Cairo - Earlier this week, ‘Sameh Abdul-Hamid', a Salafi movement leader, made a statement about how it is important to engage Salafis in fighting ISIS-linked groups, spearheaded by both Al-Azhar and the army establishments. In a Facebook's post, Abdul-Hamid cited Libyan Army Commander Khalifa Haftar's speech in which he recognized the Salafis' role in defeating ISIS allies and liberating Qunfudah area (west Benghazi) from their grip, "without such help victory would have never been possible," said Haftar. In a statement for ‘Albawaba News Portal' on Saturday, Dr. Ahmad Karimah, professor of Comparative Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University and an outspoken critic of Salafist and Jihadist movements, called for holding this Salafi party leader accountable for his meddling into affairs that are "neither his business nor his area of specialization", asserting that ISIS emerged, evolved and thrived under the umbrella of Salafi ideology. In response to Abdul-Hamid's Dr. Karimah said that Salafists' call to join the intellectual fight against ISIS is just another hopeless attempt to diminish both Al-Azhar's and Egyptian army's role in fighting terrorism, pointing out that all they want is to set themselves up as guardians of Islam. He added that this is obvious, especially that they are calling on the state to let them take part in the fight against ISIS (or Daesh, in Arabic), whether intellectually or militarily, that makes us wonder if they have built up their own army while we are unaware of it!
