The website of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) is reporting on the inaugural conference of a new organization representing the IUMS in Turkey. According to a GMBDW translation of the IUMS report, the conference took place in Istanbul on January 2:
Scholars and academics initiated the foundation of the new Society in 2015; it is a non-partisan, independent civil society organization, which represents the IUMS in Turkey, where it has also been officially registered. The Society aims to prepare scholars in various fields like Shari’a, economy and others, and will only fight against those who are hostile to the nation [ummah].
Our translation of the name of the new organization is the International Assembly of Muslim Scholars, clearly very close to the name of the IUMS itself. According to our translation of another report by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood’s publication Assabeel, the inaugural conference was organized by the IUMS in cooperation with The Turkish Ahl Al-Sunna Scholars Association (likely the Türk Ehl-i Sünnet Alimler Birligi). Speakers included:
- Ali Qaradaghi, Secretary-General of the IUMS
- Osman Sahin, representing the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs
- Ahmad Aghraktsha, Deputy Head of the International Assembly of Muslim Scholars (see Note 1 below)
The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) was launched on July 11, 2004 in conjunction with a visit by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi to London for a meeting of the European Council for Fatwa and Research. Qaradawi is the IUMS President while many prominent individuals tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and/or Hamas serve or have served as IUMS Trustees.
In December 2015, the GMBDW published an analysis titled “Israel Moves to “Normalize” Turkish Relations- What Are They Thinking?” in which we speculated as to why Israel would undertake such a move given the deep ties of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and to Hamas. The virulently anti-Semitic background of IUMS leader Youssef Qaradawi, not to mention his his pivotal role in providing religious support for suicide bombings against Israel, only further reinforces the mystery behind Israeli’s approach to Turkey at this time.
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(Note 1: Name is a transliteration from Arabic. The Turkish spelling is not yet known)