The Point de Bascule blog has translated an article titled “Rachid Ghannouchi praises a Saudi scholar who advocated that the earth is flat.” The post begins
According to the Tunisian website BusinessNews.tn.com, Rachid Ghannouchi has recently written an article praising Adbulaziz Ibn Baz (Ibn Baaz) (1910-1999), a Saudi scholar known for advocating that the earth is flat. The article was published by the Saudi magazine Koll al Watan on November 14. BusinessNews.tn.com mentions other positions upheld by Ibn Baz in the past. Point de Bascule has translated this portion of the article:
Tunisie – Rached Ghannouchi devra-t-il passer le flameau ? (Tunisia – Will Rachid Ghannouchi Have to Pass the Torch?
(Translation PdeB) (…) “We hear that, while in exile, Rachid Ghannouchi has revised his strategy. Is it really the case? Since Ghannouchi came back to Tunisia, the Islamist movement claims to support democratic freedoms. It tries to get rid of its scarecrow image «wholly fabricated» by years of media blackout ordered by two Tunisian dictatorships. Ennahda changed its tune but can hardly convince. They have been unable, so far, to demonstrate their sincerity. By condemning certain gains made in modern Tunisia, some of Ennahda’s leaders are not reducing the suspicion surrounding the movement.”
“Ennahda’s leaders keep on making mistake after mistake. Their speeches are troubling and ambiguous. Let’s recall three of these statements that upset the crowds recently:
Souad Abderrahim criticised the fact that legal protection for single mothers was being discussed;
Hamadi Jebali promoted the establishment of a sixth caliphate;
Sadok Chourou advocated the charia-isation of the Tunisian Constituent Assembly.”
Read the rest here.
Rachid Ghannouchi (many spelling variations) is the leader of the Tunisian Islamist movement known as Nahda (aka Ennahda, Al Nahda) and can best be described as an independent Islamist power center who is tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood though his membership in the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and his important position in the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), both organizations led by Global Muslim Brotherhood Youssef Qaradawi. An Egyptian news report has identified Ghannouchi as a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood “abroad.” Ghannouchi is also one of the founding members of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi organization closely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and dedicated to the propagation of “Wahabist” Islam throughout the world. Ghannouchi is known for his thinking on the issue of Islam and citizenship rights. Earlier posts reported on the return of Mr. Ghannouchi to Tunisia following his long exile in the UK. Other posts have detailed his extremist background.
It appears now that Mr. Ghannouchi’s party has been successful in the recent Tunisian elections, he has begun to make the rounds of the various Global Muslim Brotherhood organizations. An earlier post discussed the invitation by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) to Mr. Ghannouchi as an invited speaker to its December conference. The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, announced on Tuesday that it was hosting a special dinner for Mr. Ghannouchi.