Emirati preacher angers Brotherhood and Algerian scholars

An Emirati cleric of Jordanian origin visited Algeria on 9 March at the invitation of one of the local private television stations, causing controversy in religious and political circles due to a sermon he proceeded to give in which he attacked the Muslim Brotherhood.

The cleric, Waseem Yousef, 36, from Irbid in northern Jordan, is a preacher and imam at the famous Sheikh Zayed Mosque in the UAE, and was granted Emirati citizenship in 2014.

In his sermon, he attacked the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Yemen and tried to accuse them of terrorism, despite the fact that in Yemen they actually fight in the same camps as the Emiratis, supporting the internationally recognised government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Yousef stated:

The Muslim Brotherhood leaders who incited jihad during the events of the Arab Spring live with their children in Europe and America, and they throw the children of others living in the Arab world into unfounded wars.

Yousef left Algeria last Friday, but his statements angered the Muslim Brotherhood in Algeria, the largest Islamist movement in Algeria who run the Movement for the Society of Peace.

It also angered a number of Islamic organisations in the country, including the Association of Algerian Muslim Ulema, the largest independent body of Islamic scholars in Algeria.

The Association criticised Yousef’s sermon in a statement, advising Algerian Muslims against heeding his words:

Those listening to Waseem Yousef’s words should not conclude anything beneficial [from them], even after over an hour of him talking. All they heard was a series of accusations directed against various scholars, preachers, and students, who Yousef considered to be ignorant and close-minded.

They added, “He does not serve Islam, but rather deepens the Muslim’s problems and fragmentation.”