Earlier this year, Jordanian cleric Ali Hasan Al-Halabi said, in response to a question, that it is not permissible to kill Jews in Palestine as “there are shari’a agreements that protect people’s rights and lives.” He argued that “our brothers in Palestine tell us that the Jews do not attack anyone who does not attack them.” The video, translated by MEMRI, which was originally posted in February, has been circulating on the social media once again, presumably in response to the recent stabbing attacks in Israel.
But on November 3, Sheikh Al-Halabi posted two lengthy videos in which he rebutted criticism by political rivals, especially from the Muslim Brotherhood. In the new videos, Al-Halabi referred to Jews as “the brothers of apes and pigs” and said that Jihad against them is a duty, but that the Muslims are not up for the task right now, and must prepare first.
Both tapes and their subtitles are presented by MEMERI.
Ali Hasan bin Ali bin Abdul-Hameed al-Halabi arrived in the UK in 1993, SalafiTalk reports. Though young in age, he became known for sitting in the sessions of Shaikh Al-Albaanee in Jordan during the later years of the life of the Shaikh. After 1995, he made regular visits to the US, Canada, Europe and the Far East. He has been involved in fierce turf wars with competing Salafi teachers, who took advantage of his sudden fame, and his new reputation as a “peacenik,” to snipe at him. Salafi scholars warn openly against the innovations of Ali Hasan al-Halabi, and one Shaikh Ahmad bin Umar Baazmool published an 804 page book “in refutation of the deviations of Ali Hasan.”
Both tapes deliver a similar message, essentially, except that the Sheikh is in a more benign state of mind in the first one, and, after having been ribbed, and possibly worse, for his unbecoming attitude, he felt the need to pick up the monkey and pig talk.