An Azerbaijani news portal is reporting on a call by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi to support the Islamist-oriented constitution in the process of being voted on in Egypt. According to the report, Qaradawi threatened the loss of proposed investments by Qatar if the proposed constitution is defeated:
15 December 2012, 09:34 (GMT+04:00) The Qatar-based Egyptian Islamic preacher Youssef Qaradawi has called on Egyptians to participate and vote ‘yes’ in the constitutional referendum set on Saturday, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Friday. Qaradawi, who heads the International Union of Muslim Scholars, said during the Friday prayer’s speech that voting ‘no’ in the awaited polling in Egypt will cost the country a ‘big loss’ as the attraction of investments will be hampered especially, $20 billion from Qatar. ‘I will vote yes, I don’t care about neither [President Mohamed] Morsi nor Freedom and Justice Party, but I do care about Egypt, the greatest Arab country” Anadolu quoted Qaradawi as saying. Qaradawi has condemned the wave of violence which Egypt’s streets saw last week rejecting the attack on Muslim Brotherhood, affirming that they want a civil state not a religious as some people claim. Earlier on Friday, Thousands of protesters for and against the drafted constitution have held events across the country today. Qaradawi has come under scrutiny of the opposition who deem him as a staunch supporter of Morsi. “
A post from August reported on the plans for an Egypt-Qatar summit where the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was to receive the Emir of Qatar. AP had reported earlier that Qatar was granting Egypt a $2 billion loan to help the country’s troubled economy. A post from March reported that the Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was visiting Qatar for meetings with Qatari official.
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. A post from August reported that Qaradawi had been included as part of a list of Islamic scholars to be appointed to an Egyptian national board of senior Islamic scholars (Ulema). Al-Azhar is considered to be the main center of Islamic and Arabic learning in the world.
Qaradawi’s remarks on Egyptian President Morsi are interesting and support the notion of a split between the two. A post from July 2011 discussed Qaradawi’s support of his close associate Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futuh at that time. Qaradawi subsequently denied support for any candidate and in June 2012 endorsed Muslim Brotherhood candidate Morsi in the Egyptian presidential runoff election, calling Dr. Morsi the “revolution’s candidate.”