Saudi Arabia warns against Muslim Brotherhood books

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance has warned mosque imams against using books and opinions of three Muslim Brotherhood figures, Al-Hayat newspaper reported.

The ministry told imams not to use excerpts from the books written by Sayyid Qutub, Hassan Al-Banna and Muhammad Saroor and described them as people with extremist views.

During the launch of a dawah program at Jazan Winter Festival, Tawfiq Al-Sudairi, deputy minister for the affairs of mosques, called for purging society of all books written by those three figures.

He said: “Pulpits of mosques are not for agitating the public, voicing personal opinions and creating conflicts.”

“They should be used to direct people to what is right and what is wrong and spread harmony and solidarity in society.”

He warned imams against siding with terrorist organizations and political parties.

The new minister, Sulaiman Aba Al-Khail, promised to change the plans and methods used by Islamic missionaries.

Al-Sudairi’s speech during the festival is part of the ministry’s plan to give a series of lectures to all mosque imams around the country.

Last week, he met with the imams of Riyadh mosques and the meeting was attended by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh.

Al-Sudairi urged the imams not to discuss issues related to countries that are going through conflicts in the Muslim world.

He said: “There is no place for a negligent or biased imam who wants to cause sedition.

“Each and every mosque has a mission to safeguard society and enhance people's patriotic feelings. A mosque is not the right place for an imam to interpret religious issues according to his opinion.

“Imams should use the help of senior scholars’ opinions when they deal with certain issues.”

Meanwhile, Aba Al-Khail issued directives to collect the Friday sermons delivered all over the Kingdom on Jan. 9 condemning the terrorist attacks that targeted the Arar Border Guard on Jan. 5.

The sermons focused on the ideologies and methodologies of terrorists who call for killing innocent people and terrorizing the public.

They shed light on the deviant thoughts terrorists held and their hatred toward the Kingdom, its leadership, its people and security officers.

All imams talked in detail about the intentions of terrorists to destabilize society and called on people to come together and join forces to fight terrorism.

Aba Al-Khail ordered that the sermons be classified into categories and printed in volumes, then distributed to scholars and students who study Shariah.

This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on Jan.19, 2015.