One could always find contradicting statements that please both, but one thing for sure—the Arabic usually contradicts the English.

by Walid Shoebat, October 10, 2009

As an ex-Muslim terrorist from the Middle East who knows the Arabic language, may I urge my western friends to never trust any article from an official Middle Eastern Muslim scholar written in English without first examining what they write and say in Arabic. Take Sheikh Ali Gomaa, Grrand Mufti of Egypt touted by many in the West as a “moderate Muslim”. Gomaa was not only a signatory to the Basic Announcement of the World Campaign For Resistance to Aggression but one of its founders.

It states:

“The Islamic nation is, in the recent period, subject to cruel aggression on the part of the forces of oppression and tyranny, primarily the Zionist forces and the American administration, led by the extreme right, that acts to impose [their] hegemony on the nations and on the peoples and to change their curricula and their social system.” it is littered with inflammatory rhetoric that the Zionists with the American Administration “conspire to ease their supremacy over all peoples and nations, rob their resources, destroy their will and change their social values.” (Ibid)

Besides Gomaa’s hatred of the West, he supports Hezbollah’s terrorist organization. And just when westerners think that Gomaa is an example of western modernity, they fail to examine his statements in the Arabic which by far is probably the most discussed topic about him, that is his defense of the custom of Prophet Muhammad’s disciples enjoying the healing powers in drinking the prophet’s urine.

That with conflicting reports swinging back and forth on his support of the mutilation of female genitalia or his denunciation of it—the fatwas switch depending on the audience he is addressing. Gomaa can switch views to the extent of even supporting a unity between Shia and Sunni Islam but the buck ends when it comes to one stickling issue—Israel. Zionism in Gomaa’s view is not only a disease, but controls the West.

To be fair, government appointed Muftis are also expected to tow the line of political correctness, which can go both ways. Gomaa brings much ridicule to himself from the public that consumes their spiritual food from the Salafist, Wahhabist and the Muslim Brotherhood whom by far gain much support from the
masses. Official government clerics have a stigma as collaborators who do not bite the hand that feeds them. If one browses Arabic blogs, one can see the mistrust of Gomaa by the Muslim masses in the Middle East to the extent of being called “The filthy dog of Egypt”. Gomaa sits between a rock and a hard
place—he can either please the masses or please the Egyptian government. One could always find contradicting statements that please both, but one thing for sure—the Arabic usually contradicts the English. Will the west seeking love-fatwas stop looking for love in all the wrong places? They need to read the fine lines in all disclaimers which most of the time are not readable—they are written in Arabic.

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