Sat 22 August 2020:
The Hamza Yusuf is arguably the most famous imam in America, and has been a polarising figure of late within the Muslim community. Relations between him and his own sheikh, Abdullah bin Bayyah to the United Arab Emirates, have, in the recent past, been particularly controversial.
This time Yusuf is facing a deluge of criticism after publicly endorsing the United Arab Emirates’ decision to normalise ties with Israel – a move which has in large been condemned by Muslim religious leaders.
Yusuf endorsed normalisation in a statement released by the Forum for Promoting Peace in Middle East Societies (FPPMES), an organisation led by his Saudi-based teacher, Abdullah bin Bayyah, on Thursday.
The statement, which begins by heaping praise on Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and the country’s foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, says normalisation “stopped Israel from extending its sovereignty over Palestinian lands”, and was a means to “promote peace and stability across the world”.
Speaking to Middle East Eye Usaama al-Azami, a lecturer in Contemporary Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford, said that the “bizarre statement” closely aligned with the forum’s history of legitimising the decisions of the UAE government. Azami also described the statement as “in keeping with the strategy of the UAE to get scholars on board and have them rubber stamp [state positions]”.
Speaking to Middle East Eye Walaa Quisay, whose PhD focused on Islamic neo-traditionalism in the West, said that the Forum for Promoting Peace in Middle East Societies (FPPMES) used interfaith initiatives as a trojan horse for creating a strategic alliance between the UAE and Israeli organisations.
“In fact, if you look closely at the peace forum, there’s been a constant attendance of Israeli and Zionist organisations in the peace forum with the underlying premise of tolerance, but you can obviously see from the subtext it was about promoting certain political views,” Quisay said.
While Emirati officials have hailed normalisation as a successful means to stave off annexation and save the two-state solution, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that he remains “committed to annexing parts of the West Bank”.
History of Controversy
Yusuf, once dubbed “the most influential Muslim scholar in the western world“, endorsed normalisation in a statement released by the Forum for Promoting Peace in Middle East Societies (FPPMES), an organisation led by his Saudi-based teacher, Abdullah bin Bayyah, on Thursday.
Last year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the formation of the Commission on Unalienable Rights which will advise Trump on human rights. Subsequently, it was announced that sheikh Hamza Yusuf will also be a member of this commission.
In December 2018, Yusuf made headlines for calling the UAE, a country that has zero tolerance of political dissent and is currently involved in a devastating war in Yemen, “tolerant”. That he clearly ignores all the human rights abuses the UAE has been accused of is rather unsurprising given that he is a former student and good friend of Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah and is serving as the vice president of his Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies – a religious body bankrolled by Abu Dhabi.
Source: Independent Press with Middle East Eye
