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Saudi Grand Mufti: Islamic State are Really Israeli Soldiers, Clarion Project, December 31, 2015

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh

Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority, the Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh, declared that Islamic State (ISIS) militants are in actuality Israeli soldiers.

In an interview with the Saudi Gazette, Aziz spoke of the recent audio recording released by the terror group threatening Israel and the Jews.

“This threat against Israel is simply a lie. Actually, Daesh (ISIS) is part of the Israeli soldiers,” said the 72-year-old cleric.

The mufti also dismissed the seriousness of the threat declared by self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi. If the Islamic State was serious, Al-Asheikh said, they would be “killing Jews and liberating Palestine.”

He labeled the Islamic State were heretics and doing damage to Islam and Muslims.

“They cannot be considered as followers of Islam,” he pronounced. “Rather, they are an extension of Kharijites, who rose in revolt against the Islamic caliphate for the first time by labeling Muslims as infidels and permitting their bloodletting.”

Al-Asheikh is chairman of the Senior Scholars’ Commission and Ifta Council in Saudi Arabia. He descends directly from Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahhab, the founder of the extremist Wahhabi Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia.

“The Al Sheikh family is the theological equivalent of the Saud family,” writes Bruce Reidel, director of the Intelligence Project of the Brookings Institute. “Abdulaziz was appointed Grand Mufti in 1999 by King Fahd. He wields enormous authority.”

Reidel adds, “Both the Mufti’s remarks and al-Baghdadi’s illustrate that Israel remains the hot button issue in the Kingdom. If you want to smear your enemy, label him a stooge of Israel.”

This entry was posted on December 31, 2015 at 4:28 PM and is filed under Islamic State, Israel, Saudi Arabia. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Islamic State, Israel, Saudi Arabia