Prospect magazine publishes its list of the world’s top 100 intellectuals. Among others, it includes Tariq Ramadan and Yusuf al-Qaradawi. You even get to vote.
Category Archives: Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Sheikh Al-Qaradawi welcomes Anglican Church’s initiative
Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the leading and world renowned Sunni scholar, has welcomed the initiative of the Bishops of the Church of England calling on Britain’s Christian leaders to apologise to the Muslims because of what the war on Iraq has caused. In a meeting with a delegation of British Muslims visiting him at his residence in Doha, Qatar, the Sheikh said the Bishops clearly denounce the war and seem to tell us that they regret it. It is as if they wish to apologise on behalf of the British government. This, the Sheikh added, is a very positive step although we do not hold the Anglican Church responsible for the policy of the British government which insisted in taking part in the war against the wish of the majority of the British people who have since the very beginning been opposed to it.
MAB press release, 22 September 2005
Melanie Phillips is less impressed: “Is there no limit to the abjectness of the Church of England’s response to Islamic terror?”
Imaan on the Qaradawi ‘stoning’ story
The LGBT Muslim organisation Imaan has issued the following statement in response to the false story that Yusuf al-Qaradawi called for the Crown Prince of Qatar to be stoned to death:
“We are concerned about the impact that continued distortion of Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s views is likely to have. There was another example of this distortion in last week’s Observer (Mandarins in a Mess, 4th September). Nick Cohen quoted an Outrage press release which claimed that Al-Qaradawi had called for the stoning of an Arab if claims he was gay were true. The source was an inaccurate report in Aljazeera magazine (no link to the well known electronic media station), which claimed to have sourced Al-Qaradawi’s view from Islam Online. A careful reading of this website reveals this was the view of Sheikh Al-Munajjid. Both Aljazeera magazine and GALHA have removed articles from their websites following this clarification. Outrage has not. We disagree with Al-Qaradawi’s views on homosexuality, which mirror views of Jewish and Christian leaders, but we believe that singling out Islam as being uniquely reactionary encourages Islamophobia and divides the Muslim and Lesbian and Gay communities. We believe it is correct for institutions such as the Foreign Office to work with all religious leaders on issues for those communities.
“What is not helpful in the fight against homophobia and Islamophobia, oppressions that equally victimise LGBT Muslims, is having the media and groups such as GALHA, Outrage and others continuously misrepresenting Islam. Journalists should ensure their facts are accurate. Consulting with lesbian and gay Muslim representative groups, before publishing articles that could have an adverse effect on these communities, would also be a courtesy.”
Taking back Islam
David Ignatius on the struggle within Islam. A bit confused over the character of Salafism – which he equates with the jihadist groups – but perceptive about some of the forces in the Muslim world that are actually combating terrorism. He gives the example of
“an Islamic conference in Amman in July that concluded with a communique on ‘True Islam and Its Role in Modern Society’. It reemphasized the traditional faith – the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence, the orthodox school of Shiite jurisprudence, the canon set forth over centuries of fatwas and other orthodox interpretations of what Islam means. Rather than running scared, as mainstream clerics sometimes do when facing the Salafist onslaught, the Amman declaration was proud and emphatic. It drew together fatwas from the leading clerics in Islam, including the sheik of Al-Azhar in Cairo and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf. Another backer was Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, who has a weekly show on al-Jazeera and is probably the best-known television preacher in the Arab world.”
‘Britain’s ostrich mentality’
“The Terrorism Act of 2000, in section 59 1(a), ‘Inciting Terrorism Overseas’, clearly states, ‘a person commits an offence if he incites another person to commit an act of terrorism wholly or partly outside the United Kingdom’. Needless to say, such an act also constituted an offense when committed in England. Yet Islamist imams were allowed with impunity to incite suicide bombing in British mosques, on the Internet and in the media. They were allowed to do so because this incitement chiefly targeted Israel.
“Although such incitement has recently lessened in intensity, the very same Islamist leaders, preachers, imams and scholars who supported it have been appointed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to a new task force to tackle extremism among young Muslims. Among the appointees are Tariq Ramadan, the Swiss grandson of Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and Inayat Bunglawala, the spokesperson of the Muslim Council of Britain.”
Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen have a go at Tariq Ramadan and Inayat Bunglawala, plus Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Ken Livingstone and George Galloway.
The Telegraph and Qaradawi
Another rant against Qaradawi – this time by Leo McKinstry.
