The “The European Assembly for Imams and Spiritual Guiders” has announced a seminar scheduled for last week in Germany that featured a well-known Muslim Brotherhood scholar who had left the U.S. after his citizenship application had been suspended. According to the report:
The European Assembly for Imams and Spiritual Guiders is organizing a development program on December 23rd 2009 in the city of Wesel in Germany titled “European Dialogue: Regulations and Consequences” and will be supervised by Dr.Salah Sultan. On this occasion the European Assembly for Imams and Spiritual Guiders invites all those interested in the necessity to regulate and rationalize Islamic dialogue to attend for mutual benefit in an area which still needs continuous effort to strengthen and regulate the dialogue of Islam in such a way that is suitable to our aim in attaining citizenship rights in European communities.
Dr. Salah Sultan (aka Solah Sultan, Sallah Sultan) had left the U.S. following negative press reports in the U.S. media which led the authorities there to suspend his application for American citizenship and, as discussed in a previous post, relocated to Bahrain in 2007. Dr Sultan’s online resume indicates that he is or was a member of several important U.S. and European Muslim Brotherhood organizations including the European Council for Fatwa and Research, the Fiqh Council of North America, and the Islamic American University .This resume also expresses Dr. Soltan’s vision “To live happily. To die as a martyr.” Another previous post discussed some of Dr. Sultan statements including an appearance on Saudi TV where Dr. Sultan asserted that the US planned the 9/11 attacks as a pretext for terrorizing the world and praising Osama bin Laden confidante Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani. A recent MEMRI TV report identified virulently anti-Semitic and anti-American comments made by Dr. Sultan on Egyptian TV in late December.
“The European Assembly for Imams and Spiritual Guiders” is likely the same organization known as The European Assembly of Muslim Imams that was launched in February 2008 as an arm of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE). A report on FIOE by the NEFA Foundation describes the organization as follows:
The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) claims to be an independent organization representing the interests of Muslims in Europe. In reality, the FIOE is an umbrella group that comprises the global Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. Strong links connect FIOE’s leadership central institutions and member organizations to the Brotherhood, as well as to Saudi Arabia. Funding for the FIOE is derived largely from Gulf sources, including some of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates. The FIOE has strong ties to Hamas and Hamas fund-raising organizations, and some FIOE member organizations show evidence of links with Al-Qaida. The FIOE recently opened a headquarters office in Brussels and has had some success in positioning itself as a “dialog partner” for the EU and other important institutions.
A previous post discussed a speaking invitation by the Swiss FIOE member organization to Dr. Sultan.