Category Archives: Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Attacking Al-Qaradawi only plays into the hands of the terrorists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Londonvigil“Those who insist on attacking leading Muslim figures such as Al-Qaradawi, who by the way is not visiting London this summer – though he should be made welcome in the country at anytime for it would be an honour to have him – only play into the hands of the terrorists whose recruiting powers are enhanced by the discrediting of mainstream authoritative scholars and thinkers.

“During his visit to the UK last summer, Sheikh Al-Qaradawi told the Muslim youth in this country that they had only one option and that is to integrate into society, engage in the political process and be law-abiding citizens. He has always insisted that there is no contradiction between being loyal to Islam and to the UK or between an Islamic religio-cultural identity and a British national identity.”

MAB news release, 19 July 2005

‘Political Islam is the problem! Stop appeasing it!’ – WPI

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“… we are constantly told this terrorist attack has nothing to do with Islam by ‘mainstream’ Islamic groups in Britain such as the Muslim Council of Britain and the Islamic Human Rights Commission. The political Islamic movement is so vile that even some of its brethren – at least in public and in Europe – aim to disassociate themselves from it – but no matter how hard they try, they cannot succeed. Britain’s ‘top Muslim scholars’, for example, are to issue a fatwa effectively ex-communicating the ‘bombers’ – something they are not really allowed to do but good PR nonetheless.

“And they say they are not part of the same movement and that this has nothing to do with Islam. In fact, terrorism is justified and encouraged in Islam. In an interview with BBC’s Newsnight last year, Yusef al-Qaradawi, Ken Livingstone’s ‘moderate Islamic scholar’, said Islam justified suicide bombings. He said: ‘This is not suicide. It is martyrdom in the name of God.’ The Koran is full of verses supporting terrorism…”

Yeah, I know, difficult to distinguish this from the sort of stuff you find on the BNP website, isn’t it? But the author is in fact Maryam Namazie of the Worker Communist Party of Iran.

WPI Briefing No.185, 18 July 2005

Controversial cleric denies visit

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A controversial Muslim cleric who was invited to speak at a conference in Britain is not coming, according to the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.

Egyptian-born scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, 79, who has praised suicide bombings by Palestinians, was expected to speak at the Muslim Unity Convention in Manchester next month. But Mr Livingstone, who has welcomed al-Qaradawi on previous trips to London, said that the cleric was not even aware he had been invited.

The mayor’s office telephoned al-Qaradawi’s office with an Arabic speaker and were told that he is not coming to Britain. Mr Livingstone said: “Not only is he not coming (to Britain), he was not aware that he was invited.”

Press Association report, 19 July 2005

Muslim leaders defend Al-Qaradawi visit

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim leaders defend Al-Qaradawi visit

By Hugo Duncan

Press Association, 19 July 2005

Muslim leaders have defended the forthcoming visit of a controversial cleric who praised suicide bombings by Palestinians. Egyptian-born scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, 79, who is banned from entering the United States, has been asked to speak at a conference in Manchester just weeks after the London bombings. Al-Qaradawi, who is head of an Islamic research centre in Qatar, visited Britain last year as a guest of Mayor of London Ken Livingstone. The visit sparked protests from Jewish groups and gay people, who al-Qaradawi also criticised.

Although he distanced himself from suicide attacks in the West he defended suicide attacks against Israelis. He is expected to speak at the Muslim Unity Convention at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on August 7. Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadhan Foundation, which organised the event, said: “I do not think that it is a problem. He is a moderate and he says what he has said has been taken out of context and we take his word on that. He is a respected figure in the Muslim community and that is why he has been invited, to help promote cultural and religious diversity.”

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‘Ban this preacher of hate from our shores’, Express demands

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Qaradawi ban“Now the truth is out. After days of tough talking from the Prime Minister, assurances that strict measures will be put in place against future terrorist attacks and a vow to crack down on the extremists in our midst, the Egyptian-born scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi is to be allowed in to this country.

“He is due to speak at a conference in Manchester: it has yet to be seen whether he repeats his view that suicide bombing in Palestine is ‘martyrdom in the name of God’.

“Just what are we doing letting in a man like that? The United States has barred him: we should be doing exactly the same. For far too long, we have allowed preachers of hate to visit these shores, spouting their evil rhetoric, and what happened in London two weeks ago is a direct result of that.

“It is time to understand once and for all that there are many people throughout the world and some – thanks to a misguided policy of tolerance – living in our very midst who want to destroy the West. And they believe that only by supporting violence and terror will they be able to do so.

“The British tradition of free speech is a fine thing but it has been abused far too far. We should ban this man al-Qaradawi at once.”

