A Turkish news portal is reporting that Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi has called on the Libyan people to resist a Libyan General who has vowed to wipe out the Brotherhood in Libya. According to a Worldbulletin News report:
Youssef Qaradawi
May 23, 2104 Qatar-based Egyptian Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has called on the Libyan people to resist renegade general Khalifa Haftar as his growing strength threatens to topple the government and send the North African country into a new era of military rule.
Haftar has vowed to flush the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist groups out of the country by launching a campaign called ‘Operation Dignity’ in the east. He was also behind a recent attack on the parliament building in Tripoli, in which a number of lawmakers were kidnapped, and a failed coup attempt in February.
Al-Qaradawi, who is known to be an affiliate of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, called on the Libyan people to stand in defence of legitimate rule and to form a united national front against armed groups seeking to attack freedom and justice in the country. He also called on all differences to be ironed out peacefully by elected individuals in the parliament.
Having also opposed the military coup that ousted elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi on July 3 last year, al-Qaradawi also urged the Egyptian people to boycott the upcoming presidential elections, in which coup leader Abdal-Fattah al-Sisi is tipped to win against his only contender, Hamdeen Sabahi.
Meanwhile, Saudi media is reporting that the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood has condemned the statements by General Haftar who called the group “a ‘malignant disease that is seeking to spread throughout the bones of the Arab world.”
Youssef Qaradawi is the most important leader of the Global Muslim Brotherhood and is the de facto spiritual leader of the movement. He is also considered to be the “spiritual guide” for Hamas and his fatwas in support of suicide bombings against Israeli citizens were utilized by Hamas to justify their operations. In 2004, Qaradawi turned down the offer to head he Egyptian Brotherhood after the death of the Supreme Guide now denies that he has any relationship with the Egyptian Brotherhood. He is based in Qatar and has said the Qatari Emir has protected from being designated as a terrorist by the U.S. He has also reportedly amassed substantial wealth by serving as the Shari’ah adviser to many important Islamic banks and funds. Qaradawi is the head of the Union of Good (UOG), a worldwide coalition of charities helping to raise funds for Hamas and is the leader of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), the theological body of the European Muslim Brotherhood. In connection with his history of extremist statements, Qaradawi been banned from entering the US since 1999 and UK since 2008. Last year, authorities also refused him entry into France.
For more background on Qaradawi’s extremist statements, go here.
For a more extensive profile of Youssef Qaradawi, go here.
