He will ask him.

The Three Questions in the Grave are: who is your Lord? Who is your Prophet? What is your Deen? That is what we learnt from Al-Usool Ath-Thalaathah of Ash-Shaykh Muhammad bn Abdilwahhaab, Allâh’s mercy on him.

It was people like you that were following the news of Trump election last year. Some of us were not even aware the day he was elected. But we are always aware of the Qur’aan and the Sunnah. Those are the main things, wal hamdulillah. May Allaah make you forget the happenings around the world and remember the Qur’ân and Sunnah. Did you say Aameen? An Ikhwaanee will prefer to forget the Qur’aan and Sunnah to forgetting the news about Chenchya and Kosovo. That is one of the problems with Ikhwaaniyyah. So there are many experts among you, yes about the warped Fiqh Waqee but not the Qur’aan and Sunnah. May Allaah take you people out of your slumber.

You wrote the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‘has been consistently manipulated by the West’. You are not the first to say that. But we wonder what sort of manipulation is that if till date democracy is still far from Saudi Arabia, in fact, it is not mused. If till date, Saudi is the only country in the world where the Sharî’ah is publicly implemented. Despite the West outcry, the public beating and beheading of offenders of related-offences still go on. Lest you said it is selective judgement, Allâh made open a case of recent when an influential Saudi prince was executed for a capital punishment. Yet they are being manipulated by the West! What a manipulation!

In ‘Secrets of the Rift’, you confessed yourself that ‘the Saudi kingdom is the best place to live…its citizens are kind-hearted…the best scholars in the Muslim world today are, arguably, products of the kingdom’s citadel…’ Then what is your problem that made you eventually showcase a morbid hatred like this for the kingdom? You said its government policy. Don’t you think you have really delved into something you are not qualified to delve into? You said no, ‘this raging issue is not one that is open to all scholars and students of students (sic), for it’s neither of Fiqh nor Usuul Din.’

Subhaanallah, this is serious ignorance from you. Please go back to Ile Keu Sunnah and start learning all over again.

You wrote ‘the West knows how foolish we are (indeed you are), they only fear the progressive Muslim thinkers amongst us – Those who think beyond the rudiments of the five daily obligatory prayers, those who seek Islamization of the polity are not cordoned by the West.’ That is where your Da’wah activism comes in, abi? The type that pushed your teachers to participate in the Occupy Nigeria Protests. Were you there too, Mr. Da’wah activist? Okay, that was why Qaradawee was at Tahreer Square.

Progressive Muslim thinkers! What is that? Okay those who seek to Islamize all kinds of Kufr and shirk such as democracy under the ostensible but satanic principle propounded by Ismail Al-Faarouqi in Islamization of Knowledge. So you belong to the IIIT fools! Yes the West hates you because you are the bedrock of the suicide bombers, wanton killers and miscreants. Allaah will expose you all.

So you arrived at where you are going: ‘I am not therefore surprised if the Brotherhood movement is the ultimate target of the whole crisis.’ You are out to defend the Muslim Brotherhood, we told you, and you cannot hide.

You asked: ‘At what stage did a movement that partakes in democratic processes become a terrorist group? Can a movement with a large parliamentarian representation in Jordan and Bahrain be called a terrorist group? Is it possible that members of a terrorist group would fold their arms and watch themselves killed; their wealth and property confiscated and their wives and children thrown into deadly dungeons as it happened in Egypt?’

A simple poser to you, Mr. Da’wah Activist, Progressive Thinker, Political Analyst; Osama bn Laden and other terrorists (you will probably shudder at that) what methodology influenced them most? Ikhwaaniyyah or Salafiyyah?

Now to Qaradawee, you wrote: ‘And about the Shaykh, I still marvel at the Muslim world’s thought system. What could have ever made a distinguished scholar whose major “fault”, as always analyzed by the Saudi clergy, is his liberal approache (sic) to jurispudential (sic) issues, a terrorist?’ That is where lies your greatest booboo, you pretend as if you don’t know the problem with Qaradawee. In many ramifications, Yûsuf Qaradawee’s Fiqh, Manhaj and Aqeedah are dangerous path to follow.

You must have read his ‘Halâl and Haraam’, a book filled with filth and dirt. Nobody reads it and comes out sane.

So the problem with him is not about his dangerous Fiqh alone but his Manhaj and Aqeedah. To Allaah be the praise, many of the contemporary scholars of the Sunnah have refuted Yûsuf Qaradawee massively. Let us see some.

