Muslim scholars and anti-normalization activists took to the internet to criticize the Muslim delegation that visited a Holocaust memorial in Poland and performed Muslim prayers alongside the descendants of Holocaust survivors. Muslim scholars and anti-normalization activists in Morocco have criticized the Muslim delegation that performed Islamic prayers during a visit to Auschwitz to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau Friday in Poland. The delegation, which included the secretary general of Morocco's Rabita Mohammedia des Oulémas (Mohammedia League of Scholars) Ahmed Abbadi, joined the descendants of Holocaust survivors in a prayer during a visit to Auschwitz. On Sunday, the International Union of Muslim Scholars issued a communiqué, slamming the Muslim scholars who flew to Poland to attend the prayers. The body headed by Moroccan scholar Ahmed Raissouni stressed that the «visit enhances normalization with the Zionist occupier», adding that «calling for coexistence and peace does not need this biased visit and its symbolic rituals». The Union condemned said visit, warning against the «consequences of involving Muslim scholars in Zionist plans». Furthermore, the body stressed that «praying in front of cameras at the memorial courtyard promotes the Zionist entity and justifies crimes against Palestine, Palestinians and the Al Aqsa Mosque». Anti-normalization activists and the Auschwitz prayer The International Union of Muslim Scholar was not the only body that criticized the Muslim delegation that attended the Holocaust memorial in Poland. During the weekend, the Morocco Observatory Against Normalization took to Facebook to denounce the visit and the Muslim prayer attended by a Moroccan official and headed by the secretary general of the Saudi Arabia-funded Muslim World League, Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa. Ahmed Ouihmane, the president of the anti-normalization with Israel association, said on Facebook that those who joined the descendents of Holocaust survivors in Auschwitz are «not Muslim scholars». «They justify the massacres and crimes committed by the Zionist occupier in Palestine», he argued. «While they were performing Muslim prayers in Poland, the Zionist police and army were leading campaigns against Muslim worshippers in the Al Aqsa Mosque», Ouihmane claimed. Meanwhile, anti-normalization activist Aziz Hennaoui described the Poland prayer as a «heresy», that was invented by the Muslim scholars who attended the memorial. «Intention is one of the pillars of obedience in Islam. Auschwitz is the greatest Zionist propaganda headline on earth. What is the intention to pray in this camp? We want the Sheikhs of Auschwitz to clarify it», he concluded. While Muslim leaders left for Poland to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Jerusalem was hosting a world forum to remember the Holocaust and fight against anti-Semitism, with about 40 heads of state attending the event.
