Gulf media is reporting that global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi has condemned the recent subway suicide bombings in Moscow. According to a Gulf Times report:
Qatar-based Islamic scholar Dr Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi yesterday condemned the recent Moscow subway bomb attacks, saying that militant groups targeting civilians should review their adopted convictions of jihad. In his Friday sermon, Shaykh Al-Qaradawi said that jihad should only be defensive and that non-military persons should not be targeted in such a war. “The Holy Qur’an says that killing an innocent person is tantamount to killing the whole humanity. For this reason, Islam prohibited Muslim armies to kill women, children or old men in wartime,” Shaykh Al-Qaradawi told a congregation at the Umar Bin al-Khattab mosque. Al-Qaradawi, who is the chairman of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, urged the Islamic militant groups to review their convictions about Jihad, saying that their attacking of civilians led the detractors of Islam to brand Muslims as “terrorists”.”Such atrocities only hurt Islam and our Qur’an. They were even used as a pretext for accusing Islam of being a religion of violence and terror,” he added. Referring to the twin suicide bombings that rocked Moscow’s underground train system last week, the scholar rejected the attacks as “having nothing to do with jihad” rules. “Islam does not allow killing innocent people in war even if they are non-believers. Those people who got embroiled while they were on their way to work were innocent and could not be held responsible for their political leaders’ mistakes,” the scholar added. However, he urged the Russian leaders to start a political dialogue with the Caucasus militant groups and not to resort to armed force to solve the conflict.
Despite Qaradawi’s statements about the targeting of civilans, his fatwas in support of suicide bombings against Israeli citizens were instrumental in the development of the phenomenon.
Youssef Qaradawi 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 has written that all Jews and all Muslims will fight each other in a final battle in which Muslims will emerge victorious. MEMRI has recently released a video compilation of Qaradawi’s extremist statements.
(Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East – Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring April 3, 2010 Saturday “Egyptian Muslim scholar condemns Moscow subway attack” Text of report in English by Anwar Elshamy headlined: “Al-Qaradawi wants militants to review convictions on jihad,” published by Qatari newspaper Gulf Times website on 3 April)