Someone asked Ash-Shaykh Al-Albaanee from Australia about a fatwa of Qaradawee that misled the people. The Shaykh said among other things: ‘…Yûsuf Qaradawee study was Azhar-based not upon the methodology of the Book and Sunnah. He does pass verdicts that contradict the Shariah. He has a philosophy that is very dangerous. If anything comes prohibited in the Shariah, he will shy away from calling it so, he will say: ‘There is no clear-cut evidence for its prohibition. This is what made him legitimized listening to music; he permitted it for that English man (Cat Stevens) that accepted Islam to remain a Musician and eat from music proceeds. Qaradawee claimed that there is no clear-cut evidence against music or musical instruments. This position of his (that is, that there must be a clear-cut evidence for a prohibition) is at variance with the consensus of scholars of Islam…[Shaykh then mentioned some ahadith against some of his Fatâwâ then he said] these ahadith are against Qaradawee and his likes who pass verdicts with their thoughts upon the methodology of free thinkers of old…’. [Source: Suufiyaat Hasan Al-Bannah wal Qaradawee’ as found in the tape, Silsilah Al-Hudaa Wan-Nuur 1/262.]

You can see your mentor in progressive thinkership!

Among his errors in Aqeedah was his statement, on a Jumu’ah pulpit, about an election that took place in Israel sometime ago where he shaded the Arabs for not being able to conduct a free and fair election in their country. He marveled at the victory of a candidate in the said lection whereby he defeated his opponent by 99.9% margin. He stupidly said: ‘If Allâh Himself had presented Himself before the people, He would not curry home this percentage of vote; we praise Israel for a wonderful job…’

Shaykh Uthaymeen – rahimahullaah (your loving scholar) was asked about the ruling regarding anybody that says such a thing. The Shaykh said: ‘Refuge is sought in Allaah, such a person must repent otherwise he must be executed as an apostate because he made the created being to be more knowledgeable than the Creator. He must repent to Allaah; Allaah indeed forgives sins of His slaves. If he does not repent, then it becomes imperative for the people at the helms of affairs to sever his neck.’

We want to believe Qaradawee has truly repented from that.

So it was not far reaching when Shaykh Muqbil Al-Waadi’ee (Allâh’s mercy on him) wrote a book against Qaradawee entitled: ‘Silencing the Howling Dog; Yûsuf bn Abdillâh Al-Qaradawee.’

Those have been long time ago. So his problem did not start yesterday as being maliciously canvassed. Was he not part of the Arab Spring campaigners? What did he say that day when that first protester killed himself in Tunisia: He said in a recorded video: ‘I request from the people of Tunisia and all the Muslims of the world to seek Allâh’s intercession for the committer of suicide that killed himself by burning in Tunisia because he is the cause of the removal of the tyrant rulership in Tunisia; I also request that there should be many like that that will burn themselves or what is similar to remove injustice from the Muslims.’

What Manhaj is that?

Wasn’t he there at Tahreer Square inciting the populace against the rulership in Egypt?

He was an ‘epitome’ of democracy at Tahreer Square when he was saying: ‘O Muslims and Copts, I invite you bow down in prayer together…the revolution isn’t over. It has just started to build Egypt…guard your revolution…in this square sectarianism died.’

The crimes of Qaradawee are many to mention. If not for certain reasons, we would have brought many of his video links here where he was saying his nonsense.

The following are some of his evil speeches:

‘The matters between us (and the Christians) are mutual. We are sons of the same country, our goal is one. I will refer to them as our Christian brothers. Some will not like to hear this (from the Muslims), that why should I say so. ‘Believers are brothers’ Yes we are believers and they are believers in the other way.’

‘The love a Muslim will have for a non-Muslim is no problem.’

‘The crisis between us and the Jews is with regards to the land (in Palestine) not because of the Deen.’

‘We call to democracy; we fight in its cause.’

‘I make judicial reasoning just as [Prophet] Muhammad used to make judicial reasoning; I can be correct the same way he [Prophet Muhammad] could be correct, and otherwise.’

Qaradawee said about the Sahîh hadith: ‘My father and mother are in the hell.’ ‘What was the crime of Abdullâh bn AbdilMuttalib to warrant the hell fire; he was among the people of fitrah. What is more correct is that they will be saved from hell.’

He rejected the hadith that said ‘death’ will brought in a form of a ram and slaughtered on the Day of Resurrection. He said: ‘What is clearly known as agreed in the intellect and report is that ‘death’ is not a ram or an ox or any other animal. That statement (that death will be brought on the Day of Qiyaamah) is falsehood…’

He constantly rejects separating men from women in public gatherings. He said: ‘I am in my seventies, I do travel to America to attend Islamic conferences, I do meet in these conferences that men and women are separated. Extremism has indeed overshadowed the people even there…’

Just too many, by Allaah.

