""It's surprising that the Saudi government gave billions of dollars to support the (anti-Mursi) coup and the coup leaders and those who are far from God and Islam," Qaradawi, one of the most influential Sunni Muslim clerics in the Middle East, told Reuters in an interview conducted by email. "These rulers hate Saudi Arabia and its ruling regime. They do not believe in sharia," he added, referring to strict Islamic law applied in Saudi Arabia." (thanks Basim)