Saudi Arabia features prominently in Shiekh Gilani’s personal history. Fuqra/MOA texts have reported the existence of a “jamaat,” or community of supporters, in the country. Gilani is hostile to the Saudi government but does not advocate its removal.
MOA Views of Saudi Arabia
Gilani preaches that the Wahhabists who rule Saudi Arabia are secret agents of the British, who are secret agents of the Zionist-Satanic conspiracy against Islam. The Fuqra/MOA newspaper condemned the Saudi Royal Family in the 1980s for preventing the formation of a pan-Islamic army in Medina.
The newspaper claimed that Zionist agents with U.S. passports were infiltrating Saudi defenses. It said that the Zionist conspiracy was arranging for the U.S. military to occupy Saudi Arabia. Gilani and MOA opposed the Gulf War and favored the side of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who it claimed was the victim of Zionist propaganda.
The articles condemning the Saudi government have never explicitly called on Muslims to forcibly remove the Saudi Royal Family from power and one article emphasized this point. However, MOA has never stated a position against overthrowing the Saudi regime, either.
On April 1, 2018, MOA expressed sympathy with the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over their Saudi adversaries. MOA’s newspaper, Islamic Post, described the Houthis as resisting Saudi Arabia’s Al-Qaeda/ISIS “minions” and accused the Saudis of indiscriminately murdering Muslims.
MOA’s list of complaints against Saudi Arabia included “wonton slaughtering of Yemenis,” “corruption scandals at home,” “their hoarding of wealth that belongs to poor Muslims,” “their purchase of leaders and mosques all over the world to spread Wahhabism/Saudism,” “their hand in defaming the name of Islam.”
MOA also expressed a desire to defend Muslims in other countries besides Yemen. The group blasted the Saudis for “their withholding of assistance to oppressed Muslims in areas like Kashmir, Palestine, China and Myanmar.”[1]
Quranic Psychiatry
Gilani claims to be a doctor who invented Quranic Psychiatry as an Islamic alternative to Western psychiatry. It is based on what he calls the El-Gilani Methodology.
He says that he proved its validity when he demonstrated it at the request of the Saudi government at Shahar Mental Hospital in Taif in 1977-1978. At the time, Gilani’s organization was named the Islamic Research and Educational Society, founded in 1974. Fuqra texts acknowledge that it is the predecessor to his Quranic Open University.
Historical Presence in Saudi Arabia
Fuqra/MOA texts say Gilani established the First Institute of El-Gilani Methodology. Associated individuals were the lead doctor, Osama Radi; assisting general physician Dr. Munir Jaber; project nurse Elahi Daj and Professor Abdullah Tooyail, the project registrar.
Seized documents from 1992 also show a connection to four other individuals in Saudi Arabia: Erman Al-Shawy, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Shawy and Iman Arshawy are listed as having addresses in Riyadh or King Faisal University in Hofuf. Also mentioned is an Ahmad Dawood from the faculty of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.
The Fuqra/MOA newspaper said in 1983 that it has a “jamaat,” or community of believers in a single location, in Saudi Arabia. It also mentioned having a correspondent stationed in Saudi Arabia named Faqir M. Ahmed Qadri.
References
[1] “Donald Trump, the House of Saud, and Incalculable Loss in Yemen.” (2018). Islamic Post. https://www.islamicpostonline.com/uncategorized/2018/04/01/donald-trump-the-house-of-saud-and-incalculable-human-loss-in-yemen/
