Brotherhood books pulled out

Saudi schools told to remove publications by leaders like Al Banna, Qutb

Saudi education authorities have called for pulling out around 80 books from the shelves of libraries and learning resources centres in schools.

Officials have been given two weeks to remove the religious books that the authorities are banning, Saudi news site Sabq reported yesterday.

The list of the books to be removed includes works by religious authors Hassan Al Banna, Yousuf Al Qaradawi and Sayyed Qutb.

In their note, the education authorities warned all schools not to accept any gifts of books or publications and to limit their resources to what the education ministry offered them.

Doha-based theologian

Al Banna was the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt while Qutb, an Islamic theorist, was a leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s.

Al Banna was assassinated during the rule of Egypt’s King Farouq, and Qutb was hanged by the regime of Jamal Abdul Nasser after being convicted of planning his assassination.

Doha-based Al Qaradawi, an Egyptian Islamic theologian who chaired the International Union of Muslim Scholars, had a regular religious talk show on pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera, allowing him to reach out to millions of viewers.

Al Banna was the founder of the Brotherhood in Egypt while Qutb, an Islamic theorist, was a leading member. Al Banna was assassinated during the rule of King Farouq, and Qutb was hanged by Nasser’s regime.

Sympathetic

However, he often waded into controversy over fatwas and views. He is seen as being sympathetic to the Brotherhood as well as ousted Egyptian president Mohammad Mursi, who is also a member of the Brotherhood.

In Kuwait, a lawmaker on Monday called for renaming Hassan Al Banna street, saying that it should be given the name of a local resident who was killed during the invasion of the country by Iraq in 1990.