In a series of shows on the Al-Qaeda affiliated OGN TV on YouTube, Canadian Islamic scholar Sheikh Tariq Abdelhaleem praised the Taliban and criticized the "submissive" conduct of Indian Muslims. On a July 13, 2022 show, he said that the Taliban's internal policies are "really good" and this is what all Muslims should do when they take control of a society. He added that this is what Hamas should be doing in Gaza. Conversely, Abdelhaleem said that the Taliban's foreign policy is wrong because they are trying to garner favor with the West. He added that the Jews and Christians will never be pleased with the Muslims. The interviewer interjected saying that after the money and time the Americans invested in reforming Afghanistan, they will never allow it to prosper after their withdrawal. He criticized the Muslims in India for failing to carry out resistance against the Hindus.
In a July 3 show, the interviewer said that the Muslims in India suffer from the "Gandhi effect" and that they are too submissive. Abdelhaleem said that Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham in Syria are "real traitors" and a "mafia," adding that instead of being an "organized military," they are a "company" dedicated to making money. He said that while homosexuality is a sin when committed on an individual level, it is disbelief (kufr) when it becomes pervasive in a society.
For more information about Sheikh Tariq Abdelhaleem and his support for Al-Qaeda, see MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series No. 1584, Special Dispatch No. 9128, and MEMRI special report from October 12, 2020.
To view the clip of Canadian Islamic scholar Tariq Abdelhaleem, click here or below:
Indian Muslims Are Too Submissive, Suffer From "The Gandhi Effect... This Is Going To Destroy People Because It Is Not Standard Islam To Follow This Hindu Guy"
Tariq Abdelhaleem: "This movement, this LGBTQ movement, is affecting everybody including... They are even attacking our people in the Middle East. They are sending letters to ministers there to question their stance on this movement. Imagine that. 'Where do you stand on this?' I mean why, why would you do that? So the simple answer is no, there is no room [in] Islam for such a huge, huge sin, especially if it is organized, then it is kufr. If it is on the individual level, it is a sin, but if you organize it, if Muslims organize this, it is a kufr."
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Interviewer: "There almost seems to be a submissive culture amongst the wider population of Muslims, and it might just be a cultural thing within India, and somebody could clear that up for me, but there seems to be a submissive aspect to the culture that is resulting in them not taking those steps to defend themselves against [unintelligible]."
Abdelhaleem: "Exactly, it's the Gandhi effect. The Gandhi effect. And this is going to destroy people because it is not standard Islam to follow this Hindu guy, Gandhi guy.
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"[Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham] Are Traitors Of The Stand Against Aggression"
"Yeah, HTS, this HTS, they are just — I consider them traitors of aqida, traitors of the stand against the aggression, stand against the Syrian people — They are real traitors, and they are not now an organized military thing against aggression. They are an organized big company to make money like Sisi and company. That's what they are now. They are just trading. It's a mafia. It's a mafia, and they are torturing people, they are a carbon copy of these taghut [tyrant] systems, of this kufar system.
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"They are trying to push this agenda, and try to make it like appeal to people, although we know that this is not appealing, this is a kufr system. Democracy is ruling of people by the people, so we have ruling of the people by Allah, his shari'a, so it's completely out of Islam.
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"We Endorse And Accept In Admiration The Coming Back Of The Taliban To Rule Afghanistan... The Policy Of The Taliban Is Really Good; They Are Adhering To Islamic Shari'a"
"Of course we endorse and accept in admiration the coming back of Taliban to rule Afghanistan after this long occupation — 20 years of the American occupation — senseless killings, and all kinds of destroying the Afghani, trying to destroy the Afghani people. So this is good for all Muslims, not only Afghanistan, for all Muslims. It's the only place now on earth that Muslims can have a hope that they can actually have their own place. Of course, there are sanctions by the West for no reason.
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"Policy of Taliban is really good. They are adhering to Islamic shari'a. They are adhering to the rules of Islam. They are doing a good job in refusing to comply with any Western influences, and they are stopping whatever means that can influence their people as well. So they are moving in the right direction internally, and we have to congratulate them, and support them, and say yes, this is exactly what Muslims should be doing if they take control of a society. This is for instance — it's another subject — but this is what Hamas should be doing internally in Gaza.
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"The foreign policy of Taliban was pushed from the beginning in order to try to gain the confidence and support of the West, and that was a mistake.
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"Jewish communities and Christians will never be content with you unless you follow their religion, their rules here, so it's not going to happen, so that was actually kind of a mistake."
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Interviewer: "I think one thing that people should really understand is it would be a huge humiliation to the United States if they left Afghanistan after 20 years of pouring just, you know, billions upon billions of dollars, hundred and hundreds of billions of dollars into the country, trying to reform it, it would be very embarrassing for them to then leave the country and then have it succeed. So I think, you know, I don't think that the U.S. was ever going to play a role in making Afghanistan succeed or become a part of the international community following that.
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"I know we haven't gotten anybody to get up and offer some real resistance to the Hindu mobs and the Hindu violence at all, neither Sunni or Shia, so at the moment at least..."
Abdelhaleem: "There are some cries, here and there, but not — yeah, there aren't cries, like individual cries, and individual fights in streets and such, but this is not the resistance, it's not the resistance."