Shouldn’t a sensible person, let alone a state, be wary of a person like Qaradawee? May Allaah the Mighty Lord guide the State of Qatar.

Back to Mr. Progressive Thinker.

You wrote: ‘Nothing radicalises as much as the Saudi’s teachings of pristine Islam. Give someone the right Tawheed, and watch him stand against anything but Allah. What commendable radical phenomenon!’ So to you, it is the teaching of Tawheed that radicalizes the people to act unconscionably. That also exposes your Ikhwaaniyyah. The Muslim Brotherhood does not teach the Tawheed. They only teach ‘Fiqh Waaqi’.

Don’t you think that statement is an assault on the very basis of Islam itself? That if you agree Tawheed is the basis. By Allaah you have just assaulted Tawheed; we give you an excuse of ignorance.

You wrote: ‘Qaradawee has been teaching Islam in Qatar for more than three decades, and no one (single) Qatari has ever partaken in any major terrorist act.’ You need to give us the data. Also kindly give us statements of Al-Qaradawee where he denounced Al-Qaeda or the present ISIS mad dogs. ‘From the 9/11 disaster, to Al-Qaeda networks and the ISIS camps in the Levant, thousands of Saudis are involved.’ Are you saying there are no Ikhwaanee recruiters in Saudi that can incite to such? And do you mean the majority of those graduating from Jaamiah Islaamiyyah are al-Qaeda and ISIS recruits? It is a well-known fact; you and your comrades know it, as you know your sons, that Salafiyyah being preached and taught in Saudi Arabia and by other many scholars of Sunnah all over the world is the major threat to Qaradawee and his goons. And that this Salafiyyah, is the major threat against the harakiyyah of the Muslim Brotherhood and its offspring such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Didn’t you say you have ‘Salafi’ and ‘haraki’ friends? Ask them.

Yes you delved very much into International Politics especially the issues in the Middle East. One thing is very clear from your tirade, you relied heavily on what your oriental teachers teach you at your Institute [of Oriental Studies], so your positions are heavily flawed. If not for the fact that, we are not interested in that dirty and murky thing called international politics (which in the past we had taken our precious time), we would have given you a point by point response to everything you said. We are afraid, because we are Salafis; we owe respect to all Muslim rulers.

One other thing is very clear; you do not understand As-Siyaasah Ash-Shar’iyyah – the Legislated Islamic Politics. If you were there when the Prophet salaLlâhu alayhi wa sallam distributed those war booty that made that great grandfather of you people to say, ‘O Muhammad be just, you have not been just’, you would definitely cheer that man. The man did not understand the wisdom in the way the Messenger of Allâh (salaLlaahu alhyi wa sallam) had distributed the war booty, he thought he was cheated. We know the treaties the Prophet (salaLlaahu alhyi wa sallam) had with the Jews in Madeenah (before they betrayed him), and those ones he had with the Mushrikoon of Makkah, were all borne out of this mighty principle of As-Siyaasah Ash-Shar’iyyah.

Muslim rulers, down to the Ottoman era, had always been conscious of this principle. That was what has always been informing their relationship with the non-Muslim states.

كَيْفَ يَكُونُ لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ عَهْدٌ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَعِنْدَ رَسُولِهِ إِلا الَّذِينَ عَاهَدْتُمْ عِنْدَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ فَمَا اسْتَقَامُوا لَكُمْ فَاسْتَقِيمُوا لَهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ

How can there be a covenant with Allâh and with His Messenger for the Mushrikûn (polytheists, idolaters, pagans, disbelievers In the Oneness of Allâh) except those with whom you made a covenant near Al-Masjid-al-Harâm (at Makkah)? So long, as they are true to you, stand you true to them. Verily, Allâh loves Al-Muttaqûn (the pious) [Taubah: 7]

In essence the meaning of that is that the Muslim state is permissible to have legitimate deals with the non-Muslim states.

Why is it not permissible to kill a mu’aahad? Check it out who is a mu’aahad.

Why did the Qur’aan praise the Romans victory over the Persians?

And why did the Muslims have to seek protection in the Christian State of Abyssinia in the early days of Islam?

In your thinking, the Prophet (salaLlaahu alahyi wa sallam) might probably be wrong for adopting the Persian war tactics at Battle of Trench.

So go and learn the basics in Siyaasah Shar’iyyah, and never you castigate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when it carries out what is permissible in the Deen.

The Gulf Affair!

We are not going to talk about that. It does not concern us. We want to mind our business in that respect!

However may Allaah not allow the Safavid State in Iran to become a major power in the region such that it can threaten our faith.

