NEW DELHI: A renowned Indian Islamic scholar and pro-jihad radical cleric, Salman Nadwi , finds himself at the centre of the political crisis between Qatar and the Saudi Arabia led Arab quartet which has blamed Doha for supporting Iran and terrorist groups.Nadwi, diplomatic sources in Muscat confirmed, has been expelled by Oman for a lecture he had given at the local College of Shariah Sciences last week in which he had called for attack on Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf countries for having turned against Qatar.Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain cut all diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in June this year plunging the region into an unprecedented political crisis. Significantly, after he was expelled by Oman, Nadwi was spotted with 91-year-old Egyptian theologian Yusuf al Qaradawi earlier this week in Qatar's capital. Qaradawi is on the terror sanctions list of the Arab quartet for his alleged support to terrorism, most notably for advocating suicide bombings as a "higher form of jihad".Nadwi's meeting with Qaradawi will be of significance to Indian security agencies who have closely followed Nadwi's activities since 2014 when he became one of the first international Islamic scholars to write to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi congratulating him for declaring a Caliphate from a Mosul mosque.Later, in an interaction with author Tufail Ahmad, Nadwi had said he only asked al-Baghdadi to pursue good relations with other countries including India and to not encourage sectarianism.Nadwi, a top scholar of Sunni Islam at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow, was once an ardent admirer of Saudi Arabia and had at one point of time written to its government calling for Riyadh to establish a confederation of all international jihadist groups. In his letter to the Saudi government, he had also offered to raise an Islamic army of 500,000 men from India and neighbouring countries.According to Oman, Nadwi's lecture was against the "principles, approaches and policies" of the country and that's why he had to be expelled. While Riyadh has officially thanked Oman for Nadwi's expulsion, it is probably already seething over the fact that he is currently the guest of Qaradawi, an influential leader of Muslim Brotherhood, in Doha.While he is not directly accused of carrying out any terror attack, Qaradawi has officially been described as a terrorist by Riyadh and its allies who have repeatedly urged Qatar to act against him."Qaradawi is one of the most public figureheads of the radical wing of the Muslim Brotherhood," a former FBI? counter-terror official was quoted as saying in a report by The Washington Post in June this year.Doha, however, hasn't acted against him believing that he is being targeted only for being a political opponent of riyadh and its allies.Nadwi has in the past described? Qaradawi as the uncontested Imam of the Muslim world and said that all Islamic movements within the International Union of Muslim Scholars recognised his rule and leadership. "Those who accuse you of terrorism are but creatures of villainy and wickedness," he was quoted as having said.