Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi, the most prominent leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, appears to have recovered from his recent ill-health and gave an interview on Al-Jazeera Arabic on 30 September where he discussed the concept of “Takfir” , the designation by Muslims of other Muslims as infidels. Qaradawi stated in this regard:
“This a very serious issue because Islam emphasizes unity; unity of God and unity of worshippers.” “Islam,” he adds, “is against the division of the nation. It seeks the unity of the Islamic nation into a nation of one God, one prophet, one book, and one qiblah.
When later asked how the doctrine of Takfir could be fought, Qaradawi replied:
The first thing is staying away from fanaticism and extremism. It is fanaticism and extremism that destroyed the nation in the past that is destroying it today and that will destroy it in the future. The prophet may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, said: Beware of fanaticism in religion, because it destroyed others before you.
Although Qaradawi considers himself to be moderate, he takes positions that can be characterized as fundamentalist, promotes anti-Semitism, and actively supports and finances Hamas terrorism. In a newspaper interview yesterday, he ruled that Muslims were forbidden from accepting the nationality of non-Islamic countries in times of war:
“It’s a betrayal of Allah and His Prophet (PBUH),” the scholar said of a Muslim accepting the citizenship of a hostile non-Muslim country in times of war. His comments were carried by a local Arabic daily in a special Ramadan supplement yesterday.
Although Qaradawi has in the past supported the “resistance” against the U.S. in Iraq, he did not say whether or not Muslims were thus forbidden from accepting U.S. citizenship.
(Source for Al-Jazeera interview: BBC Monitoring Middle East – Political October 3, 2007 Wednesday “Al-Jazeera TV interviews Al-Qaradawi in first appearance after recent illness” Source: Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 1905 gmt 30 Sep 07)