Muslim Scholars Union criticizes Qatar’s “extreme” media

CAIRO – 19 June 2017: The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, released a statement on Monday criticizing Qatar’s media outlets after defaming a set of noted Muslim scholars.

Qatar media outlets have been slandering scholars at Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars (CSS), the kingdom’s highest religious body, and calling them “hypocrites”.

The Qatari media campaigns against scholars of the CSS started after Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al-Sheikh, grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, announced that procedures taken against Doha by Arab countries are in fact in the best interest of Qatari citizens.

Four Arab capitals, namely Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama, on June 5, severed diplomatic ties with Qatar. Mauritania, Libya’s eastern-based government and Mauritius also joined the stand against Qatar.

Ties with the tiny emirate were cut over allegations that Qatar supports terrorism, destabilizes the region and has close ties with Iran.

“The IUMS has witnessed what Qatari media outlets have been circulating against noted scholars of the Islamic nation, this clearly indicates how much teachings of extremism and violence that are adopted by IS have impacted the Qatari intellect,” The IUMS statement said.

“The union strongly criticizes the mechanisms of Qatari media that is being harnessed to serve extremism, which is resulting in examples and practices that have no relation to the real teachings of Islam,” the statement added.