The website of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) is reporting on the visit of what was described as the first Saudi “scholar” to visit Kosovo on the same day that independence was declared. According to the report, the the individual’s surname is al-Muhaydib / Muhaidib, and he is member of the East Europe Committee in the international council of WAMY, said to be specialising in the Balkans. In an interview, Mr. al-Muhaydib says he was in Kosovo following an invitation of the mufti of Kosovo Na’im Tarnafa who previously visited Saudi Arabia and met the King. He also stated that WAMY does a large amount of work in Kosovo under the auspices of the Saudi Joint Committee for the Relief of Kosovo. Part of the work twas described as social, another as teaching English, concentrating mainly on Kosovar youth. A previous post discussed a recent meeting between WAMY representatives on Islamic leaders from Kosovo which included the Kosovo Grand Mufti and which covered the activities of WAMY and the Saudi Joint Committee for Relief of Kosovo.
A religious news website has reported that of the 10 Islamic non-governmental organizations working in Kosovo today, the largest is the Saudi Joint Relief Committee. In an interview with a member of the small Kosovar Jewish community, Jewish media reported on concerns about the role of Saudi charities in promoting Saudi-style “Wahhabist” Islam:
“There was not anti-Semitism in the past, but with the Saudi charities here now we are seeing a Wahabi influence for the first time,” Demiri said, referring to the fundamentalist Islamic ideology Saudi Arabian clerics have tried to export, with little success, in the Balkans. “I think the newspapers these days are not portraying Jews in such a positive light.”
WAMY is known to have played an important role in expanding Saudi/Muslim Brotherhood influence in Bosnia and U.S. government agencies and officials have argued that WAMY has helped spread Islamic extremism around the world as well as sponsoring terrorism in places such as Bosnia, Israel, and India.