1. Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Abdallah al-Qaradawi is a central figure affiliated with the
Muslim Brotherhood. He was expelled from Egypt and found refuge in Qatar,
operating from there throughout the Muslim world.
2. Many consider him
the supreme religious and ideological authority for the Muslim Brotherhood,
although he is not officially its leader. (In the past, he refused to accept the
title of the Muslim Brotherhood’s General Guide). He is influential in Egypt and
considered one of the most important Sunni Muslim clerics of our generation, and
a spiritual authority for millions of Muslims around the world, including the
Hamas movement.
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Analysis: Yusuf al-Qaradawi – a ‘man for all seasons’ 3. Al-Qaradawi's popularity among the Sunnis has grown
because of the massive use he makes of electronic media, mainly television and
the Internet. One of his most important tools is the Al-Jazeera TV
channel, which broadcasts his popular program “Life and Islamic Law,” viewed by
tens of millions of Muslims.
4. Al-Qaradawi has often exploited the
program for blatant anti-Semitic propaganda and incitement (see below). He was
also one of the founders of the IslamOnline website in 1997, which often quotes
him.
5. Al-Qaradawi refers to his religious views as “moderate Islam,”
which seeks to balance intellect and emotion. He has positive attitudes toward
reforms in Islam, which he calls “correcting perceptions which were
corrupted.” He is considered one of the foremost propounders of the
doctrine of the “the law of the Muslim minorities,” which provides the Muslim
minorities around the globe with space in which to maneuver and compromise
between their daily lives and Islamic law. The aim of implementing his doctrine
is to unite and unify Muslim minorities to make it possible for them to live
under non-Muslim regimes, until the final stage of spreading Islam to the entire
world.
6. At the same time, building a bridge between the exigencies of
Muslim emigrants’ daily lives and Islamic religious law also includes regarding
taking over Europe as Islam’s next target. In 2003, al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa
declaring that “Islam will return to Europe as a victorious conqueror after
having been expelled twice. This time it will not be conquest by the sword, but
by preaching and spreading [Islamic] ideology…The future belongs to Islam…The
spread of Islam until it conquers the entire world and includes the both East
and West marks the beginning of the return of the Islamic Caliphate…”
7.
Although al-Qaradawi opposes Al-Qaida and its methods, he enthusiastically
supports Palestinian terrorism, including suicide bombing attacks targeting the
civilian Israeli population. In the past he also supported “resistance”
(i.e., terrorism) to the occupation of Iraq. He issued fatwas calling for jihad
against Israel and the Jews, and authorizing suicide bombing attacks even if the
victims were women and children. He regards all of “Palestine” as Muslim
territory (according to Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas ideology), strongly opposes
the existence of the State of Israel and rejects the peace treaties signed with
it, and opposes the Palestinian Authority. (In the past, he called for the
stoning of Mahmoud Abbas.)
8. In response to the dramatic events in Egypt,
al-Qaradawi (whose statements are widely reported in Egypt) expressed his
support for the demonstrators. He called on the Egyptian people to fight
the despots and forbade the security forces to shoot civilians. The IslamOnline
website recently posted a chapter of his book [Islamic] Law and Jihad, according
to which jihad against corruption and a tyrannical regime is the most exalted
form of jihad, even more important than jihad against external
enemies.
9. Al-Qaradawi was expelled from Egypt in 1997 because of his
affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed. After
Mubarak was ousted, al-Qaradawi appeared at a February 18 rally attended by more
than a million people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and delivered the sermon. He
expressed his esteem for the young people of Egypt who had revolted against the
“despotic Pharaoh” Mubarak. He sent a message of interfaith unity between
Muslims and Christians, who had stood and demonstrated side by side. He praised
the Egyptian army which had “adhered to freedom and democracy” and called for
the immediate release of all political prisoners and for the rapid formation of
a civilian government. He ended the sermon with a call for the liberation of
Al-Aksa mosque and asked the Egyptian army to open the Rafah crossing and allow
aid convoys to enter the Gaza Strip. A few days later, apparently on
February 21, he returned to Qatar.
10. The Muslim Brotherhood, which
until al-Qaradawi's arrival was careful to keep a low profile, was quick to
declare that it was not behind the invitation that brought him to Egypt,
apparently to prevent tensions with the other protest movements. Dr.
Muhammad Sa’ad al-Katatni, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, said that the Muslim
Brotherhood had not invited al-Qaradawi to Egypt, but rather that the invitation
had come from “the youth in [Tahrir] Square.” Spokesmen for other protest
movements tried to diminish the importance of al- Qaradawi’s
appearance.
11. Al-Qaradawi’s appearance at the rally in Cairo was a
tribute to the great popularity he enjoys in Egypt and reflects a new stage in
the Muslim Brotherhood’s public involvement in the events in Egypt. However, the
statement made by the Muslim Brotherhood spokesman may indicate a potential
rivalry and/or dissension between the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt and
al-Qaradawi, who entered the leadership vacuum which has plagued the Muslim
Brotherhood in recent years. Al-Qaradawi’s biography
12. Al-Qaradawi was
born in a small Nile delta village in 1926. His father died when he was
two and he grew up in his uncle’s house, in a religious environment. When
he was four he was sent to a religious school. According to stories, when
he was nine he knew the Koran by heart. As a youth he studied at a religious
school in Tanta, where he delved into the writings of Hassan al-Banna, the
founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, whom al-Qaradawi said shaped his political
and religious thinking.
