Saudi hate preacher denied entry into Britain

Crescent International

Safar 19, 1435 2013-12-22

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

The Saudi regime uses different means to divide Muslims. One is to spread hatred against some Muslims thereby confusing others. Many innocent Muslims think that just because a Saudi preacher is appointed to lead prayers in Masjid al-Haram or Masjid-e Nabawi, that he must be a great scholar of Islam. One such preacher, Adel al-Kalbani was denied entry into Britain because the authorities felt he would merely create divisions.

London, Crescent-online
December 22, 2013, 10:23 EST

Even the British can no longer tolerate the hate spewing rhetoric of Saudi Wahhabi preachers. Sheikh Adel al-Kalbani, who has built a reputation for spewing anti-Shia rhetoric has been denied permission to enter Britain.

On December 18, Al-Kalbani was prevented from boarding a London-bound flight at Riyadh Airport that is named after one of the former kings, Khaled bin Abdul Aziz (most airports in the kingdom are named after Saudi kings!).

“I was stopped at the door of the plane and told that the authorities received a message from the British Embassy saying that I was not allowed to enter Britain,” Arab News website quoted al-Kalbani as saying.

He was issued a visa by the British embassy in Riyadh two weeks after he applied for it in October.

Invited by Saudi-backed groups in Britain, he was expected to give lectures in Whitechapel and Wembley. Aware that al-Kalbani would only exacerbate tensions among Muslims because of his sectarian views against Shia Muslims, the British decided not to allow him entry.

Britain already faces serious racial problems because some Muslim youth spout extremist rhetoric. There are areas in London where some misguided youth try to implement “Shariah” and attack boys and girls holding hands, something common in western culture.

Al-Kalbani’s presence and lectures would have merely added to tensions in an already divided British society.

Al-Kalbani had visited Britain in 2008 at the invitation of then leader of the Tower Hamlets Council in East London, Lutfur Rahman, a person known for extremist views. He had also visited the US in the mid-1990s, but that was well before Wahhabi extremism had become a worldwide menace.

Al-Kalbani is the son of immigrants from Ras al-Khaima. He is black and has a baritone voice. The fact that King Abdullah appointed him one of the imams to lead the prayers in Masjid al-Haram has added to al-Kalbani’s aura.

It is, however, his extremist views that have made him a celebrity among some misguided Muslims. Instead of spreading enlightenment, such preachers harden divisions that lead to conflict in society.

END