Concern in Oman over Gaza war’s boost to Brotherhood and jihadist ideas

Criticism has in many cases focused on the positions of the mufti of the sultanate, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Khalili.

Wednesday 28/02/2024

A 2014 file picture shows Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (C) sitting between Ali Moheiddin al-Qaradaghi (L), Secretary-General of the International Union for Muslim Scholars and Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al-Khalili (R), Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman, dur

Muscat, Oman

Political activists and opinion leaders in Oman are warning that public sympathy with the Palestinian population in Gaza in the face of the Israeli military onslaught is morphing into support for the Palestinian Islamist movement and other radical groups in a way that could threaten Oman’s future stability.

The analysts are wary of the wave of support turning into a breeding ground for Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist organisations among Oman’s majority young population traditionally inclined towards peaceful and moderate values.
They also fear the authorities may be underestimating the effects of the public opinion trends and the risks of infiltration of official bodies by radical thought.

Criticism has in many cases focused on the approach of the mufti of the sultanate, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Khalili whose enthusiasm for Gaza’s population has pushed him to ignore the official line of conduct to which he is supposed to adhere as a top religious official.

The fatwa office in Oman, headed by the mufti, is affiliated with the ministry of endowments and religious affairs, whose duties include supervising mosques, directing the preaching and religious guidance and monitoring religious productions and publications.

Omani observers have recently noted that some of the sultanate’s mosques have turned into pulpits for Hamas propaganda and jihadist rhetoric.

Video footage circulating on social media shows groups of worshippers in some Omani mosques listening in reverence to the military statements of “Abu Ubaida,” the official spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, as if they were religious sermons.

Furthermore, the appearance of the sultanate’s mufti in one of these videos has sparked a huge controversy in the country.
The main concern now among officials is that religious platforms in Oman could turn into a Muslim Brotherhood propaganda and recruitment outlet, especially because Hamas is part of this international Islamist organisation.
Brotherhood infiltration of state institutions could undermine Oman’s stability as its effect could outlast the war in Gaza, say Arab Gulf experts.

The mufti of Oman had earlier voiced his support for Houthi threats to maritime shipping in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden. Through a post on his official website, he welcomed the group’s seizure of a cargo ship. He called on “the entire brotherly people of Yemen to rally behind the great religious principle of support to the oppressed and the persecuted among our brothers”.