The Saudis Still Have Some Cleaning Up To Do

By Ryan Mauro

The Iraqi Prime Minister is slamming the Muslim world for their silence on the hate speech of the Mufti of Mecca, Sheikh Adil al-Kalbani, who said in May that Shiites are “infidels” and should not be represented in Saudi Arabia’s “senior scholarly committee” as he describes it, referring to the Grand Ulama Commission. This means Shiites are not Muslims in his eyes, and therefore, the killing of them is justified (of course, some Muslims argue that being an “infidel” does not qualify you for being murdered, but that’s another issue). The Saudis have repeatedly claimed that their top Muslim clerics are moderate and do not support extremism. But, as I say endlessly, being a moderate consists of more than condemning 9/11, Al-Qaeda, or even suicide bombings in general. The Saudis also claim that they are screening and cleansing their country of clerics spouting hatred - but here we have a cleric who has received international attention, and remains in power. [more...]