It is our dream and prayer that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia becomes the most powerful state in that region, and beyond, so that the tentacle of Tawheed can easily spread across the globe. It is for that single reason.

مَنْ كَانَ يَظُنُّ أَنْ لَنْ يَنْصُرَهُ اللَّهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ فَلْيَمْدُدْ بِسَبَبٍ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ ثُمَّ لِيَقْطَعْ فَلْيَنْظُرْ هَلْ يُذْهِبَنَّ كَيْدُهُ مَا يَغِيظُ

Whoever thinks that Allâh will not help Him (Muhammad) in this world and in the Hereafter, let Him stretch out a rope to the ceiling and let him strangle himself. Then let him see whether his plan will remove that whereat He rages! [Hajj: 15]

You wrote: ‘I must clearly affirm from the onset that I hate that sick ideology called Shiism.’ This same way you said you do not belong to Muslim Brotherhood but spent good energy in defending its ethos and promoters. Here you are to do the same for Shiah.

You wrote again: ‘…the Saudi’s politics with Iran is not about this ideology, but rather, it is a regional politics of the power play, involving the US. In the region, Saudi Arabia is never secure with the Iranian military might. But if Iran could just play the diplomacy of humility in its relationship with the Saudi kingdom, the game will change.’ Read that again and see how unreasonable you have been. Iran itself knows that the feud it has with Saudi is basically about its heresy; other things are ancillary. And why should Saudi be secure with Iran so-called military might? The King with his court is not a fool.

You said: ‘Nevertheless, the whole scenario was, to me, very interesting, because I know the Saudis too well.’ What an assertion! Have you ever seen any of the Saudi kings face-to-case?

You wrote: ‘However, something occurred in the era of this unusual diplomatic romance…I was in Umrah and i (sic) did withness (sic) it. It was during a ziyaarah procession at the prophet’s grave inside the holy sanctuary in Medina, a notorious Shite cleric from Iran after saying his salaam to the holy Prophet, walked towards Abubakri and Umar’s graves and then spat heavily on them in disgust. The organized queue of the belivers (sic) was enraged and the cursed iranian (sic) cleric was almost lynched, but for his immediate rescue by the Saudi police. The day after was a Friday which the Saudis and other visitors to the Prophet’s mosque would not forget in a hurry, as the famous Imam Hudhaifi climbed the pulpit to deliver a powerful, historic Friday sermon, tongue-lashing the kingdom’s leadership for its newly found satanic friendship with the Shites who came visiting, desecrating the two leading companions’ graves. The khutbah was so severe, and immediately after he said his tasleem, which heralded the two rakat prayer to an end, he was whisked away by the state security agency for interrogation…!’

The event you are alluding to occurred in 1998! You said you were there as a witness. It was about the visit of Rafsanjani a former president of Iran who just left power in the year before. It was the visit that elicited the Imam Hudhaifi’s reaction for it was geared towards mending Saudi-Iranian relations in a way. The Imaam was afraid that if the hobnobbing between the Saudi state and the Iranian government, on one hand, and the Saudi state and the Kuffâr governments, on the other hand, was not put in the right perspective, it might have adverse effect on the Muslims; he was right. So the Imam was censured for the tough sermon by the authorities.

But the picture you painted above is a crass exaggeration characteristic of an Ikhwaanee blood. One, that you were there remains a khabar susceptible to acceptance or otherwise; it was in 1998 remember. Two, you referred to Akbar Hashimi Rafsanjani as just a notorious Iranian cleric; this belies your claim to Middle East knowledge. We wonder why you would not know he was a former president. Agreed, he was one of their numerous ayatollahs (which anybody can be in Iran so far your graduated from Qom Seminary) but his being a former president should be more important than being a mere cleric. Three, you said he spat on the graves of Abu bakr and Umar. Nobody would do that in Saudi and go scot-free. You must provide a proof for that. Four, you said the Imaam was whisked away (in a Gestapo style or otherwise), that requires another proof from you.

In summary, you were just peddling some lies which you probably heard from people like Faisal Al-Jamaikee. Unless you prove it, you were not at the event.

The relationship between Saudi and Iran has been that of carrot and stick. Saudi has some Shia population no doubt especially at the oil field region which borders Iran, so managing those miscreants has been a tough job for Saudi over the decades. Any country that has citizens like the Shia will understand that managing them will require some diplomacy. Saudi has always been trying to contain them in one way or the other. Sometime it will use force sometime peace. Everything goes back to the Siyaasah Shar’iyyah earlier mentioned.

