Qatari sheikh Youssef Qaradawi, generally regarded as the leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, has made statements on Qatari TV indicating his desire to see Europe conquered peaceably by Islam via “Dawa” (preaching) and described Europe as “miserable with materialism.” The following is an excerpt from a TV clip translated by MEMRI, an Israel-operated website that features translated Arabic media with fundamentalist, anti-Semitic, and jihadist content:
The peaceful conquest has foundations in this religion, and therefore, I expect that Islam will conquer Europe without resorting to the sword or fighting. It will do so by means of da’wa and ideology. Europe is miserable with materialism, with the philosophy of promiscuity, and with the immoral considerations that rule the world ‘“ considerations of self-interest and self-indulgence. It is high time Europe woke up and found a way out from this. Europe will find no life saver or life boat other than Islam. Islam will save Europe from the raging materialism from which it suffers. The promiscuity, which permits men to marry men and women to marry women, is horrifying. All religions condemn this. [Islam] is capable of granting Europe and the entire West the world to come, without denying them this world. It can grant them faith without denying them science. It can grant them truth, without denying them power. It can connect them to the heavens, without tearing them away from the earth. It can grant them spirit, without denying them matter. The message of Islam is a message of global balance, and therefore, I believe the next conquest will be conducted through da’wa. But, of course, the Muslims must start acting in order to conquer this world.
This is not the first time Qaradawi has expressed such sentiments. The Washington Post reviewed a transcript of a 1995 speech made to an Islamic conference in Ohio where Qaradawi stated:
Conquest through dawah, that is what we hope for….We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America, not through the sword but through dawah