Al-Mustaqbal Admonishes Qabbani
Saad Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal movement is admonishing Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani for meeting with a delegation from Hizbullah and the Syrian ambassador on the day the international tribunal issued the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case, a source said.
The Mustaqbal source told al-Liwaa daily on Friday that the movement’s lawmakers decided to boycott prayers led by Qabbani at al-Amin mosque on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr “to admonish the Mufti for some of his stances.”
“Hadn’t he been the Mufti we would have treated him differently,” the source said.
However, other reports have suggested a growing rift between Qabbani and al-Mustaqbal.
According to al-Akhbar newspaper, the MPs boycotted Tuesday’s prayers as part of the campaign that that the movement launched against the Mufti when he stressed that Premier Najib Miqati deserves to be given a chance as PM.
The daily said Hariri supporters accuse Qabbani of supporting the Syrian regime crackdown on Hama by meeting with Syria’s Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali and of targeting the Special Tribunal for Lebanon by holding talks with the Hizbullah delegation on the day the STL accused four members of the party of involvement in Hariri’s 2005 murder case.
Furthermore, al-Mustaqbal officials have decided to boycott a rare visit that the Mufti did to the Arqoub area in southern Lebanon on Friday. They have fears that Qabbani’s direct contact with people in the deprived area would limit the movement’s popularity particularly that al-Mustaqbal has no representative there.
The Mufti flew to Marjayoun by army helicopter at 9:15 am to kick start his tour to Hasbaya and Arqoub.
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