The Saudi Shia population looks at Iran as their backer, Iran has never shied away from this fact. Therefore it is Saudi relationship with its Shia population that often informs its relations with Iran, and sometimes, vice versa. There is no sin upon Saudi in entering into some truce with Iran in some circumstances, isn’t that possible with the full-blown Kuffaar like the US and UK?

Saudi Arabia will never tolerate any dissident act from the Shia on its territory because for all intent and purpose, they are khawaarij in a way. The 1987 macabre in Makkah where many Shia lost their lives after a violent demonstration against the authorities that led to skirmishes between the Shia pilgrims and the Saudi security agents, what did Khomeini tell the Shia population in Saudi, ‘overthrow the murderers in the House of Saud’, please what was that?

And do you know about the pact made between King Fahd (Allâh’s mercy on him) and the followers of Saffar’s Harakah Islaahiyyah in 1993 that bettered the lot of the Shia in Saudi, when they became subservient to the authorities?

When some trouble makers led by one miscreant by name Nimr reared their heads in 2015, the rebels among them were all put to death including their head.

So the situation has, obey the law or face the consequence. Do not forget Saudi Arabia is a country where the Sharia is strongly and effectivley applied (do not ask us about other Gulf States). Ask any Nigerian drug trafficker the danger in trafficking drug to Saudi Arabia.

And should will tell you what the Sunni minority faces in Iran? Another day, Inshaa Allaah.

You wrote: ‘Unfortunately, in spite of the kingdom’s abundance of wealth and its goodwill of Muslim solidarity, the virtual lack of experience in international diplomacy on the part of its new crown Prince, Muhammad Bn Salman, under whose ego lies the entire crisis, the kingdom has become a losing giant in the region as much as it is frustrated!’ a self-contradiction from you, is the present crisis because of the Crown Prince or Muslim Brotherhood cum Yûsuf Al-Qaradawee? Remember you wrote: ‘I am not therefore surprised if the Brotherhood movement is the ultimate target of the whole crisis.’ International political analysis went wrong!

Epilogue

The intent here therefore is to defend the Sharia position of respect for the Muslim rulers and the scholars of Sunnah. This is one of the fundametals of the Deen.

That is the little we have intended to shed on the matter. We declare before the world that we are little learners of the Deen. We are grateful to Allâh who has blessed the Deen with scholars home and abroad, which we pray Allaah make us benefit from more.

In this article, we would have made a mistake or more. That is from us and Shaytaan. But if we come near any correctness, to Allaah the Mighty belongs the glory.

Written by: Aboo Aamir Al-Atharee

This article is the authors opinion and they do not reflect knowislam.com.ng policies.

Mexico : 19 gang members killed in overnight clash

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Officials attribute incident to warring drug gang members responsible for recent violence in Sinaloa state.

During the first five months of the year, homicides jumped by 76 percent in Sinaloa state [File AP]

At least 19 people have been killed in clashes involving armed men and security forces in the gang-plagued northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, authorities said.

Sinaloa has seen a dramatic spike of homicides following the capture and extradition of convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

The violence began with a shooting on Friday that killed two men near a department store in the town of Villa Union, about 24km southeast of the beach resort of Mazatlan.

Mexico: Outrage grows over record murder rate

Officials attributed it to warring drug gang members responsible for recent violence in the state, which is home to Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel.

“We believe it has to do with the transport of drugs and the fight for terrain, for the areas that these groups are fighting over,” Genaro Robles Casillas, the Sinaloa state public security secretary, said at a news conference.

Police were alerted by emergency calls, and municipal officers encountered the suspected attackers as they were riding in several pickup trucks.

A fierce gunbattle broke out in which police killed 17 suspects, officials said. Five municipal police officers were wounded, but reported in stable condition.

At the scene of the clash, four vehicles, 15 rifles and seven handguns were found.

Sinaloa is the birthplace of a number of Mexico’s drug gang leaders, and killings have risen there after Guzman was captured and then extradited to the United States earlier this year to face drug charges.

Security experts say a power struggle has since broken out between opposing factions of the Sinaloa cartel, which also faces challenges from other gangs such as the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

During the first five months of the year, homicides jumped by 76 percent in Sinaloa state compared with the same period in 2016, according to government crime statistics.

The killings include the May 15 slaying of Javier Valdez, an award-winning reporter who specialised in covering drug trafficking and organised crime, in the state capital, Culiacan.

Source: News agencies

Breaking : Pope sacks Vatican cardinal handling child sex abuse cases

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Gerhard Mueller relieved of duties just days after pope aide Pell was charged with child sex abuse.

