He confuses targeting Islam with targeting him...
Sheikh Abdulmajeed al-Zindani, head of Islah Central Committee and Rector of al-Eman University criticized the US Ambassador to Yemen Edmund Hull for the accusations that al-Eman University promotes extremism in Yemen and helps fund terrorism. A press statement issued by al-Zindaniâs office, distributed on Wednesday, condemned the unnecessary US worry over the university. It also called, in a way to show al-Zindaniâs interest in direct dialogue with the US, to âbe honest and just in their charges against Sheikh Zindani and al-Eman University.â It pointed out that the US accusations against al-Zindani and al-Eman University fell in line with âthe US Administrationâs policy of trying to dry up the springs of Islamâ rather than terrorism.
Mr. Edmund Hull told al-Nahar independent weekly last Wednesday that âwe are worried about the activities of al-Eman University; we aim to stop foreign funds to al-Zindani, so as to stop his funding for the university and the activities that promote terrorism and finance terrorism.â Al-Zindani was put by the US Treasury Department on the list of people suspected of supporting and funding al-Qaeda and terrorist organizations. Al-Zindani denied such accusations. The US media reported in January 2003 that prisoners held in connection with the attack against the USS Cole told local authorities that al-Zindani issued a decree or fatwa ordering the strike and that the authorities did not investigate into such allegations which were denied by some leaders of the Islah party.
Al-Zindaniâs statement disclosed that âthe US Ambassador informed Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar, chairman of Islah Party that a student of al-Eman University called Amer al-Shareef was being detained by Yemeni security authorities, and that he previously used to run al-Qaeda cells at the university, but that the investigations made by al-Ahmar and al-Zindani with the university administration found that the name was not enrolled at the university and did not study at it at allâ. It added âal-Ahmar told the ambassador about this information,â but the ambassador replied that âhe might not be a student at the university but he had contacts with its students.â Despite the denial of al-Zindani and al-Eman University that Abed al-Kamil, murderer of the three US doctors at the Jibla Baptist Hospital on December 30, 2002 was not a student at the university, Hull said âthe killer of the doctors in Jibla is a member of the al-Eman university and it has a role in promoting extremism.â Al-Zindaniâs statement accused the US administration of targeting the Muslim world, its governments, clerics, and its educational and charity institutions. It said that on the basis of this, the US administration âpracticed the policy of drying up the springs of Islam, alleging that it is drying up the springs of terrorism. It demanded the governments in Muslim countries change the Islamic education curricula of schools, institutes and universities.â |