Gulf media has reported that Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi has given a sermon in which he claimed that Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque were being desecrated and violated daily by the Israeli Jews. According to a Gulf Times report, Qaradawi also said that “Russia has become the first enemy of Islam and Muslims because it has stood against the Syrian people”:
Al Quds (Jerusalem) and its holy mosque are being desecrated and violated daily by the Israeli Jews, so Muslims and Arabs should hurry to its support, Islamic scholar Dr Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi urged yesterday. In his Friday sermon at Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Mosque, he recalled that ‘when a Jew burned a small portion of a pulpit of Al Aqsa mosque back in 1969, all Muslims and Arabs of the world hurried to create what came to be known as the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to deal with the issue’. ‘However, now many excavations are being undertaken by Israel under the holy mosque and attacks have become a regular occurrence and yet Muslims are unaware of what is going on,’ Qaradawi exclaimed. He urged all Muslims and Arabs to unite and adopt the cause of Al Quds and Al Aqsa. He also called on ‘all honourable and free people’ in the world to support such a cause. Qaradawi rejected the ruling of the Egyptian court to acquit the defendants in what is known as ‘the Battle of Camel’ that took place at Tahrir Square during the January 2011 Egyptian revolution. He wondered that it was strange that the court could not find any one accountable for the bloody events. ‘They said the prosecutor general had referred the case to the court without adequate or solid evidence,’ he noted. He expressed his support to President Mohamed Mursi’s decision to sack the prosecutor general. But Qaradawi found it strange that the prosecutor general had refused the decision, saying that he could not be sacked or dismissed. ‘These actions raise suspicions and seem premeditated. We support President Mursi’s decision to return the case to the court and his order to gather enough evidences for it.’ Qaradawi praised the stand of Turkey when it ordered on Thursday a Syria-bound aircraft coming from Russia to be grounded and searched. He noted that Turkey had found weapons and military experts on the plane. ‘Russia has become the first enemy of Islam and Muslims because it has stood against the Syrian people; more than 30,000 Syrians have been killed by the weapons supplied by Russia,’ Qaradawi said. He pointed out that Syrian regime was killing people with the military aircraft supplied by Russia. He said the stand of Russia and China at the UN Security Council was against the cause of the Syrian people. Yet, Russia went further by supplying the regime with lethal weapons. Qaradawi praised HH the Emir’s call to stand by the Syrian people and support them and regretted that the call had gone unheeded. The Iranians are backing the Syrian army with weapons, fighters of Hezbollah and money to kill its people, said Qaradawi.”
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is often the subject of various Global Muslim Brotherhood conspiracies theories involving alleged Israeli plots and plans to destroy the mosque.
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.