A Report prepared by “Sabq”.:. These are the efforts of “Ministry of Islamic Affairs” to counter the danger of Muslim Brotherhood

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance succeeded in making a great alliance with a number of government agencies in the Kingdom during the past few days to confront the threat of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group by spreading moderate thought.

The recent alliance was formed with the Ministry of Education and the Presidency of State Security through the Dawah initiative targeting more than five million students in public, private and university education and more than 700,000 educational staff in Saudi universities and schools in the different regions of the Kingdom through scholarly seminars and lectures to explain the approach of moderation.

Since the Minister Dr. Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz Al Ashaikh, has held his position as Minister on the seventeenth of Ramadan 1439 AH, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs witnessed strength and a clear vision in confronting the extremist ideology adopted by deviant groups, particularly the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group. He said in his first interview with the Ministry's personnel in 1439 AH after the issuance of the Royal Order to appoint him as Minister of Islamic Affairs: “There is no place for an extremist among us and we will pay no credence no one at the expense of our faith.”

Since his appointment, Minister of Islamic Affairs, Ashaikh, has decided to establish a department specialized in thought security and a number of specialized committees to follow up and purge the Dawah activities and the actions of Khatibs. Additionally, preserving Dawah platforms from the contamination of the deviant thought adopted by extremist groups, according to the visions and directives of our wise leadership.

With the Minister's follow-up, the Ministry also dedicated Dawah programs specialized in intellectual security. It has carried out more than 110,000 thousand Dawah programs to counter extremist and fanatic thought and prevent anyone who wants to insult Islam and distort its pure and tolerant image with the participation of Khatibs and scholars who are characterized by moderate thought and presenting Dawah messages calling for the moderate approach adopted by our blessed country.

Among the resolutions taken by the Al Ashaikh: banning broadcasting sermons and lectures through electronic media without prior permission from the Ministry as well as issuing more than 20 circulars to unite more than 15,000 Friday sermons to talk about topics that contribute to maintaining the security and clarifying the rights of Rulers and the citizen’s responsibility towards the country as well as criminalizing the deeds of extremist and fanatic groups that use religion for destructive political purposes.

Since the issuance of the statement of the Council of Senior Scholars about the criminalization of the Muslim Brotherhood group and that it does not represent the approach of Islam, the Ministry devoted its efforts, with the following up of His Excellency Al Ashaikh, to clarify the contents of the statement through the Friday sermons, launch Dawah programs in the different regions of the Kingdom to praise the same and educate the society about its importance and the detailed contents that divulge the danger and ideology of this rogue group. The resolution to dismiss the Khatibs who did not tackle the statement of the Council of Senior Scholars was a strong resolution that represents the clear and explicit stand of the Ministry’s towards the Brotherhood and all those who sympathize with them or adopt their criminal ideology.

The account of Minister Al Ashaikh on the Twitter is standing for and spreading moderation. Through which he has tackled hundreds of tweets of the adherents to the ideology of Muslim Brotherhood group since the emergence of the Twitter platform. His tweets were renowned for their robustness, clarity, frankness and the use of vocabulary that suits this deviant thought, in order to protect the society from its danger, and expose its corruption. They received a lot of praise and great media momentum at local and international levels.

Minister Al Ashaikh devoted his media presence, despite the numerous tasks he assumes and the committees assigned to him since receiving ministerial portfolio of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. He uses each event to appear on the Saudi news screens, MBC and Al Arabiya and some Gulf channels to talk about the danger of the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology, call for national cohesion and support the Rulers, and renounce all the forms of extremism adopted by extremist groups, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood group.

Keenness to demonstrate the moderate approach and renounce deviant thought were evident through the speeches and statements with which Minister Al Ashaikh participated in local and international conferences and forums during the past years as well as his meetings with ministers, officials and ambassadors of Arab and Islamic countries and friendly countries which were transmitted and highlighted by various media for a Minister who learned from the great leader, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz since the beginning of his career as an advisor at the Riyadh Province.

The newspaper “Sabq” gathered more than 900 press releases for the efforts of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs over three continuous years in terms of achieving the directives of the wise leadership to serve the houses of Allah, spread the approach of moderation, and confront the danger of deviant groups, in implementation of the visions and the directives of our wise leadership.