“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.”
Hugh Miles, author of the excellent Al-Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World, provides an accurate assessment of Dr al-Qaradawi in, of all places, the Daily Telegraph. This message is obviously not to the liking of the Telegraph‘s editorial staff, who head the article “Two faces of one of Islam’s most important clerics” and append a number of quotes from Qaradawi, drawn from MEMRI and other sources, which are designed to portray him as an extremist.