Yemen: A report showing the violations committed by al-Qaeda and the Brotherhood against Sufis?
The Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda in Yemen have maintained a policy of differentiating between religious sects, harassment and takfir, and the principle that those who are not with us are our enemies.
The country has witnessed a conflict between Sufi figures and al-Qaeda in Yemen over the past period, and the organization’s abduction of Sufi preacher Taher al-Attas last year, while he was returning home from dawn prayers in the south-eastern province of Hadramaut, is the most telling evidence.
Al Aan TV news channel reported on its website: Islamic preacher Ali Al-Jafari announced the kidnapping of Dr. Al-Attas, blaming the governor and the first military district for his return to his family. He pointed out that the kidnappers went to areas under the influence of the first military region loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood organization, which reinforced the accusations of the group collaborating with the terrorist organization against Sufi sheiks.
He pointed out that the kidnapping of Al-Attas is not the first incident carried out by unknown persons targeting Sufi students and scholars, especially students and workers at Al-Mustafa House. The preacher Abdullah Mawla Duwailah was kidnapped on the day of Wednesday, August 30, 2017, and he is a staff member at Al-Mustafa House. A few months after the Duwailah incident, Al-Mustafa House announced on October 31 another abduction, carried out by four masked men wearing military uniforms, of a student from the Australian House.
He added that since the beginning of the armed conflict in Yemen on March 25, 2015, Sufi groups have been systematically targeted at various times, and they have always been subjected to anonymous attacks.
The report indicated that exactly one and a half months after the abduction of Taher Al-Attas on December 2, 2021, unknown individuals kidnapped Abd Al-Bari Salim Al-Attas and Habshi Omar Al-Habashi while they were in the districts of Houra and Wadi Al-Ain, 100 kilometers away from the city of Tarim. Until now, the Al-Attas family has no news of the abductees, and the Al-Attas family is considered one of the highest Hashemite family and tribal affiliates in the governorate of Hadramaut.
The report noted that last June 28 at noon, an armed gang failed to abduct Sheik Mohamed Belfkih, after it tried to lure him out of his house in Tarim. It then started to shoot at the house, before one of his sons responded by firing at the kidnappers from his personal weapon, who then fled the area.
The report mentioned that one of these operations was the assassination of Sheik Hussein Al-Aidarous, the Imam of Al-Hazm Mosque in the city of Shibam, who was killed by unknown gunmen affiliated with Al-Qaeda on June 19, 2015. At the time, no Sufism educational institution or entity announced its position on these acts, content with remaining silent on what the organization’s members are doing.
Following the assassination of Al-Aidarous on September 13, 2015, Al-Qaeda, which was in control of the city of Al-Mukalla, destroyed and destroyed more than 10 shrines, domes, and Sufi shrines with explosives, in addition to exhuming the graves of religious symbols and removing their remains. This came after the organization’s speech in which it threatened to demolish all Sufi strongholds, and called for recruiting volunteers for this mission.
The shrines, which belong to religious figures and scholars, are located in Seiyun and Tarim. Special events are held around them, and they have remained untouched for hundreds of years.
As for the violations committed by the Muslim Brotherhood against Sufis, during the past years it prevented Sufis from holding any celebrations or rituals in Hadramaut, raided several times their headquarters, and arrested, kidnapped and hid Sufi scholars, according to Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni.
