{"id":19084,"date":"2013-05-30T15:00:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T19:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=19084"},"modified":"2014-02-23T00:55:45","modified_gmt":"2014-02-23T05:55:45","slug":"sheikh-muhammad-al-yaqoubi-interviewed-by-syria-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/sheikh-muhammad-al-yaqoubi-interviewed-by-syria-comment\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi Interviewed by Syria Comment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi Interviewed by Syria Comment<\/strong><\/h2>\n

by Matthew Barber<\/p>\n

\"Matthew

Matthew Barber interviews Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi in Rabat, Morocco, April 2013. Photo: Syria Comment<\/p><\/div>\n

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In a previous post<\/a> I revealed that Sheikh Muhammad al-Ya\u2019qoubi was elected as the first non-Ikhwaan-linked religious figure of the National Coalition. This event did take place, even though his followers were disappointed to discover that his tenure would not see the light of day, as his appointment was\u00a0subsequently canceled<\/a> at the very opposition conference in which his participation was to be announced. This is not the first time that he has been excluded from the opposition. His name has previously been on draft lists of Coalition members, but deleted for unknown reasons. It raises many questions when an influential figure (but one that cannot compete<\/a> with the funding of the Muslim Brotherhood) is excluded in favor of admitting other, largely unknown individuals. Despite being blocked again by Ikhwaan-aligned figures, his influence is not going to disappear. For those curious about his background and views, I believe it will be useful to publish here the full interview I had with the Sheikh (April 2013; Rabat, Morocco; in English). Our entire conversation is provided below, but it is quite long, so at the outset I list a few of the key topics covered within it:<\/p>\n