Sunday, March 11, 2012

Dubai Police v. Qardawi: Reactions

In my last post, I discussed how Dubai's police chief Dahi Khalfan threatened prominent Shiekh Yousef Al-Qardawi for his criticism of Dubai's deportation of protestors at the Syrian consulate in the emirate.

On several forums, it looks like predictable battle lines were drawn: 

Some people criticized Khalfan for what they interpreted as a position against the Syrian revolution, and praised Qardawi for being steadfast in his support of the Arab spring across the region (I guess they all forgot about his conspicuous silence on Bahrain?)

Others noted that Khalfan was simply enforcing the laws of Dubai, where it is well known that you can't take part in protests without getting government permission. Interestingly, Amhed Salama, the user I just linked to, keeps an admiring picture of Hosni Mubarak in his signature block....I guess he's just a fan of authority in general?  Not all proponents of this position are old-Arab-regime types, however, there's some  pro-revolution types also pointing to 

While still in the minority according to what I've seen, some people actually criticized Qardawi for "زرع الفتن"/ "sowing discord" by creating conflicts in the Arab nation. This position isn't as clear, and I haven't seen anyone explain how Qardawi is spreading discord anymore than Khalfan. 

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