Italian media is reporting that the Qatari Justice Minister, with help of an organization headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, is designing a law that would ban attacks on or offenses to religion that will be presented to the United Nations. According to an ANSAmed report:
The Qatari Justice Minister is designing a law that would ban attacks on or offenses to religion. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to create an international law with the help of the United Nations. News of the minister’s plan was reported on Friday by the Doha Gulf Times. ‘In recent years, there have been insults and offenses against religion through drawings, films and other means. Thus we have taken the initiative to create a legislative instrument on an international level to protect the sacredness of all religions. The draft will be presented at the United Nations,’ declared Qatari Justice Minister Hassan bin Abdullah al-Ghanem. The Qatari minister is collaborating with the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) on making religious offense considered a crime abroad as well as at home. ‘Offenses to religion shake the foundations of stability in the world and put world peace at risk,’ said Yousuf Qaradawi, president of IUMS. Every religion has its sacred elements. In the case of Islam, the Koran and the Prophet Mohammed are sacred, and any attack automatically sparks undesirable consequences, Qaradawi explained. ‘It is impossible to contain the spontaneous rage of a mass insulted by an offense to their religion,’ Qaradawi added. Qatar’s initiative comes on the heels of violent protests throughout the Islamic world – particularly in the Arabic regions – against the American- made, anti-Islamic film, ‘Innocence of the Muslims’. Even in Doha, hundreds of people demonstrated in front of the United States embassy in a peaceful protest, which nevertheless saw many wave black banners and chant for jihad, the fight for Islam. Another initiative is also being undertaken in Doha to appease spirits. The cinematic company AlNoor Holdings recently announced that it will produce a trilogy on the history of the Prophet Mohammed with the explicit goal of showing the Occident the true image of Islam.
A post from last month reported that International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) had demanded that Pope Benedict XVI apologize to Muslims over remarks he made in 2006.
The IUMS was launched on July 11, 2004 in conjunction with a visit by Youssef Qaradawi to London for a meeting of the European Council for Fatwa and Research. Many prominent individuals tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood are or have been associated with the IUMS including:
- Rachid Ghannouchi (leader of the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood)
- Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza)
- Safwat Hegazi (close to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood )
- Isam al-Bashir (Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood leader)
- Jamal Badawi (U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leader)
- Mohammad Sawalha (U.K. Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas)
- Basheer Nafi (Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader, formerly associated with the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
- Isaq Farhan (Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood)
- Salah Sultan (formerly tied to U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, noted anti-Semite)
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.