During Mueller’s term, his office amassed a 2,000-case backlog [Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters]

Pope Francis has dismissed the church’s chief of doctrine, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller – one of the most powerful cardinals at the Vatican – head of the Vatican office that processes and evaluates all cases of priests accused of raping or molesting minors.

Mueller’s sacking on Saturday comes just days after the pontiff released another top Vatican cardinal, Cardinal George Pell, to return home to stand trial for alleged sexual assault.

“There were no differences of opinion between me and Pope Francis,” Mueller, an arch-conservative who had the ear of former pontiff Benedict XVI, told the German paper Allgemeine Zeitung.

Francis named Mueller’s deputy, Monsignor Luis Ladaria Ferrer, a Spanish Jesuit, to run the powerful office instead.

During Mueller’s five-year term, the congregation amassed a 2,000-case backlog and came under criticism from Irish abuse survivor Marie Collins.

She had been tapped by Francis in 2014 to advise the church on caring for abuse victims and protecting children from pedophile priests.

Collins resigned from the papal commission in March, citing the “unacceptable” level of resistance from Mueller’s office to heeding the commission’s proposals.

 

In May, Francis said her criticism of the slow pace in processing abuse cases was justified and announced he was adding more staff to handle the load.

Earlier this year, he also named Cardinal Sean O’Malley as a member of the congregation in hopes of ensuring better cooperation.

Spar over divorce

Aside from the sex abuse case backlog, Francis and Mueller had sparred over the pope’s divisive 2016 document on family life in which the pope offered a cautious opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion.

Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics receive an annulment, or a church decree that their first marriage was invalid, they are committing adultery and cannot receive Communion unless they abstain from sex.

Four conservative cardinals attacked the pope’s document as vague and confusing and publicly requested that Francis clarify it.

Mueller did not join their campaign but made it clear that he disagrees with Francis’ suggestion that any such decisions could be arrived at in the realm of personal discernment.

Source: News agencies

Law firm hired by Qatar to probe violations from blockade

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Lalive will pursue the cases of some 2,450 citizens and foreign residents hit by the anti-Qatar measures.

Qatari officials meet with lawyers from the international law firm Lalive in Geneva [Ayache Derradji/Al Jazeera]
Qatari officials meet with lawyers from the international law firm Lalive in Geneva [Ayache Derradji/Al Jazeera]

Geneva, Switzerland – The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) in Qatar has hired a Swiss law firm to investigate thousands of cases of human rights violations from a Saudi-led blockade on Qatar and seek compensation.

NHRC and Lalive signed a contract in Geneva on Saturday that will grant the international law firm the right to pursue the cases of some 2,450 citizens and foreign residents of Qatar, who have been affected by the blockade.

Lalive, which specialises in mass claims, said it will pursue the cases in local and international tribunals.

“The sanctions imposed on Qatar go too far and are not in accordance with international law.  Ordinary Qatari nationals and companies are not part of the State and cannot be targeted,” Veijo Heiskanen, the lead lawyer on the case, told Al Jazeera.

“A political dispute between States does not justify sanctions against private citizens, companies and other private entities. The Qatar National Committee for Human Rights is therefore justified to pursue these claims,” he said.

Heiskanen said Lalive will be working closely with the NHRC over the coming days and weeks to proceed as quickly as possible to determine the right course of action with respect to the claims already submitted and those to come.

 

On June 5,Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and implemented a blockade in a bid to bring Doha in line with its neighbours’ foreign policy.

The embargo has isolated Qatar, blocking air and land traffic and movement of people and goods from Doha to other Gulf capitals, as well as severing commercial and financial relations between Qatar and the three Gulf countries.

Gulf authorities expelled Qatari citizens living in the three countries and asked their own citizens to return home within 14 days or face sanctions. In the first days of the embargo, some non-Qatari citizens holding a Qatari resident permit were also banned from entering some of these countries, the NHRC reported.

“People have been forced to immediately leave behind their jobs, homes, universities or business activities. Families have to decide whether to split up or face sanctions upon their return, including prison terms,” NHRC Chairman Ali Al Marri told Al Jazeera.

“There are thousands of people of all nationalities, not just Qataris, who are suffering because of the embargo.”

The number of people affected by the sanctions who may seek compensation could increase in the next few days and weeks, as residents come to terms with the effects of the travel and residency restrictions imposed on them, the official added.

 

According to the NHRC, some 11,300 citizens from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates living in Qatar have been affected by the forcible repatriation measures. Many have decided to stay in Doha, but now they fear returning home, said Bettahar Boudjellal, a consultant at the NHRC.

Some 19,000 Qatari citizens living in the three countries were expelled living assets, properties, jobs and in some cases their families behind, he said.

