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Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-850956
Pushback in Arab World after New Call for Global Jihad Against Israel
(Jerusalem Post) Pesach Wolicki - On March 31, the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), headquartered in Qatar and comprising 95,000 Muslim scholars, issued a ten-point fatwa calling for global jihad against Israel. The fatwa states that "it is obligatory for every capable Muslim in the Islamic world to wage armed jihad against the occupation in Palestine." It calls on Arab and Islamic states to immediately intervene militarily against Israel, demands besieging the "Zionist enemy" by land, sea, and air, and declares that normalizing relations with Israel is "forbidden by Sharia law." While similar rhetoric has been heard for decades, what is notable is the pushback it has received from influential voices within the Muslim world. Salem Alketbi published a scathing critique on the Arab news site Elaf.com, reminding readers that the UAE had designated the IUMS as a terrorist organization back in 2014 - as did Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain - due to its ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. Alketbi was not alone. The Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Nazir Ayyad, dismissed the fatwa, declaring that "no individual group or entity has the right to issue fatwas on such delicate and critical matters in violation of Sharia principles," and condemned it as an "irresponsible act" that endangers regional stability. Despite Egypt's critical stance toward Israel during the current conflict, its highest religious authority rejected the fatwa outright. This tension reveals a deeper division across the Muslim world. On one side stands the "jihadist" camp, represented by Qatar, Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood affiliates. On the other side are nations increasingly prioritizing stability and engagement with the West: the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and to some extent, Egypt and Jordan.