The Qatari-Egyptian Youssef al-Qaradawi, presented as the spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, died on 26 September at the age of 96, but was in fact only a courtier who adapted his preaching to what his Qatari protectors wanted to hear. For he owes his immense popularity to the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera where, for years, he was able to distil his retrograde version of Islam in his programme “Sharia and Life”. Thus, a woman who wears a tight-fitting garment will not only not enter paradise, but she “will not even smell it”. A Muslim woman’s clothing “must not resemble that worn especially by the unbelievers, the Jews, the Christians and the idolaters”, he warned. As for men, their private parts “are between the navel and the knees”. This means that they must not allow women to rave about their thighs… and cast “hungry and greedy” glances at them, which Youssef Qaradawi, father of modesty, called “fornication of the eye”
Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi has passed away at an advanced age. His death has become the subject of controversy between those who mourned his passing and consider his death a loss for Islamic thought and the moderate spirit of preaching, and those who hold him responsible for the bloodshed of Muslims, the justification of extremism, the allegiance to corrupt and unaccountable regimes, and the issuing of politically motivated fatwas linked to these regimes.
The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), a Doha-based organisation linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, has just finalised an ideological coordination agreement with the new Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Can a Muslim put wine vinegar in his salad? Can a Muslim woman ride a bicycle? Or can she open to the postman when her husband is not at home? The European Council for Fatwa and Research (CEFR), created in March 1997 in Dublin by the Qatari of Egyptian origin Youssef al-Qaradhawi remarks, at least in theory, a good intention. It’s about providing wise advice to Muslims living in Europe so that they can integrate while reconciling Islamic law.