More than 1,000 Gulf students attending Qatar universities have been forced to quit their studies and repatriate immediately. Qatar students have been expelled from universities in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE, without receiving proper attestations from the educational institutions they were enrolled in, the NHRC said.

Patients from Saudi Arabia and the UAE who were hospitalised in Doha were asked to leave promptly, as well as Qatari patients in hospitals of the Gulf capitals.

The NHRC said a 13-point list of demands, which include Qatar shutting down the Al Jazeera Media Network, contain gross violations of human rights conventions and other relevant international and regional agreements, from the right to freedom of opinion and expression to the right to nationality and the right to asylum.

The comments echoed UN High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein’s statement that the demand to close down Al Jazeera was an “unacceptable attack” on the right to freedoms of expression and opinion.

Source: Al Jazeera News

Saudi Arabia pushes on with steep Qatar demands

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Saudi foreign minister reiterates that list of 13-point demands to Qatar ‘to stop funding terrorism’ is non-negotiable.

Jubeir made a similar statement last week in Washington DC [File: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters]
Jubeir made a similar statement last week in Washington DC [File: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters]

Saudi Arabia has reiterated that its demands to Qatar to end the stand-off in the Gulf were “non-negotiable”.

Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, said on Twitter on Saturday that “demands on Qatar to stop funding terrorism are non-negotiable”.

“Restrictions on Qatar show zero tolerance for terrorism,” Jubeir said, claiming that Doha had failed to keep previous pledges of stopping “funding terrorism and interfering in other countries’ affairs”. Qatar denies all allegations.

Jubeir made a similar statement last week in Washington DC when asked by reporters if the 13 point list of demands that are widely denounced as “unrealistic” was non-negotiable.

“We made our point, we took our steps and it’s up to the Qataris to amend their behaviour and once they do, things will be worked out, but if they don’t they will remain isolated,” he said on Tuesday.

10-day deadline

The demands issued with a 10-day deadline last week include downgrading ties with Iran, shutting down Al Jazeera media network and Turkish military base in Doha.

The exact time of the deadline was not discussed but it is expected to become void on Monday.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on the country on June 5, accusing it of supporting “terrorism”.

The four Arab countries have not provided any evidence for their claim, while Qatar has repeatedly rejected the allegation.

On Friday, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani asked members of UN’s Security Council to urge a Saudi-led bloc of states to lift their blockade on the Gulf country.

 

Source: News agencies

"The world is not ruled by ultimatum, Doha will not meet any of the 13 demands" : Qatar

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offering instead “a proper condition for a dialogue” to resolve the Gulf crisis.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, speaking at the news conference in the Italian capital Rome on Saturday, said the list “was meant to be rejected”, pointing to the fact that it arrived with a 10-day expiration date.

“Everyone is aware that these demands are meant to infringe the sovereignty of the state of Qatar, shut the freedom of speech and impose auditing and probation mechanism for Qatar,” he said.

“We believe that the world is not governed by ultimatums, we believe that the world is governed by the international law, it is governed by an order that does not allow large countries to bully small countries.”

 

Sheikh Mohammed spoke less than 48 hours before the deadline for the demands issued last week was due to pass.

It was not clear what would come next. Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar did not fear any military retaliation for rejecting the ultimatum.

The list of demands include downgrading ties with Iran, shutting down Al Jazeera media network and Turkish military base in Doha.

 

The ultimatum came more than two weeks after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 and imposed sanctions, accusing it of supporting “terrorism”.

Sheikh  Mohammed said on Saturday that “those parties brand any party of state who opposes their designs as terrorists”.

He also said that Trump was manipulated into believing that Qatar was not doing enough to crack down on funding “extremists”.

“The United States administration and institutions firmly believe in the state of Qatar, yet the statement made by President [Donald] Trump was based on false allegations and the false impression given to him by the heads of states who imposed blockade on Qatar,” he said.

Trump would be able to find “the true established facts” from the US institutions, according to Sheikh Mohammed.

“The state of Qatar has been subjected to unlawful measures on the basis of false allegations without the submission of evidence,” he said.

 

Source: Al Jazeera News

Babies die in Gaza as Hamas, Fatah trade blame.

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Three infants in need of specialised medical care died this week in gaza city after failure to obtain exit permit.

Doctors in Al Shifa Hospital’s neonatal unit say ‘acute shortages’ are affecting the level of care they can provide [Ezz Zanoun/Al Jazeera]

Gaza City – This year’s Eid has been tragic for Hanan Ghaben. Her 5-day-old baby, suffering from heart disease, died on Tuesday after she was prevented from accessing medical care outside of the besieged Gaza Strip.

