The President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Ahmed Raissouni, commented on controversy Which he raised on the issue of Western Sahara and Algeria, and considering that the presence of Mauritania was a “mistake”.
Raissouni said, in a clarification published his official website Regarding an interview in which he made these statements: “The aforementioned dialogue was oral and spontaneous, and was sometimes brief and incomplete, which opened the door to suspicions, explanations and interpretations that I had not thought of, whether intentionally or unintentionally.”
The Moroccan scientist spoke of “the readiness of Moroccans, scholars and preachers in Morocco to wage jihad with money and soul… and to march with their millions to the Algerian city of Tindouf.”
He also said that “the existence of Mauritania is wrong from the ground up, along with the issue of the Sahara,” stressing that “Morocco should return to what it was before the European invasion of what Mauritania was a part of,” as he put it.
Raissouni’s statements sparked “a wave of reactions,” according to the federation’s official website, which confirmed that “(the federation) does not bear the consequences.”
In the new clarification, Wednesday, Raissouni said that “the independence of Mauritania was objected to by Morocco for several years, for historical reasons, and then recognized, and Mauritania became one of the five constituent countries of the Arab Maghreb Union.”
He added, “This is the reality recognized globally and by the countries of the region. As for the longings for the old unity, and its renewed aspirations, there is no way to it today except within a gradual, voluntary, mutual policy, and its best formulas available today is the revival of the “Arab Maghreb Union” and the movement of its train.”
And he continued: “Which does not need confirmation, but I have no hope of repeating it and being proud of it, that I have no differentiation or differentiation between a Moroccan and an Algerian, or a Moroccan and a Mauritanian, or a Moroccan and a Tunisian, or a Moroccan and a Libyan, but all Muslims are my brothers and loved ones, and for kinship and neighborliness is an increase of right.” .
He added, “I believe, like all the people of the region, that the five countries of the Maghreb are in dire need of overcoming this problem, which impedes and disrupts the efforts of unity and development and threatens peace and stability in the region. I call on our brothers Algerian officials to leave Morocco to address the conflict as an internal issue.”
He explained, “I believe, like all sane people, that war will never bring a solution, but it will bring destruction, devastation and attrition to all, and will lead to more internal ruptures and foreign interventions.”
Raissouni continued, “I am not afraid that all countries of the Maghreb region suffer from the repercussions of the problem of the Moroccan Sahara, which some call the “Western Sahara”, which I described in the dialogue as a “colonial industry”. On Morocco’s border with Algeria, there is an armed organization called the Polisario Front.
He stated that “this organization had previously announced its establishment of what he called the ‘Sahrawi Arab Republic’.” They have been living in camps, in miserable conditions, for decades.
He added, “For this reason, I called for allowing Moroccan scholars and preachers, and for all Moroccans, to cross to the city of Tindouf and its camps, to communicate, dialogue and understand with their Sahrawi Moroccan brothers who are detained there, about the unity and brotherhood that unites us, and about the absurdity of the separatist project for which the Polisario Front is fighting, backed and directed by the Algerian army,” according to the same source.
Raissouni’s previous statements sparked outrage in Algerian and Mauritanian circles.
The head of the National Building Movement in Algeria, Abdelkader Ben Qurainah, expressed his “dissatisfaction with the statements that stir up strife between peoples.”
The movement considered that “Raissouni’s statements shocked the feelings of the Algerians, and many of the peoples of the Maghreb region, such as the Mauritanians and the Sahrawis. With his arrogant rhetoric, and his irresponsible, irresponsible, and arrogant style, he insulted the sovereignty of states and the dignity of their peoples.”
For its part, the Movement for a Society for Peace expressed “a firm and decisive response to Raissouni’s statements,” and said that “this fallacy is dangerous and resounding for a world of Muslim scholars. It is supposed to resort to legal balances and Islamic values, not to call for sedition and fighting among Muslims, according to what he called jihad. With money and soul.
The National Democratic Rally condemned “the hateful and inflammatory statements” made by Raissouni “against Algeria and the Maghreb peoples.”
The Mauritanian Scholars Association described The statements regarding Mauritania as “suspicious, unfriendly and provocative,” and said that Mauritania “has not been subject to the rule of an Islamic state since the fifth century AH, other than the Almoravid state that arose in Mauritania, and some neighboring countries were subject to it and its king reached Andalusia.”