Qaradawi Hits Out at Critics

Agence France Presse, Arab News

LONDON, 10 July 2004 — Prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, continuing a visit to London, lashed out at his critics in Britain yesterday, asking if they had truly read his books or heard his lectures.

“I send a message to those who are indulging themselves in this attack on me,” the Egyptian-born, Qatari-based preacher and Muslim Brotherhood figure told 3,500 worshippers in Arabic at Central London Mosque.

“Do they know me? Have they ever read my works? I have given hundreds of lectures, appeared on scores of TV programs. Have they ever watched these?” he asked, according to a translation of his sermon.

“If they are really after the truth, and think they are fair, why don’t they find the truth about me, instead of indulging in this attack on me.”

Qaradawi — banned from the United States since 1999 — arrived Monday in London for a weeklong stay, prompting demands for Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government to expel him for his views which include support for Palestinian bombers.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens revealed Thursday that police were monitoring Qaradawi after an official complaint was lodged by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which has called for a ban on him.

Stevens also said that the police had already submitted a file on Qaradawi to prosecutors for comment — a potential first step toward formal charges being pressed against him. In an interview in Arabic at his home in Qatar last month, rebroadcast earlier this week on BBC television, he spoke openly about his views on Palestinian bombers.

Asked if Islam justified suicide bombings in Israel, he said: “It’s not suicide. It is martyrdom in the name of God.”

“It is allowed to jeopardize your soul and cross the path of the enemy and be killed, if this act of jeopardy affects the enemy, even if it only generates fear in their hearts, shaking their morale, making them fear Muslims,” he said. Asked about innocent women and children who die in suicide bombings, he replied: “Israeli women are not like women in our society because Israeli women are militarized.”

His sermon yesterday at one of London’s best-known mosques was well-received by many worshippers. “He simply explained what Islam is about, which is to establish peace on earth with one another,” said Hamza Al-Baadani, a 21-year-old student from north London.

“The sheikh described this campaign against him as a lost battle, that the accusations against him are based on a lack of knowledge.”

Tariq Idris, 34, a dentist, said: “He talked about why we are here on earth and tried to dispel some of the myths that perhaps the media have helped create, that he was here to support terrorism and promote extremism.”

“He’s a very middle-of-the-road, well respected, very moderate scholar, and I found it soothing to listen to him.”

Qaradawi on Monday is to attend the launch of a Muslim organization, called ProHijab, to support the choice of Muslim women to wear the Islamic headscarf that is banned in state schools in France.

Qaradawi — a frequent visitor to London in the past — was jailed three times in his native Egypt. He eventually fled to Qatar, which granted him citizenship in the late 1970s.

Neville Nagler of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the community’s main representative body, said: “Qaradawi makes no secret of his support for Palestinian attacks against civilians and for the killing of Jews.”

“His hostility toward interfaith dialogue with Jews makes it clear that he has nothing whatsoever to contribute to better communal relations in the United Kingdom,” he said prior to Qaradawi’s arrival.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03.

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