Daily Express, 19 July 2005

GALHA calls on home secretary to ban Qaradawi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

GALHA’s secretary, George Broadhead, said: “As well as supporting extremist positions on many sensitive issues, notably suicide bombing, Dr Qaradawi is virulently homophobic. He is not the sort of person who should be welcomed here at any time, let alone at a time when the country is reeling from the kind of extreme violence that is spawned by his religion. We are particularly concerned about the incitement to violence and hatred that his preaching brings. There should be no room for bigots like him in our pluralist society.”

GALHA news release, 19 July 2005

Ken: Why West must take share of the blame

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ken: Why West must take share of the blame

Evening Standard, 19 July 2005

Ken Livingstone today suggested that decades of western intervention in the Middle East and the Iraq war may have an impact on the bombers. The Mayor pointed to abuses of captured Iraqi prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison and of detainees at Guantanamo Bay by American forces. He said the ban on moderate Muslims, such as former singer Cat Stevens, from entering the United States would also have contributed. He said the war on Iraq ‘wouldn’t have helped’ and said the CIA had funded Osama bin Laden to fight against Soviet forces only for him to turn against the West.

Giving his first City Hall press conference since the London bombings, Mr Livingstone said: “We created these people. We built them up. We funded them. This has been a terrible legacy. This will all have some impact on how these young men’s minds were formed. This particular strand of extremism was funded by the West in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden was just another businessman until he was recruited by the CIA. I suspect the real problem was that we funded these people, as long as they were killing Russians. We gave no thought to the fact that when they stopped killing Russians they might start killing us.”

He also revealed that controversial Muslim preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who was banned from entering the US and who was reported to be attending a conference in Manchester next month, was in fact not going to attend. The Mayor’s office recruited an Arabic speaker to contact Al-Qaradawi’s office and was told that the sheikh was “unaware of any invitation to come to Britain”.

Mr Livingstone, who met Al-Qaradawi at City Hall last year, also said academics described him as a “leading progressive Muslim”.

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Controversial cleric to visit UK

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mohammed Umer, of the Ramadhan Foundation, said the invitation to Dr Qaradawi had been sent in January and there was no reason to rescind it following the London bombings. “What’s actually happened in London, we condemn it, yet the reality of Youssef al Qaradawi is that he is the flag bearer of moderation in the Muslim world,” he said. “We agree with people and we disagree with people. For example, Nelson Mandela, when he was in prison, he was labelled as a terrorist but when he came out he became a freedom fighter. Youssef al Qaradawi is the same person who, after the London events, came out and clearly stated that it was un-Islamic.”

BBC News, 18 July 2005

Tariq Ramadan ‘urges violence for Islam’, claims Standard

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Another hysterical attack on Yusuf al-Qaradawi, from the Evening Standard. Dr al-Qaradawi, Tariq Ramadan and Azzam Tamimi of MAB are bracketed with Abu Qatada and Omar Bakri as “urging violence for Islam”.

Ken welcomes cleric who backed bombers

by Joe Murphy and Isabel Oakshott

Evening Standard, 18 July 2005

Ken Livingstone today backed an extreme Muslim cleric despite mounting calls to ban him from Britain. The Mayor said there was nothing wrong with allowing Yusuf al-Qaradawi to visit London to give a lecture.

The Egyptian-born scholar is banned from the US after praising suicide bombers as martyrs and vilifying Jews and homosexuals.

The Government is under intense pressure to stop allowing Islamic radicals to enter Britain – with a damning report today claiming extremists have been allowed to flourish in London. But today the Mayor said that the scholar should be given a voice in the wake of the London bombings.

Al-Qaradawi has been invited to make a speech to an Islamic conference in Manchester on 7 August. The 79-year-old was at the centre of uproar last year when Mr Livingstone welcomed him to City Hall despite protests. Demonstrations were mounted by a coalition of Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and gay people. His latest visit to London will fuel criticism that the Government is playing into the hands of terrorists.

However, the Mayor says that Al-Qaradawi has condemned the London bombings. Asked if he would be welcoming the cleric again, Mr Livingstone today refused to give a direct answer. But he issued a statement which read:

“London at this time urgently needs people in all communities, above all in the Muslim community, who unequivocally condemn the bombings in London on 7 July and help us to isolate, find and deal with those considering further atrocities. I am for banning anyone who supports or is any way equivocal about condemning the terrorist attacks on London.”

Mr Livingstone said he was satisfied that Al-Qaradawi had condemned the atrocity as being wholly incompatible with Islam. He went on: “I believe it important that Britain’s Islamic community hears, through every means possible, condemnation of this from leading Islamic figures and urge them to speak out with all the means they possess on this issue.”

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Declare war on economic jihad, urges Mail’s Israel correspondent

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Matthew Kalman, the Daily Mail‘s correspondent in Israel, asserts that the London bombings require a ban on fundraising for charities linked to Hamas and Hezbollah. Difficult to see the logic of that, given that neither Hamas nor Hezbollah had anything to do with the London bombings – indeed, both organisations have unequivocally condemned the attacks. Needless to say, the Mail also tries to implicate Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

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