Sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

Ibrahim Zeid Keilani (1937 in

Salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

– 2 April 2013) was a

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

ian Muslim cleric and politician. He served as the minister of awqaf and Islamic affairs in 1990 and served as a member of Jordan's House of Representatives between 1993 and 1997. He was a member of the

Islamic Action Front The Islamic Action Front ( ar, جبهة العمل الإسلامي ''Jabhat al-'Amal al-Islami'', IAF) is an Islamist political party in Jordan. It is the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. Founded in 1992 with 350 members, E ...

, the political wing of Jordan's

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

, and served on the party's Sharia Ulema Committee. He was described as an Islamist.

Career and religious views

Keilani studied Islamic Studies at the University of Baghdad and Damascus University. He then earned his MA and Ph.D. at

Al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt. During the 1970s Keilani hosted a television show, the show was important in creating support for the first

Islamic bank Islamic banking, Islamic finance ( ar, مصرفية إسلامية), or Sharia-compliant finance is banking or financing activity that complies with Sharia (Islamic law) and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics ...

of the country. The main proposer of the

Jordan Islamic Bank Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River ...

, Sami Hamoud, featured on four episodes to discuss Islamic banking. Keilani later served on the Fatwa Committee of the Preparatory Committee of the bank. Keilani was appointed as Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs either in 1990 or January 1991. During the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, while he was the minister, Keilani supported

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

. He condemned the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the Arab states that fought against Iraq in the war, saying that they were treacherous for fighting against the "army of Iraq, which is the army of Islam". At the same time he also supported the Palestinian cause, saying that

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

belonged to the Palestinians. After his term of minister, Keilani served in the House of Representatives of 12th Parliament of Jordan, which was in place from 1993 to 1997. In the parliamentary year 1996–1997 he served as chair of the law committee.

Islamic Action Front

In 2000, the Jordanian government tried to introduce Saturday as a second rest-day of the week. Keilani, as leader of the

's Sharia

Ulema In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

Committee opposed this. Keilani said that Saturday was the day off of Jordan's enemy,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and that by implementing the measure the Jordanian government would be acting treacherously. As leader of the committee Keilani defended the practice of

honor killing An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...

s. During the celebration of the Jordanian Independence Day on 25 May 2001 the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the official celebrations for the first time. Instead, they launched protests in which they voiced their support for Palestine and protest against Jordanian ties with Israel. Keilani was one of the main speakers during the protests. In 2004 members and leadership of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood were involved in leading sermons and teaching in mosques while having no authorization to do so by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. Several members of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested, while others were summoned to talk to security officials. Keilani was injured after a row with security men and had to go to hospital. Jordan had implemented the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2007. Keilani criticized the government for doing so, saying that the treaty was "a dangerous agreement that effects the rights of citizens as well as the nation's identity and values". He accused the treaty as an effort to distance people from religion and as an effort to destroy the Muslim family. In 2008, Keilani disagreed with top Saudi Islamic cleric,

Saleh al-Lihedan Saleh or Salih ( ar, صالح, or ) is an Arabic masculine given name which means "Pious". Given name * Salih, Arabian prophet * Salih ibn Ali (711–769 CE), was the Abbasid general and governor in Syria and Egypt. * ''Salih ibn Harun al-Rashid ...

, who issued a fatwa making it permissible to kill owners and employees of television stations which showed immoral content. Although Keilani agreed with al-Lihedan that some of the content was immoral to Islamic standards, he feared that the fatwa would bring unrest to countries. He said that governments were responsible for dealing with the television channels. In 2010 Keilani ordered a ban on the increasing tourism to

, a holy city for Muslims. He said that the religious tourism normalized relations between Arab states and Israel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keilani, Ibrahim Zeid 1937 births 2013 deaths People from Al-Salt Jordanian Sunni Muslims University of Baghdad alumni Damascus University alumni Al-Azhar University alumni Islamic affairs ministers of Jordan Members of the House of Representatives (Jordan) Islamic Action Front politicians