MuftiMenk's Explanation

And you know what? It hurts our souls. We want to see goodness and justice. We want to see a stop to the oppression and aggression. We would like to see protection of Masjid Al Aqsa etcetera etcetera.

If what's happening politically is happening politically, it's got nothing to do with me. SubhanAllah. It can keep on happening whatever it is. We are we are totally separated from that.

Sorry, but you don't get to say those two different things. This is Sheikh Balsam. Welcome to the Middle Nation, everyone. I don't watch Mufty Mank. I don't follow what he does.

I don't really consume any of his content. But someone commented in one of my videos asking me for reaction about his thing in UAE with the iftar and the Israeli and so on. I didn't know anything about it, so I just looked it up, and I I'm giving you now my spontaneous reaction to it. I watched his explanation about it, which is not to be confused with an apology. It's an explanation, as he calls it a clarification about what happened and why and so on.

Okay. When you're on the level of Mufti Mink, your dawah is you're in the PR business. You're in the public relations business. This isn't Jamat Tabliki guy or or some local imam handing out brochures and flyers and pamphlets about Islam to anyone who walks by. You're a celebrity.

You're a celebrity preacher. You're in the PR business. Now, when The UAE organizes an event like this iftar, that is a PR event because no one in The UAE needs to have that kind of an event to introduce them to Ramadan, introduce them to Iftar, introduce them to Islam, and all of that because that's every day in Ramadan, in every masjid in the entire country. There's public iftars laid out in Dubai, in Abu Dhabi, in Sharjah, in across The UAE, everywhere. Masjids everywhere having iftar welcoming anyone and everyone to come and talk to them about Islam.

Nobody in The UAE needs to be instructed about what Ramadan means. Everybody knows. This event is a PR event. It was organized as such. Media was there.

Cameras were there. Reporters were there because it is a PR event. Anyone who is participating in a PR event knows what that PR event is about, and they know who's gonna be there. They know what agenda is. They know what the program is.

So his explanation is unconvincing, acting like he just showed up and he didn't know who was gonna be there. He didn't know who the guy was, who was sitting next to him, and so on and so on. Of course not. Of course, that's not true. And if your defense is that you're just that dumb and naive, then how dumb do you think we are?

If your argument is, I'm a celebrity preacher and I'm basically in the PR business, and I'm attending attending a a PR PR event organized by the government of Dubai, but I don't know what's going on there. That's not believable on any level. You know who's sitting next to you, and you know why. There's no doubt about that. To say that you didn't know and that you're that naive is not convincing because you wouldn't have made to to the position that you're in if you were that naive, and we are not so naive as to believe that explanation. Explanation. I'm

I'm sorry. Sorry. In his statement, he says he begins by saying this.

And you know what? It hurts our souls. We want to see goodness and justice. We want to see a stop to the oppression and aggression. We would like to see protection of Masjid Al Aqsa, etcetera etcetera.

Later on in the statement, he says this.

If what's happening politically is happening politically, it's got nothing to do with me. SubhanAllah. It can keep on happening, whatever it is. We are we are totally separated from that.

I'm sorry, but you don't get to say those two different things. You don't get to say those two different things, especially if you're in the PR business. You cannot say on the one hand that you want to support justice and you want to stand against oppression, and you you want to see things change in Palestine, and then also say that politics has nothing to do with you. The only reason that you are at that iftar is for the PR function of having you sitting next to the rabbi. So, no, Al Jazeera wasn't wrong if they said this was a celebration of normalization because that's exactly what it was.

That's exactly what the PR event was held for. Ramadan Iftar was a pretext. That was a framework to celebrate normalization. That's why they have Mufti Mink sitting next to the rabbi. That's a PR event.

PR is my business. I know how this works. This was organized. You knew it. The rabbi knew it.

Everybody sitting at that table knew it. The organizers knew it. That's why it happened the way it happened. Now, if you want to stay out of politics if you want to stay out of politics, then don't attend an event organized by government. Simple.

You can stay out of it that way. Don't go to an event organized by the al of Dubai. Very simple. Then now you're out of politics. As soon as you attend an event organized by the al Qaaf of Dubai, you're involved in politics.

I'm not even gonna get into the issue of normalization and the issue of Palestine, the issue of Israel and The UAE and the Abraham Accords and all of that. That's a whole other area to talk about, and Mufti Menk doesn't wanna be involved in politics. That's politics. But if you don't want to associate yourself with that and you want to only be religious and only dealing with deen, then don't deal with government because the fact that you were attending an event that was organized by and organized in every detail, including who's sitting at what table and who's getting their picture taken, all of that is organized. The Dubai media office knows exactly what they're doing, and they completely control their image.

They are one of the most image conscious countries on earth. They know exactly the power of an image, and they organize images specifically for public consumption. You cannot make me believe that you didn't know what you were participating in NY before you agreed. Before he agreed to that event, he was told exactly what was going on, and if he wasn't told, he should have been able to figure it out. Anyone would have been able to figure that out.

They have the Abraham Accords. You're going to an inner faith there. Do you imagine that a rabbi is not gonna be there under the circumstances politically? So, again, if you don't wanna be involved in politics, then don't be involved in government functions. Basically, his his defense in that statement was that he's too naive to have known what was going on, and that anyone who doesn't believe that he is dumb and naive has a twisted and dirty heart.

How dare you think that I'm not dumb and naive? That's his defense. And that we should fear Allah in that we think he's an intelligent enough person to know what happened at an event that he went to that was sponsored by the government and organized by the government, and to which he was invited, and to which cameras and reporters and journalists were invited. But he is he but he has no idea what's going on. We're supposed to believe that, and if we if we're not willing to believe that he is that naive and frankly stupid, then we have a disease in our heart.

No. I'm sorry. That's not a defense, and that's not convincing at all. First of all, I'm not even interested in an apology. Just be honest.

Because you went to that event because you believed in why that event was organized, and you and I both know that it wasn't organized for the sake of promoting Ramadan and iftar and understanding and all of that. That was not why it was organized. It was organized to promote normalization. So if you support normalization, just say it. Just say it.

There's an argument to be made because politicians have to make decisions, they have to make trade offs, they have to, have long term strategy that can sometimes require them to make compromises and sacrifices and do things that they may not want to do or they do not even believe in because they will help that will help them to achieve a long term positive goal. But you're a religious person, and you have stated now that you don't wanna be involved in politics, and you think that it has nothing to do with you. You can't pretend that you can separate support for Palestine from politics in The Middle East. That makes you a liar. You can't you can't go to any government sponsored, government organized function not be involving yourself in politics.

I'm sure that his core followers are are going to forgive him for for that and accept his explanation. Personally, I don't.