Saudi Minister says Rabaa Al-Adawiyya sign is rejection of murder and destruction

Saudi Arabia’s minister of religious affairs has described the four-fingered Rabaa Al-Adawiyya sign used by opponents of the coup against Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi as a rejection of murder and destruction. According to Salih Ali Al-Sheikh, it is not a crime, which it is interpreted as by the Egyptian authorities.

The London newspaper Al-Ahdath quoted the minister as saying that some of the people who sympathise with the Muslim Brotherhood only do so as an expression of opposition to the destruction and murder that took place during the events in Rabaa Al-Adawiyya Square in 2013. For this reason, he said, it is mandatory to be fair and thorough when judging the users of the symbol.

According to Al-Hayat newspaper, he said that those who hoisted the sign of Rabaa did not do this necessarily out of sympathy with the Brotherhood as an organisation. They are showing their displeasure at what happened, he insisted.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is implementing Islam,” said Minister Al-Sheikh. “Should the Muslim Brotherhood’s programme have been implemented it would have achieved some of what is being implemented in the Kingdom. Those who visited Saudi Arabia from amongst the fair leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood returned with a positive image about its implementation of Shari’ah.”

However, he added the Brotherhood’s competing project criticises Saudi policy and the members of the organisation believe that they must criticise their competitor in order for their own state to be established.

The minister explained that whoever gave a Friday sermon or delivered a lecture in a Saudi mosque about what happened during the Rabaa events has been called to account because making political comments is the prerogative of the state and not individuals.