{"id":88635,"date":"2019-05-12T15:15:48","date_gmt":"2019-05-12T22:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88635"},"modified":"2019-05-12T15:15:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T22:15:48","slug":"saudi-educated-religious-scholar-arrested-for-links-to-sri-lanka-easter-bombings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/12\/saudi-educated-religious-scholar-arrested-for-links-to-sri-lanka-easter-bombings\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi-educated religious scholar arrested for links to Sri Lanka Easter bombings"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy India Today<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mohamed Aliyar, 60, is the founder of the Centre for Islamic Guidance, which boasts a mosque, a religious school and a library in Zahran&#8217;s hometown of Kattankudy, a Muslim-dominated city on Sri Lanka&#8217;s eastern shores.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com\/indiatoday\/images\/story\/201905\/sri_lanka_0_0.png?GTtm1yL3tLH9yVXDC2EULiiiT.vu3kIS\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Sources said Aliyar&#8217;s hardline views were shaped by ultra-conservative Salafi-Wahhabi texts he picked up at the Centre for Islamic Guidance&#8217;s library. (Photo: IANS) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">HIGHLIGHTS<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Wahhabi Islam has its roots in Saudi Arabia and is backed by its rulers<\/li><li>Salafism has often been criticised as the ideology of radical Islamists worldwide<\/li><li>Aliyar was &#8220;involved&#8221; in training suicide bombers who attacked hotels, churches on Easter: Police statement<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lankan authorities have arrested a Saudi-educated scholar for what they claim are links with Zahran Hashim, the suspected ringleader of the Easter Sunday bombings, throwing a spotlight on the rising influence of Salafi-Wahhabi Islam on the island&#8217;s Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mohamed Aliyar, 60, is the founder of the Centre for Islamic Guidance, which boasts a mosque, a religious school and a library in Zahran&#8217;s hometown of Kattankudy, a Muslim-dominated city on Sri Lanka&#8217;s eastern shores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Information has been revealed that the suspect arrested had a close relationship with &#8230; Zahran and had been operating financial transactions,&#8221; said a police statement late on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement said Aliyar was &#8220;involved&#8221; with training in the southern town of Hambantota for the group of suicide bombers who attacked hotels and churches on Easter, killing over 250 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A police spokesman declined to provide details on the accusations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Calls to Aliyar and his associates went unanswered. Reuters was unable to find contact details for a lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government says Zahran, a radical Tamil-speaking preacher, was a leader of the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two Muslim community sources in Kattankudy told Reuters his hardline views were partly shaped by ultra-conservative Salafi-Wahhabi texts that he picked up at the Centre for Islamic Guidance&#8217;s library around 2-3 years ago. The sources are not affiliated with the centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I used to always run into him at the centre, reading Saudi journals and literature,&#8221; said one of the sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During that time, Zahran started criticising the practice of asking God for help, for instance, arguing that such pleas were an affront to pure Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;That kind of teaching was not in Sri Lanka in 2016, unless you read it in Salafi literature,&#8221; the source added, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions in Kattankudy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salafism, a puritanical interpretation of Islam that advocates a return to the values of the first three generations of Muslims and is closely linked to Wahhabism, has often been criticised as the ideology of radical Islamists worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wahhabi Islam has its roots in Saudi Arabia and is backed by its rulers, although Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has committed the kingdom to a more moderate form of Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other than the fact that Zahran visited the centre, the sources in Kattankudy said they did not know of any personal ties between him and Aliyar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aliyar founded the centre in 1990, a year after he graduated from the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, in what one resident said marked a key moment in the spread of Salafi doctrine in Kattankudy. The centre was partly funded by Saudi and Kuwaiti donors, according to a plaque outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>TROUBLEMAKER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reuters spoke to three members of the centre&#8217;s board before Aliyar&#8217;s arrest. They asked to remain anonymous, citing security concerns amid a backlash against some Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They said Zahran was a troublemaker and that they had warned authorities about his extremist views. The members said they thought Zahran frequented the library around a decade ago, but had no recollection of him visiting recently and denied that any of its books were to blame for his views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Funding for the centre came from local donations, student fees, and private donors who were classmates of Aliyar&#8217;s in Riyadh, the centre&#8217;s sources said. Reuters was unable to immediately determine further details about the funding of the centre.Also read |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/world\/story\/sri-lanka-bombings-aftermath-public-urged-to-surrender-swords-knives-1517564-2019-05-05\">Sri Lanka bombings aftermath: Public urged to surrender swords, knives<\/a>Also read |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/magazine\/up-front\/story\/20190513-could-islamic-state-attack-india-1515303-2019-05-03\">Could Islamic State attack India?<\/a>Watch |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/india\/video\/islamic-preachers-express-solidarity-with-christian-community-1512597-2019-04-29\">Islamic preachers visit Hyderabad church to express solidarity<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/world\/story\/saudi-educated-religious-scholar-arrested-for-links-to-sri-lanka-easter-bombings-1523154-2019-05-12\">https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/world\/story\/saudi-educated-religious-scholar-arrested-for-links-to-sri-lanka-easter-bombings-1523154-2019-05-12<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy India Today Mohamed Aliyar, 60, is the founder of the Centre for Islamic Guidance, which boasts a mosque, a religious school and a library in Zahran&#8217;s hometown of Kattankudy, a Muslim-dominated city on Sri Lanka&#8217;s eastern shores. Sources said Aliyar&#8217;s hardline views were shaped by ultra-conservative Salafi-Wahhabi texts he picked up at the Centre [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}