DUBAI - A Sunni Muslim cleric at the center of a diplomatic rift among Gulf Arab states has criticized Washington's role in the campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria as purely self-interested.
Ties between Qatar and its neighbors have periodically come under strain following sermons by Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric based in Doha, criticizing the military-based Egyptian government and conservative Gulf Arab dynasties.
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console.log("catid body is "+catID);if(catID==120){document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js'; script.setAttribute('pubname','jpostcom'); script.setAttribute('widgetname','0011r00001lcD1i_12258'); document.getElementsByClassName('divAnyClip')[0].appendChild(script);}else if(catID!=69 && catID!=2){ document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none"; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://static.vidazoo.com/basev/vwpt.js'; script.setAttribute('data-widget-id','60fd6becf6393400049e6535'); document.getElementsByClassName('divVidazoo')[0].appendChild(script); }Qaradawi's outspoken support for Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood earlier this year contributed to an unprecedented diplomatic rift between Qatar and several of its Gulf Arab allies, who consider the Islamist movement a security threat.
Commenting on ultra-hardline Islamic State, an armed group Gulf Arab states pledged to fight at a meeting on Thursday with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Jeddah, Qaradawi criticized Washington's planned campaign against it.
Using a widely used term for Islamic State in a Twitter message, he wrote on Saturday: "I totally disagree with Da'ish in ideology and means, but I don't at all accept that the one to fight it is America, which does not act in the name of Islam but rather in its own interests, even if blood is shed."