“Hardline Egyptian cleric … Yusuf Qaradawi’s outlook is suffused with dogmatism, revenge and oppression … Yusuf Qaradawi’s bloodthirsty views … a group of Iraqi, Jordanian and Tunisian writers last year described him as one of the ‘sheikhs of death’ … Qaradawi has openly stated that the punishment for homosexuality should be death”.
The usual sort of rubbish, familiar from the productions of MEMRI and Outrage.
Daily Telegraph, 15 September 2005
Yet, less than two months ago, the same paper published the following characterisation of Qaradawi, by Hugh Miles:
“Although much of what the sheikh says may be hard to stomach by western standards, by regional standards he is a moderate. He condemned the London bombings, just as he quickly condemned the September 11 attacks. He has consistently said that Muslims need to think for themselves, which means they need be free of government control. This is not a message that goes down well with Arab governments.
“Al-Qaradawi has written at least 50 books attempting to reconcile Islam with democracy and human rights and he is one of the most important proponents of women’s rights in contemporary Islam. All this is utterly at odds with the teachings of fundamentalist imams, who see democracy and women’s rights as alien concepts imported from the infidel West. He practises what he preaches: his three daughters are highly educated. Each one holds a doctoral degree in the natural sciences, drives and works.”
So what explains the discrepancy? Well, maybe that Miles – author of an informative study of the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera – actually knows what he is talking about, whereas McKinstry is just an ignorant right-wing bigot.
Mind you, McKinstry has his admirers – Brett Lock of Outrage, for example, gives his wholehearted endorsement to this reactionary hack. See Lock & Load, 15 September 2005
Over a year ago year, US radical Yoshie Furuhashi pointed out that Outrage’s attitude towards Muslims was not so far removed from that of the late Dutch racist Pim Fortuyn, and she expressed anxiety that Tatchell and his co-thinkers might go the whole hog and embrace the racist Right. I think we can now say that this process has largely been completed.
‘Radical imam like pope, says mayor’
An Islamic scholar who has been accused of supporting suicide bombers was likened by Ken Livingstone, the London mayor, yesterday to Pope John XXIII. He said that Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Qatar-based imam who is banned from America, was “an absolutely sane Islamist engaged with the world” who believed in democracy and an increasing role for women. “Of all the Muslim leaders in the world today, Sheikh Qaradawi is the most powerfully progressive force for change and for engaging Islam with western values,” Mr Livingstone told the Commons home affairs select committee. “I think his is very similar to the position of Pope John XXIII.”
Daily Telegraph, 14 September 2005
See also “Livingstone Likens Qaradawi to Reformist Pope”, Islam Online, 14 September 2005
MAB writes to Observer editor
The Muslim Association of Britain has formally written to the editor of the Observer stating that a catalogue of inaccuracies, errors and distortions have appeared in Observer over the past few weeks by both Nick Cohen and Anthony Barnett.
Memri and orientalism
A useful discussion of the Guardian letters dispute over MEMRI at Lenin’s Tomb, 14 September 2005
Liberal Islamophobia panders to racism
“Why is it that a significant section of liberal and left-leaning opinion has signed up with such relish to the ‘clash of civilisations’ argument? Its champions in the media may not phrase it as such, but you can hear the creak of the drawbridge being pulled up: they believe they are surrounded by enemies – Muslims and their dastardly non-Muslim apologists – and must defend to the last man the checklist of universal Enlightenment values that sustain their mission. Their most ferocious firepower is directed at former allies on the left whom they regard as yet to see the light.”
Madeleine Bunting takes on Nick Cohen et al in the Guardian, 12 September 2005
Over at Nick Cohen’s favourite blog, Marcus complains: “She fails to mention that the ‘thorn in the side of the muscular liberals’ as she approvingly describes al-Qaradawi incited the murder of a gay person because of his sexuality as recently as last month according to gay rights group Outrage. ‘The scholars of Islam, such as Malik, Ash-Shafi`i, Ahmad and Ishaaq said that (the person guilty of this crime) should be stoned.”
Harry’s Place, 12 September 2005
Meanwhile, the obscure “Aljazeera” magazine that was the source of this fairytale has removed the report from their website, GALHA have withdrawn their press release based on the “Aljazeera” story – but Outrage and Harry’s Place continue repeating the slander unencumbered by any concern for the facts.