Saudi Sheikh Aed Al-Qarni Apologizes For Previously-Held Radical Views, Says: I Am Now One of KSA's "Swords"; Some Saudi Scholars Are Paid By Qatar to Preach Extremism

In a May 6, 2019 interview on Rotana Khalijiyah TV (Saudi Arabia), Saudi scholar Aed Al-Qarni apologized to "Saudi society" for having held extremist views and for having "violated the Quran and the Sunnah" and the nature of Islam. He said he was apologizing on behalf of the Islamist Sahwa movement, and that he now supports Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman's form of Islam that is "moderate and open to the world." Al-Qarni said that the Qatari government pays certain clerics in Saudi Arabia to preach radical views, but that he was never paid to do so, and that he reported it to the authorities when Qatar "targeted" him by inviting him to work in Qatar. He said that he is now "one of the swords of the [Saudi] state," which he said is being targeted by Iran, Turkish President Erdoğan, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Qarni criticized Qatar and the Al-Jazeera Network and said that they were serving the Taliban, Erdoğan, the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, and Hizbullah. He also criticized Erdoğan for being one of the first Muslim leaders to have open relations with Israel, for plotting with Iran and Qatar against KSA, for not supporting the Palestinians, and for not having implemented much shari'a law in Turkey.