UAE Political Analyst: The Qatar-Supported International Union Of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) Should Be Designated A Terrorist Organization – Are The U.S. And Europe Waiting For More Terrorist Attacks Like 9/11?

Memri

09-04-2025

In response to the Qatar-backed International Union of Muslim Scholars' (IUMS) [1] publication of a fatwa (Islamic religious ruling) calling for waging jihad against Israel, UAE political analyst Salem Al-Ketbi wrote, in an article titled "The International Union of Muslim Scholars: A Platform for Terrorism Disguised as Religion," that the IUMS should be designated a terrorist organization and that decisive steps should be taken against it to protect global security and stability.
According to Ketbi, the IUMS explicitly incites terror attacks, calls for financially supporting terrorist organizations, and casts the West as an infidel enemy. Thus, he says, it is a direct security threat to regional and international stability and to the national security of Western countries. Asserting that the IUMS exploits religion and its status as a religious platform to legitimize violence and terrorism, he asked whether the U.S. and Europe would take immediate action against it and similar organizations – before there were more attacks like 9/11 because of the IUMS's inciting and extremist discourse.
Salem Al-Ketbi (Source: Facebook.com/salemalketbieng , October 12, 2023)
The following are translated excerpts from Ketbi's article:
"Are the U.S. and Europe waiting for new terrorist attacks like the events of September 11 to take decisive steps against the organizations that clearly call for violence and terrorism under the auspices of religion? What obliges me to ask this question is the recent statement from the Committee for Ijtihad and Fatwa at the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) [2] and the ruling issued by the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) – posted... on its official website (iumsonline.org), and reposted and confirmed by IUMS chairman Ali Al-Qaradaghi on his personal X account. [It] is a clear example of an incitement discourse calling for violence and terrorism, under religious names, with the aim of recruiting Muslims from all over the world, including those who live in Western countries, to join operations of violence and terrorism.
"This statement is part of a long history of similar calls issued by the IUMS, an organization which was founded in 2004 by [Sheikh] Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, the prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Despite attempts by the IUMS to present itself as a 'moderate and central' institution, its discourse and its activities reveal its true face as a global and religious arm of terrorist organizations, and specifically of the Muslim Brotherhood organization.
"Many experts believe that the IUMS represents a dangerous platform that takes the guise of religion to issue calls of incitement to violence and to terrorism. The most recent statement released by the IUMS ijtihad, the council for religious rulings, includes explicit calls for waging armed jihad. This is a dangerous thing that is reiterated by the IUMS and constitutes a direct call to perpetrate operations of murder and terrorism.
"Moreover, the statement calls for monetary jihad, in order to support what it refers to as 'the resistance.' This is in fact a clear call to financially support terrorist organizations in all countries of the world. These kinds of calls constitute a great danger, for they are likely to lead to the financing of terrorist operations in the guise of charitable activities. The IUMS also urges military intervention and the establishment of military alliances based on religious foundations, which will strengthen the idea of religious conflict and fuel the disputes across the globe. These calls are a threat to regional and international stability and thwart the efforts toward peace in which [efforts] have been invested for decades. Even worse, the IUMS urges the Muslim communities in the West to exert pressure on their governments, which generally leads to – as events have proven in the past – the radicalization of some members of these communities and the perpetration of terrorist operations.
"These repeated calls for jihad and violence issued by the IUMS make it necessary for it to be designated a terrorist organization, and for decisive steps to be taken against it to protect global security and stability.
"Without a doubt, the calls by the IUMS constitute a serious security threat, on several levels. On the level of the individual, they are likely to spur extremists to carry out individual attacks, known as the 'lone wolf' phenomenon. It is difficult for the security apparatuses to anticipate these types of attacks [and to prevent them]... and Europe and the U.S. have already experienced several [such] operations carried out by people influenced by a similar religious extremist discourse...
"The IUMS call regarding 'the obligation of monetary jihad' also undoubtedly constitutes an additional threat, for it is likely to lead to fundraising that will be used to support terrorist operations. The danger here lies in the difficulty to follow the small financial transactions from supporters [of terrorist organizations], especially when this is done in the guise of charitable activities and one can use unofficial financial networks and charitable funds as a disguise for funding armed organizations.
"The danger of the calls by the IUMS is not limited only to direct security threats – it has serious implications for societies in the West. The discourse of unity strengthens the perception of 'us against them' and presents the West as an infidel enemy. This is despite the fact that many [Muslim] extremists have emigrated to the West and to the U.S. to live, and enjoy the social assistance and the freedom of religion [there] and [also] establish organizations to exert political pressure on the countries that host them. The terrorist incidents in the West and in the U.S. prove this.
"In light of the preceding, it has become clear that there are weighty reasons to designate the IUMS a terrorist organization. The organization explicitly calls for armed jihad, in a manner which contradicts the laws pertaining to fighting terrorism in most of the countries of the world. It also exploits [its] religious platform to justify violence and to grant it legitimacy.
"Therefore, it is clear as day that the UIMS is a direct threat to the national security of Western countries, because it incites the Muslims who live in them and threatens the stability of Western societies by sowing the seeds of terrorism and extremism.
"Thus, are the U.S. and Europe waiting for new terrorist attacks, such as the events of September 11, before taking decisive steps against these organizations? Or will they act now to deal with this threat before it is too late? The answer to this question will determine the future of peace and security in the coming years." [3]
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11903, Fatwa By International Union Of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), Based In And Funded By Qatar, Declares 'Armed Jihad' Against Israel Obligatory For All Muslims, Calls To Urgently Form 'Islamic Military Alliance' Against Israel, March 31, 2025. In response to the fatwa, on April 7, 2025, Dar Al-Ifta, Egypt's official fatwa-issuing body, published a statement harshly attacking the IUMS fatwa and declaring that it contradicts shari'a law.
See MEMRI Special Dispatch No.11918, Egypt's Official Fatwa-Issuing Body In Attack On Calls For Jihad Against Israel By Qatar-Affiliated International Union Of Muslim Scholars (IUMS): These Calls Are Irresponsible And A Violation Of Shari'a Law, April 9, 2025. It is notable that the IUMS is an arm of the Qatari regime that disseminates anti-Western extremist Islamic terrorist ideology, and is based in and funded by Qatar. The IUMS routinely disseminates extremist ideology and a discourse of hatred, incitement to jihad and terrorism and antisemitism, in a manner which corresponds to Qatar's decades-long support for various terrorist organizations across the world. The IUMS was founded in 2004 by Egyptian-born sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, an important Muslim Brotherhood ideologue known for his extremist pro-jihad and terrorism positions, and even in support of suicide attacks, as well as for his extremist positions regarding the West and the aspiration that Islam will control Europe. As a result of these positions, Al-Qaradawi became a controversial figure in the Islamic world and appears on designated terrorist lists in several Arab countries, and is banned from entering a number of Western countries. Those who have followed in his footsteps in the IUMS, such as Ahmad Al-Raissouni who was the group's chairman until 2022, and Ali Al-Qaradaghi who has been chairman since 2024, have held similar positions in favor of jihad and terrorism.
[2] The word ijtihad means a religious ruling made by an expert in Islamic religious law based on the sources of this law in cases where the ruling regarding an issue is unclear.
[3] Elaph.com, April 8, 2025.