For the two million Palestinians in the impoverished Strip, an Israeli exit permit that is difficult-to-obtain is required for them to leave and be treated in Israel or the occupied territories of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“What in the hell have we done to deserve all of this pain and see my own child die in front of my eyes?” Ghaben asked Al Jazeera, with trembling voice.

Typically, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), a semi-governmental body that administers the Israeli-occupied West Bank, facilitates the referral and funding of Palestinians to hospitals outside the Strip, where adequate treatment is restricted.

But in recent months, the number of medical referrals from Gaza that the PA passes on to Israel has dropped, leaving patients needing urgent care, such as Ghaben’s baby, stuck in Strip’s resource deprived medical facilities.

In less than 24 hours this week, three newborn babies died in the neonatal intensive care unit at Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital after their permits for medical treatment were either rejected or delayed.

Bara Ghaben, Ibrahim Tbeil and Mus’ab Araeer were all under the age of one and suffered from congenital heart conditions.

Ghaben said that she and her husband had applied on behalf of their newborn three times for a medical permit, but the delay in the PA’s referral process proved to be fatal.

The delay in referrals is part of the PA’s recent escalation against its rival, the Hamas government in Gaza, Hamas officials believe.

In March, the PA cut the salaries of their own employees in Gaza by 30 percent. Shortly thereafter, the Palestinian officials in Ramallah asked Israel to cut its electricity supply to Gaza by at least 40 percent, stating they would no longer pay for it.

Gaza’s Deputy Health Minister Yousef Abu Rish described the health situation as a “death sentence”.

“During the last three months, 11 Palestinian patients in Gaza died as a direct result of not being granted medical permits to treat them,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The PA is responsible for every patient’s death that could have been avoided through treatment outside of Gaza.”

Abu Rish said that in the last month, Palestinian and Israeli authorities refused to grant permits for at least 1620 Palestinian patients in Gaza, while another 1,500 were still waiting for a reply.

“The serious implications and the grave consequences of [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas’ recent punitive measure adopted against Gaza to halt transferring the patients to the hospitals in the West Bank, Jordan, and Israel appeared and started to harvest the young souls,” he said.

Testimonies and data collected by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel showed that in 2016, the number of requests for permits approved by the PA was 2,041 a month. In May and June of 2017, the number of referrals granted was just 10 a day while the average number of requests each day was 120.

As of this month, more than 1,600 patients from Gaza are waiting for PA referrals.

But the PA has rejected the claims, the latest in a rift between the two political parties vying for power in the territories.

“What the health ministry in Gaza is saying is not true,” Jawad Awwad, minister of health in the West Bank, told Al Jazeera. “The regulations are ongoing.”

“We fulfil our obligation to the southern governorate,” he said, referring to the Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run government.

“We have provided Gaza with all the services we can, from supplies to covering costs of treatment outside of Gaza.”

Health sector collapsing

PHRI also accused the PA of cutting medical supplies to Gaza by 90 percent. That, coupled with the recent decision to reduce electricity to the Strip, has put Gaza’s health sector on the brink of collapse.

Mostafa Saidem, a doctor in Al Shifa’s children’s ward, said the lack of medicine has put further strain on hospital staff whose care capacity was already resource-limited.

“About 40 percent of the needed medicines required to deal properly with the heart diseases, and other serious health conditions have run out from our warehouses, which in return cripples us as medical personnel,” he said.

Information gathered by PHRI showed that the PA’s budget to Gaza’s health ministry dropped from $4m to a mere $500,000 in May, severely hindering the operations of 13 government hospitals.

Receiving only three hours of electricity a day, and following the shutdown of the Strip’s only power plant, Gaza’s 14 public hospitals and 16 health facilities now “face partial or complete closure of essential services”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Many have warned of the detrimental impact on Palestinians caught up between the PA and Hamas’ power play that began with the 2007 failed Fatah coup on Gaza after Hamas won elections, leading to the expulsion of Fatah from the territory and a Hamas takeover.

Robert Piper, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory, said last week that people in Gaza “should not be held hostage to this long-standing internal Palestinian dispute”.

Dana Moss of PHRI was reported by local media as saying that Gaza patients “are held hostage to political infighting.”

Back at Al Shifa hospital, Mahmoud el-Qoun stands distraught over his daughter’s hospital bed.

Samaa, only 11-days-old, was born premature and requires specialised care that doctors in Gaza simply do not have the means to provide.

“It is awful … I’m helpless in front of my daughter’s serious health condition,” said Qoun.

“I am afraid she will become a victim just like the other children. It’s a terrible nightmare that continues to chase me.”

Source: Al Jazeera

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