Reports that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs had dissolved the Al-Haramain Charitable Foundation captured newspaper headlines last week. Al-Haramain was the largest philanthropic and humanitarian organization in Saudi Arabia, receiving from $40 million to $50 million annually in Saudi donations. This amount came to half the total donations made to all other charitable bodies in the Kingdom. Al-Haramain’s offices were found in virtually every corner of the earth.
An observer of the Al-Haramain case could not fail to realize that something was missing regarding the circumstances surrounding its closure. Following accusations by the United States that the organization’s overseas branches supported Al-Qaeda, Al-Haramain was put on the list of groups that Washington accuses of financing terrorism and its branches abroad were closed.
Following that, many expected its work to be confined to domestic activities — helping the poor and needy in the Kingdom, especially after the establishment in February of a national commission to oversee Saudi charitable activities abroad so that Saudis could extend a helping hand to their Muslim brothers wherever they are.
That move may have solved the problem of charity work abroad. But what about charitable work at home? An interesting thing to observe is that over a very short period of time, three different people were heads of the charity’s administration. The first was removed from his position; the second resigned and the third left following the organization’s dissolution. The last one told a newspaper that the decision to close Al-Haramain came as a result of American pressure being exercised concerning Islamic charity work as a whole.
It appears to me that we still don’t have a clear picture of the situation which surrounds the issue. The American accusations remain just accusations and we are yet to hear that an investigation has been launched into the matter.
Many questions need to be asked: Was Al-Haramain indeed involved in supporting terrorism and financing Al-Qaeda? How did this happen and where? Who were the people involved in such disgraceful acts? Was it an institutional or individual act? Al-Haramain is more than 14 years old, worked in Pakistan and was close to Al-Qaeda. Does this establish anything?
On the other hand, what does the US hope to achieve by closing down Al-Haramain? Does it want to end any Islamic charity forever? Is Washington in possession of irrefutable evidence to substantiate its claims or is the whole matter just part of the enmity now being shown toward any Islamic charity work? As I said earlier, the situation is unclear with neither party able to present convincing reasons to justify Al-Haramain’s closure.
