The Dismissed Mufti Sparks Debate with Strange Fatwa… Gaza Takes Priority for Pilgrimage Funds
Social media users accuse deposed Libyan mufti of trafficking in the blood of Gaza residents, noting that he represents the opinion of the Muslim Brotherhood
The dismissed mufti of Libya, Sadiq Al-Ghariani, considered the spiritual father of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, has stirred widespread controversy on social media with an unusual fatwa. In it, he targeted Saudi Arabia and exploited public sympathy towards Gaza to incite against performing the rites of Umrah and Hajj and to redirect the funds earmarked for this purpose to the people of the Gaza Strip, so that Riyadh does not profit financially from these religious rituals.
Internet users in Libya and beyond have criticized the fatwa, deeming it bizarre for the Muslim community and inciting towards warfare and violence. Others argued that the fatwa conflated the performance of religious duty with the events in Gaza, considering the mufti’s statements tantamount to trading with the blood of Gaza’s inhabitants.
In a video posted on his Facebook account as part of a series of lessons and fatwas, Al-Ghariani stated, “Many Muslims are carried away by their emotions and act improperly, which shows neither insight nor understanding of the religion.” He added in a Libyan dialect, “You now see thousands and hundreds of thousands rushing to perform Umrah for the twenty-fifth time, queuing up at McDonald‘s to get a meal and paying in dollars for McDonald‘s, which then transfers it to the Zionists who are killing our brothers in Gaza.”
He further stated, “He goes for Umrah for the fifth or sixth time and spends 5,000, 10,000, or even 20,000 dollars, thinking he is at the highest level of devotion, when he is at the highest level of ignorance.”
He reiterated his call to refrain from repeating the performance of Hajj and Umrah rites so that Saudi Arabia does not benefit from the money spent by pilgrims and visitors, in a similar appeal to one previously made when he urged Libyans to direct the funds allocated for Hajj and Umrah towards Libyan armed groups fighting the Libyan National Army led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
