‘Practice what you preach’: son slams cleric father over jihad call

  The son of popular Syrian Salafist cleric Adnan al-Aroor publically rejected his father's calls for jihad in Syria, criticizing him for urging young men to fight in Syria while he sits and watches from a comfortable distance.

“Why don’t you get up and go fight in Syria! Don’t just sit down on the chair. Bashar [al-Assad] is better than you,” Jaber al-Aroor, yelled at his father, during a television interview aired on the Kuwaiti Wesal channel.

Al-Aroor became a prominent voice regarding the Syrian conflict shortly after its start, frequently making appearances criticizing the Syrian regime and calling for the arming of the opposition and a foreign military intervention. Living in Saudi Arabia for the past 40 years, he has previously been accused of inciting his followers to jihad and calling people to “rise and fight."

His son later announced his rejection of his father's views, stating he was neither “with Sheikh al-Aroor nor with Bashar al-Assad, but with the revolutionaries.”

In another one of the cleric's videos, al-Aroor claimed one of his children was fighting in Syria, after being accused of hypocrisy as he called others to fight while his offspring were not. He added that his other children were working to provide relief for Syrians, another form of jihad. He did not provide further details.

The Salafist gained criticism through social media channels, especially Twitter.

While some users called him a terrorist, others claimed he was a thief stealing the money he raises for victims of Syrian’s war.

"I wish he’s release statements to see the massive amounts in his bank accounts! (sic)” Twitter user @bro_Noah wrote.

Some called for his expulsion from Saudi Arabia.

“Why is he not kicked out along with his family from the county [Saudi Arabia]. He destroys an entire country [Syria] while sitting safely in ours,” tweeted user @ tttt89673.

A number of preachers promoting jihad, including Saudi clerics Mohammad al-Arifi and Salman al-Ouda, have recently gone under fire as they urge people to rise and fight but do not commit to the cause themselves, with many living in countries far from the war torn country living luxurious lifestyles.