A Quran Academy..Houthi institution for sectarian goals and a cover for corruption with looted equipment
English - Wednesday 28 July 2021 الساعة 09:26 am
Sana'a, NewsYemen, a special report:
Within the framework of the procedures of the Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, to promote education in its areas of control, the militias began arranging to establish what they called the Supreme Academy of the Holy Quran and its Sciences through the issuance of a law by the head of the so-called Houthi Leadership Political Council, Mahdi Al-Mashat, on the Supreme Academy of the Holy Quran and its Sciences on the seventh On the tenth of this July, after the parliament, which is under the control of the militias, had approved the draft law on the thirtieth of last June.
The Foundation of the Academy of the Holy Qur’an and its Sciences is one of the new institutions created by the militias outside the framework of the institutions that existed within the structures of the Yemeni state institutions prior to its coup on September 21, 2014 AD and for special purposes to achieve its sectarian and religious agendas, and complete its control over education and the field of guidance and counseling.
A Houthi attempt to legitimize a sectarian institution
Contrary to the institutions created by the Houthi militias and which granted them the powers of some ministries and constitutional and legal institutions, the Houthi militia resorted in its procedures to create what it calls the Higher Academy of the Holy Quran and its Sciences to try to legitimize the establishment and creation of this institution legally.
Sources in the Ministry of Endowments and Guidance - whose name the militias changed to the Ministry of Guidance and Hajj Affairs after separating the endowment sector from the ministry and extending its full control over it - told NewsYemen that the militias, in their efforts to legitimize this academy, assigned the ministry led by the leader affiliated with the General People's Congress, Najib al-Aji after Confiscation of his ministry’s powers over the endowments sector and transferring it to a ministry concerned with guidance and pilgrimage, by submitting a draft law on the Supreme Academy of the Holy Qur’an and its Sciences to the House of Representatives as an alternative to a draft law previously submitted by the ministry to develop the Higher Institute for Guidance and Guidance affiliated with the ministry, allowing the institute to be abolished and to grant its competencies and powers to the academy
During the deliberations and discussions of the House of Representatives, which is under the control of militias, for the draft law, a number of parliamentarians objected to many of its articles, but great pressure from the militia leaders on the members of the House ended in passing a final vote on the law at the last session of the House before its Eid holiday, which was held on June 30 last year.
Parliamentary sources told NewsYemen that all that the deputies who opposed and rejected the law of the Houthi Quran Academy could do was insist on adding an article to the draft law that stipulated that (the academy’s curricula, programs or plans may not include anything that perpetuates and deepens sectarian fanaticism in any way).
According to the sources, even after adding this article, it will be impossible to do anything with regard to the work of the academy, its powers and competencies, especially in view of the tasks and objectives of the draft law, which will instil a sectarian ideology specific to the Houthi militia, which is evident by setting goals for it represented in: The consolidation of the so-called faith identity, which is a sectarian issue specific to the militias and has nothing to do with the religion of the state or the religion of Yemenis, not to mention the hidden goals that the academy is intended to play in terms of creating and imposing educational curricula that are consistent with the sectarian militias’ orientations, and granting them the powers to graduate preachers and guides who have received an extremist sectarian education, As well as the powers to graduate private teachers to teach the Qur’an to teach in schools and universities.
Parliamentary sources justified the Houthi militia’s resort, and unlike the rest of the institutions that it created to legitimize the establishment of this academy with sectarian goals, in order to defend its continuation in the future in the event of a political settlement that would result in the abolition of any unconstitutional institutions established by the militias, such as the Zakat Authority, the General Authority for Endowments and the Supreme Council For humanitarian affairs and other institutions that operate as a state within the state.
The sources indicated that this academy will be one of the most prominent institutions that the militias will be keen to bargain with the rest of the institutions and institutes of a religious nature, such as the University of Sharia Sciences in Hodeidah, which was run by the scholar Muhammad Ali Marei, and the Dar Al-Mustafa Institute in Tarim, which is run by the scholar Omar bin Hafeez, and even the University of Faith Affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which was run by Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani.
Doctrinal thought and hidden goals of the Houthi Quran Academy الحوثي
Sources in the Ministry of Guidance, which presented the draft law on the academy to Newsemen, revealed that there are hidden goals behind the establishment of this academy under the name of the Qur’an Academy, focused on trying to impose and consolidate the Twelver sectarian ideology of the militias on the one hand, and teaching the concepts of state, divine right, and the so-called identity. The belief that the militias use as a justification for trying to change the culture and behavior of society and imposing certain behaviors based on extremist religious and sectarian justifications. This is the model that the militias’ recent actions have expressed, through their confiscation of women’s underwear, and the imposition of certain procedures on the owners of women’s clothing sales in particular.
The sources said that reviewing the tasks included in the draft law establishing the academy confirms that it will be a front for imposing and teaching what is included in the fall of the lieutenant, the founder of the militia, Hussein al-Houthi, as a main curriculum for the academy, as well as curricula and books on the contents of the Twelver doctrine, and what is known as the political subordination to the Iranian project of Wilayat al-Faqih politically.
According to the sources, the danger of this academy is that it aims to control the rhetoric sector through the education, training and graduation of preachers through this academy, as a special section has been allocated for rehabilitation and guidance within the academy’s institutions, as well as graduating teachers specialized in the field of the Holy Qur’an and supporting schools and universities with them, which confirms Behind the establishment of this academy is a Houthi sectarian project, where it is intended to transform the practices and procedures related to the extremist religious and sectarian stances of the militias, which are expressed by their leader, preachers, and their supervisors, from militia-specific practices to legalized procedures under the cover of the state, and within the imposition of a sectarian educational policy funded from the state budget.
Cover for corruption and an academy with looted and stolen equipment
In addition, sources close to the Houthi militia said that in addition to the sectarian goals of the Quran Academy affiliated with the Houthis, the militias are seeking to turn it into an institution through which new financial corruption operations are practiced by allocating a budget for this academy from state funds.
The sources added to NewsYemen: The academy project will allow the militias to absorb and employ hundreds of leaders and elements affiliated with them, who will be appointed in the administrative structure of the academy, which includes (the Supreme Council, the president and his deputy, the Secretary-General, the Scientific Council, and the teaching staff), in addition to those who will be appointed in its affiliated institutions. Which includes (the College of the Noble Qur’an and its Sciences, the College of Graduate Studies and its departments, the Guidance Center for Rehabilitation and Construction, and the Center for Studies and Research of the Noble Qur’an and its Sciences).
According to the sources, the Houthi militia will use the academy to accommodate and employ its so-called scholars and cultural supervisors who take over the tasks of giving lectures in its sectarian courses, as well as those who undertake the tasks of speaking about their sectarian positions in the media, and their sectarian events, in addition to its preachers, and some academics who announced their joining. to it after its coup against power in 2014 and its military control of the capital, Sanaa.
The sources revealed to NewsYemen that the infrastructure of the Houthi academy is based mainly on equipment and supplies looted by the militias from several places, most notably the Al-Saleh Charitable Foundation, Al-Saleh Mosque, Al-Iman University, the Higher Institute for Guidance and Guidance, and some institutions that were affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments and Guidance.
The sources confirmed that this equipment was looted, stolen, and seized in the possession of certain Houthi leaders, who carefully assembled them and under the supervision of the so-called judicial guard set up by the Houthis to seize public and private funds and properties.
The sources concluded by noting that the funds of the endowment sector, which was controlled by the militias, by separating it from the Ministry of Endowments and Guidance and creating its own body and appointing its leaders in it, will be the first source of funding for the budget of this academy, in addition to the Zakat Authority and its funds.
