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Rabat – Ahmed Raissouni, the president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, has slammed the UAE-Israel normalization agreement, saying the concept of “normalization” aims to justify Israeli violations against Palestine.
“Normalization is a new term, and it was originally developed by the other side (Israel),” the Moroccan scholar argued during a recent interview with Echorouk.
He said the purpose of the term “normalization” is to persuade Arab states to overlook Israel’s “displacement and dispersion of the Palestinian people, and the countless crimes.”
Normalization means “folding all of that, welcoming ‘Israel,’ and giving it a ‘natural’ position within the Arab countries and people,” Ahmed Raissouni continued.
The scholar regretted that Arab normalization with Israel ultimately serves the latter’s interests.
Normalization “is support and sustainability for [Israel’s] occupation [of Palestine], a reward for its crimes, and encouragement for it to continue,” Raissouni said.
The scholar described this kind of normalization with Israel as being against Islamic law.
He said the position of Islamic law can be nothing other than rejection.
Ahmed Raissouni denounced fatwas used to support the UAE-Israel normalization agreement, arguing they are “based on whims and desires.”
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“These are originally the whims of their rulers. You will not find a single ‘scholar’ who supports normalization except when he is fulfilling the will of his guardian,” he explained.
“The political decision to normalize comes first from the ruler, which is followed by applause from the sheikhs of the service,” the scholar stated.
Ahmed Raissouni condemned scholars who have said that fatwas forbidding normalization with Zionists are “illegitimate politics.” He said the rejection of normalization with Israel is a question of ethics rather than politics.
When a state rejects normalization with Israel, it rejects “injustice, rape, occupation, and various kinds of crimes that the Zionists have committed and are carrying out for eighty years.”
Union of Muslim Scholars denounces double standards
“We in the International Union of Muslim Scholars stand against injustice and aggression, whatever the perpetrator,” Raissouni declared. “We stand with the oppressed, whoever is attacked, regardless of his religion or nationality.”
He said the Union of Muslim Scholars has maintained this position in the face of injustice against Muslims in China, India, Burma, and Kashmir.
“A few months ago, we issued a statement against the racist and aggressive behavior that blacks suffer in America,” Raissouni added. “We do not practice double standards, but the cases vary in size.”
He explained that the severity of certain human rights issues and the extent of media coverage play a role in how often the Union publicizes its positions.
“The question of Palestine and the Palestinian people has its many peculiarities, and it is the largest and longest darkness in modern history… therefore it receives more attention,” Raissouni said.