13. When he was 18 he became a student in the
religion department of Al-Azhar University in Cairo. He graduated in 1953. The
following year he passed the exam to receive a teaching license. In 1958 he
received a Master’s degree in Arab language and literature and in 1973 received
a Doctorate. He has written more than 50 books about various aspects of
Islamic jurisprudence. During his studies at Al-Azhar he was exposed to the
Muslim Brotherhood ideology and devoted himself to political Islamic activity
and to preaching against the British presence in Egypt. His preaching against
Nasser’s regime led to his being arrested several times.
14. His Islamic
political activity and sharp tongue caused him to be dismissed from Al-Azhar
University in 1961 and assigned to head its branch in Qatar. In Qatar, released
from the pressures of the Egyptian regime, he became prominent as an independent
cleric. He has lived in Qatar since 1961, where he headed an high religious
school. In 1977 he founded the Department of Islamic Law Studies in the
University of Qatar and headed it until 1990. He also founded an institute for
Sunnah study.
15. To this day, the institutions he founded are important
centers for his activity in the Arab- Muslim world and among Muslim communities
in the West. He was granted Qatari citizenship in honor of the services he
performed for the country. He has received a number of awards and decorations,
among them the King Feisal of Saudi Arabia Award, the Islamic University of
Malaysia Award and the Sultan of Burundi Award.
16. After the Muslim
Brotherhood was outlawed, al- Qaradawi was a wanted man and could not return to
Egypt. From his base in Qatar, he has held a number of posts, both in and
outside the country. These included head of the Qatar University’s institute for
the study of the history of the prophet Muhammad; chairman of the association of
Muslim scholars, and head of the European Council for Fatwa and
Research. (The ECFR is an Islamic-European umbrella organization for the
rapprochement between Muslim communities throughout Europe and for building
bridges between the various Islamic schools so that they can integrate life in
democratic Christian Europe with Muslim law.) In July 2007 he launched a forum
for moderate Islam named after himself and funded by the Sharia department of
the University of Qatar and the moderate Islamic Center in Kuwait. Although
al-Qaradawi began as a Muslim Brotherhood activist he later denied membership in
it and several times even refused to head the movement in
Egypt. Ideology, political activity and publications
17. Conservative
Muslims object to what they consider al- Qaradawi's excessive flexibility and
have occasionally attacked his fatwas as “too permissive.” Despite the
criticism he is esteemed in the Muslim world and most Muslim clerics respect his
fatwas. Many people today consider him the heir of Sayyid Qutb (the Muslim
Brotherhood theoretician and senior activist in Egypt) and as the movement’s
highest religious and ideological authority, even if he did reject offers to
officially head it.
18. The most important of Al-Qaradawi’s books is
The
Lawful and Prohibited in Islam. It was translated into many languages and has
sold millions of copies. Today it is considered the best selling Muslim
book after the Koran.
19. Al-Qaradawi’s enthusiastic support of
Palestinian terrorism, including when it is directed against civilians, reflects
his claim that Israel is a militaristic society where every civilian is a
potential soldier. He has also issued fatwas authorizing attacks on Jews
around the world because in his view there is no essential difference between
Judaism and Zionism, and therefore every Jewish target equals an Israeli target.
His status as a leading Sunni Muslim cleric gives added importance to his fatwas
supporting Palestinian terrorism and make him particularly influential in
shaping anti-Israeli sentiments in the Arab-Muslim world.
20. In July
2003, during the height of the suicide bombing terrorism (the second intifada),
he addressed the issue of suicide bombings at an ECFR conference. He said
that istishhad (death as a martyr for the sake of Allah), carried out by
Palestinian organizations to oppose the so-called “Zionist occupation,” were by
no means to be defined as terrorism.
21. Senior Hamas figures relied on
al-Qaradawi’s fatwas which authorize suicide bombing attacks against Israel to
justify such attacks. For example: a) Sheikh Hamid al-Bitawi, a senior Hamas
activist in Judea and Samaria, relying on an al- Qaradawi fatwa, said that
according to Islamic jurisprudence, “jihad is a collective duty…” and that if
infidels occupy any bit of Muslim land – such as the occupation of Palestine by
the Jews – jihad becomes the duty of every individual, thus making it
permissible to carry out suicide bombing attacks. b) Dr. Abd al-Aziz
al-Rantisi, a senior Hamas leader who died in a targeted killing, relying on a
fatwa issued by al-Qaradawi, said that “suicide depends on intention. If the
person intends to kill himself because he is fed up with life, that is suicide
(which is prohibited). However, if he wants to die to strike at the enemy and to
receive a reward from Allah, he is considered as delivering up his soul [and not
as committing suicide].”
