Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght- Since the beginning of the Islamic Awakening, Qatar's priorities were different from the rest of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council. Due to its close relation with the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1960s till now, Doha has provided ground for actual or potential empowerment of the Muslim Brotherhood in several Arab countries. This would aid Qatar in its regional advancement to defeat its political rivals, particularly Saudi Arabia. As a result, Qatar unprecedentedly supported Muslim Brotherhood in the region. In this regard, Al Jazeera, the most watched television network in the Arab world, served propagandizing events in favor of Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, the Qatari media competition with Saudi Arabia goes back in history. However, the media competition between these two Arab states has never reached the degree as it did during the Islamic Awakening.
Saudi Arabia established a television network broadcast, Al Arabiya, in an attempt to compete with and to reduce the impact of Al Jazeera in the Arab World. However, Al Arabiya failed to reach the level and popularity of Al Jazeera as a media discourse in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia's endeavor to replace Al Jazeera with AL Arabiya failed, and Al Jazeera is still by far the most watched television news network in the Arab world. Verily, one of the fundamental reasons behind the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar during the governance of King Abdullah was that the tribune of the most popular television network, Al Jazeera, was made available for Muslim Brotherhood figures. Moreover, it has put the legitimacy of the old regimes governing some Arab countries under question, particularly the Saudi regime. However, the Muslim Brotherhood's delegitimizing discourse did not pose any threat to the Qatari regime itself.
Among the most watched programs on Al Jazeera is "Islamic Law and Life". It is a weekly program presented by Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the most prominent and influential Muslim Brotherhood figure. Furthermore, in most of the programs and political talk shows of the TV network Muslim Brotherhood figures are invited to discuss the developments occurring in the Arab countries from their point of view. For this reason, it can be concluded that Al Jazeera was the main tribune for promoting the Muslim Brotherhood thoughts and projects during the era of Islamic Awakening.
Besides financial and media support of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar has protected the rest of the extremists groups in the region. As a matter of fact, one of the preeminent fears of Saudi Arabia – at least during the governance of King Abdullah – was the Qatar's wide support of the Islamist Radical groups throughout the region. The Saudi fear of such support is rooted in the historical experience of the country with the support of extremist groups, where in the end, the return of the radical citizens to Saudi Arabia led to a state of insecurity. Clearly, Saudi Arabia fears that the Saudi radicals fighting in other countries will lead to rpeat of the 2003-2006 internal war. In other words, the return of the Saudi radical citizens would trigger an action against the Saudi regime itself.
According to reports released by the Saudi Ministry of Internal Affairs, approximately 1,000 Saudi criminals are participating in the ongoing war in Syria. The actual number, according to American sources, is much greater. If some of these terrorists return to their home country, the aforementioned scenario is seriously possible. This concern prompted King Abdullah, in February 2014, to issue a twenty-year-imprisonment for those who are members of "terrorist groups". On March 7 of the same year, the Saudi Ministry of Internal Affairs placed the Muslim Brotherhood Movement and the other groups active in Syria, including al-Nusra Front and ISIS, on its black list. This statement gave all Saudi militants active in Syria, the opportunity to return to the country within the course of fifteen days. Moreover, the Saudi regime requested a Fatwa, by the great Saudi scholars' court board that would be commensurate with the government's policies. In this regard, several fatwas were issued by Saudi Mufti that forbided the Saudis from going to Syria to fight without the permission of "Wali Al Amr"; i.e. their king.
This policy dates back to King Abdullah's era of the governance, and, during King Salman's governance, Riyadh's policies have witnessed major shifts towards Syria and the whole region. Concomitant to the normalization in the relationship between Riyadh and the Muslim Brotherhood, which of course aims at confronting the Islamic Republic of Iran and its regional allies, Saudis policies toward the terrorist groups has also witnessed principle changes. In the same context, the cooperation between Riyadh, Qatar and Turkey in shaping "Jaish al-Fath" – an alliance of Takfiri groups led by Al Qaeda's branch in Syria, al-Nusra Front, is a clear indicator of the aforementioned shift.
A similar approach has also been witnessed in Yemen. Several reports indicate that Saudi Arabia is supplying Al Qaeda-affiliates and ISIS with weaponry in order to confront Ansarullah Movement in Yemen. Therefore, the shift in Riyadh's policies, have marginalized disputes between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, concerning the protection of radical groups.