Qatari media is reporting that Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi has asserted that Shia Muslims from around the world were uniting to fight Sunnis in Syria and called on Sunnis to support their fellow believers. According to a report in the The Peninsula:
Youssef Qaradawi
November 16, 2013 Doha Noted Islamic scholar Dr Yousuf Al Qaradawi yesterday said Shias around the world were joining arms to fight Sunnis in Syria.
Delivering the Friday sermon at the Omar bin Khattab mosque here, Al Qaradawi said Allah would not let the minority rule the people.
‘The believers will achieve victory even though their enemies, among them Shias, are sending strong and experienced fighters from Iraq, Lebanon and groups like Hezbollah. Shias are gathering from different countries to fight the Sunnis in Syria because it is their last trench.’
Al Qaradawi said that the believers should not give up hope and that the Persian state was still supporting groups in Sryia by providing them funds and weapons. He called upon the Syrian opposition to unite against the ‘Shia bloc’. He urged Sunnis to support their brothers in Syria because they were facing difficult times, and some were being forced to look for food in garbage.
Addressing Sunnis across the world, Al Qaradawi said, ‘You Sunnis, you are 1.5 billion in the world. How have you left your brothers who are being killed in Syria? How have you left innocent children, women and elders, who are being killed?’
In June, the GMBDW reported on comments by the elderly Qaradawi calling on Sunni Muslims to join the Syrian rebels and that he would himself go and fight had he been able to do so. Middle Eastern media described Qaradawi’s commons as a “call for Jihad.” In 2008, Qaradawi caused a firestorm in the Islamic world when he accused Shiite Muslims of being heretics who were “invading” Sunni society, accusations he repeated in 2009.
Youssef Qaradawi is the most important leader of the Global Muslim Brotherhood and is the de facto spiritual leader of the movement. He is also considered to be the “spiritual guide” for Hamas and his fatwas in support of suicide bombings against Israeli citizens were utilized by Hamas to justify their operations. In 2004, Qaradawi turned down the offer to head he Egyptian Brotherhood after the death of the Supreme Guide. He is based in Qatar and has said the Qatari Emir has protected from being designated as a terrorist by the U.S. He has also reportedly amassed substantial wealth by serving as the Shari’ah adviser to many important Islamic banks and funds. Qaradawi is the head of the Union of Good (UOG), a worldwide coalition of charities helping to raise funds for Hamas and is the leader of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), the theological body of the European Muslim Brotherhood. MEMRI has produced two video compilations of Qaradawi’s extremist statements. The first collection contains Qaradawi’s statements about Europe and the US as well as about Israel and Jews. The second collection contains various statements by Qaradawi on social issues such as discussing the killing of homosexuals and stating that beating is “suitable” for some wives. Qaradawi been banned from entering the US since 1999 and UK since 2008. Last year, authorities also refused him entry into France.
For a more extensive profile of Youssef Qaradawi, go here.