22. To help fund Hamas’s civilian infrastructure
(the da’wah) al-Qaradawi established the Union of Good, which he heads today. It
is an umbrella organization which raises money for Hamas and other Islamist
activities around the globe. The Union of Good was declared a
terrorism-sponsoring organization and outlawed by Israel in February 2002. In
December 2002 it was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States
and outlawed.
23. At the beginning of 2010 he criticized Abbas for a UN
vote regarding the Goldstone Report, and issued a fatwa calling for Abbas to be
stoned in Mecca. Abbas demanded a retraction from al-Qaradawi, who denied having
issued the fatwa. However, he did admit that during a sermon he said that if
accusations against any person in the Palestinian Authority were proved true
[i.e., that he had supported the cancellation of the vote on the Goldstone
Report], that person should be stoned in Mecca as punishment for treason. In
response, Mahmoud al-Habash, the Palestinian Authority minister of religion and
endowments, said that his ministry had ordered all preachers in PA mosques to
attack al-Qaradawi personally.
24. Al-Qaradawi has often made
anti-Semitic remarks. For example, his “Life and Islamic Law” program broadcast
on March 15, 2009, discussed the topic of righteous Muslims in Islam. One of the
viewers called in and asked about the role of the righteous (al-salkhoun) in the
Koran in the liberation of the [Islamic] holy places and the victory of the
[Muslim] nation. Al-Qaradawi used the opportunity to attack the Jews, basing his
answer on a hadith [oral tradition] calling for the murder of Jews. On the
program he said that righteous Muslims were “the salt of the earth” who were
always instrumental in liberating lands. He called them a source of hope and
said he hoped that through them Jerusalem would be “liberated,” as would
“Palestine,” the Gaza Strip, and all the lands ruled by the enemies of the
Muslims. He said that the war against the Jews was not only the war of the
Palestinians but of all Muslims. He said that the prophet Muhammad had
said that “you will continue to fight the Jews and they will fight you until the
Muslims kill them. The Jew hides behind rock and tree. The rock and the
tree say, ‘Oh, slave of Allah, oh, Muslim, here is the Jew behind me, come and
kill him.’”
25. Al-Qaradawi denounced the September 11, 2001 attacks on the
World Trade Center in New York and said it was the duty of every Muslim to help
bring the perpetrators to trial. As opposed to his opposition to Al-Qaida, he
called for attacks on Americans fighting in Iraq. In August 2004, the “Pluralism
in Islam” conference was held by Egypt’s Journalists’ Union in Cairo. At the
conference al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa allowing the abduction and murder of
American civilians in Iraq to exert pressure on the American army to remove its
forces. He emphasized that “all the Americans in Iraq are fighters, there is no
difference between civilians and soldiers, and they have to be fought against
because the American civilians come to Iraq to serve the
occupation. Abducting and killing them is a [religious] duty to make [the
Americans] leave [Iraq] immediately. [On the other hand] abusing their
corpses is forbidden by Islam.”
26. Al-Qaradawi issued the fatwa a week
after public figures from various Muslim countries had published an open letter
calling for support for the forces fighting the coalition in Iraq. It was signed
by 93 Islamic clerics and public figures, including al-Qaradawi and figures from
the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and
Hezbollah. Ten days later, al-Qaradawi sent a fax to the London-based
daily Arabic newspaper
Al-Hayat denying “what the media said” and insisting he
never issued a fatwa on the issue. Before the denial was issued, Azzam Halima,
al-Qaradawi’s office manager, had confirmed that al- Qaradawi issued a fatwa
stating that it was a duty to fight the American civilians in Iraq because they
were invaders.
Iran, the bomb and unrest 27. Al-Qaradawi strenuously
opposes attempts to disseminate Shi’ite Islam and is critical of Iran’s attempts
to spread it to Sunni countries. He has also criticized Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah on a number of occasions.
28. In the past al-Qaradawi has said
that Muslims should acquire nuclear weapons “to terrify their enemies.” However,
he has said that nuclear weapons should not be used.
29. Regarding the
recent events in Tunisia, al-Qaradawi said that the struggle should be continued
until all the members of ousted president Ben Ali’s party were removed from
their positions, with the exception of the interim president, who should, he
said, remain in power to prevent the creation of a constitutional vacuum. He
called on Tunisia to release its political prisoners, bring back political
exiles and restore the Islamic customs which were forbidden by the secular
regime, such as wearing the veil (hijab) on university campuses.
30.
Regarding the recent events in Libya, al-Qaradawi called on Muammar Gaddafi to
relinquish power and to learn the lessons of Egypt and Tunisia. He said
that a revolt against Gaddafi was an Islamic religious duty, and called on the
members of the tribes in Libya to rise up against Gaddafi and join the ranks of
the demonstrators. He called on the Libyan army “to behave like their brothers
in Egypt, to stand alongside the people to restore to Libya its Arab Islamic
character.” He said that those who had died during the violent events in Libya
were shaheeds in paradise and supported the jihad fighters rising up against the
Libyan regime.
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information
Center is part of the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center
(IICC), an NGO based north of Tel Aviv that is dedicated to the memory of the
fallen of the Israeli intelligence community.