European media is reporting that the newly formed Syrian opposition group known as the Syrian National Council met recently with Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi. According to an Italian news agency report:
BEIRUT, OCTOBER 24 – The preliminary meeting of the commission of Arab League ministers, which has been tasked with holding talks with the Syrian authorities in Damascus on Wednesday, is to take place in the Qatari capital Doha tomorrow. Wednesday’s talks will centre on the proposal to hold a dialogue conference in Cairo before October 30 and aimed at putting an end to the bloody crackdown continuing in Syria. The deputy secretary of the Arab League, Ahmad Ben Halli, was quoted by the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat as saying that the preparatory meeting of ministers will be held in Doha tomorrow ahead of Wednesday’s talks with the Syrian authorities. The commission hastily formed to deal with the Syrian issue is made up of the Foreign Ministers of Qatar, Algeria, Egypt, Oman and Sudan. The newspaper also says that Burhan Ghalioun, the president of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition platform both in Syria and abroad, and two of its other officials, Nibras Fadel and Yassin Najjar, have been in Doha since yesterday. The SNC delegation, which is accompanied by Sheikh Mustafa Sayrafi, a member of the world council of Muslim Ulamas, and Majd Makki, a member of the general council of the league of Syrian Ulamas, was received in Doha yesterday by the Sunni Sheikh, Yusuf Qaradawi, who is close to the pan-Arab television station Al Jazeera, which in turn is controlled by the Emir of Qatar. (ANSAmed).
A previous post reported that Dr. Najib Ghadban, a member of the Syrian National Council (SNC) had appeared at an event co-sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. In 2007, the Wall Street Journal report identified Najib Ghadbian as the point of contact between White House officials and the National Salvation Front, a newly formed Syrian opposition coalition at that time, and as an advocate for a U.S. relationship with the Syrian Brotherhood. Another post reported that U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leader Louay Safi was a leading member of the SNC.
Qaradawi, a virulent anti-Semite is often referred to here as the most important leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, an acknowledgement of his role as the de facto spiritual leader of the movement. In 2004, Qaradawi turned down the offer to lead the Egyptian Brotherhood after the death of the Supreme Guide. Based in Qatar, Sheikh Qaradawi has reportedly amassed substantial wealth through his role as Shari’ah adviser to many important Islamic banks and funds. He is also considered to be the “spiritual guide” for Hamas and his fatwas in support of suicide bombings against Israeli citizens were instrumental in the development of the phenomenon. A recent post has discussed a video compilation of Qaradawi’s extremist statements.
An earlier post reported on a fatwa (Islamic ruling) signed by Qaradawi that called the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad “heretical.”