From Sorrow to Joy: The Death of the Senior Sunni Cleric Ignites a Regional Debate about his Legacy | INSS
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Home Posts From Sorrow to Joy: The Death of the Senior Sunni Cleric Ignites a Regional Debate about his Legacy

From Sorrow to Joy: The Death of the Senior Sunni Cleric Ignites a Regional Debate about his Legacy
Ofir Winter, Yoram Schweitzer 3 October, 2022
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Last week, one of the great Islamic Scholars in the Sunni Muslim world, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, died and was buried in Qatar.

The reactions to his death have revealed the failure of his ambition to capture for himself the status of an Islamic super-leader, who crosses countries and political and ideological camps. A star on the al-Jazeera network, with tens of millions of viewers, the Sheikh was ahead of his time in understanding the power of the internet, and in 2004 founded the International Union of Muslim Scholars as a framework uniting believers from the East and the West. However, he died at the age of 96 as a hero of only one side: the camp of the Muslim Brothershood.

Among those eulogizing Sheikh al-Qaradawi, who was born in Egypt in 1926 and emigrated to Qatar in 1961, were the Qatari Foreign Minister, the President of Turkey, and sister movements of the Brotherhood from Egypt and Jordan, through Syria and Tunisia to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They emphasized his contribution to the formation of “wasat law,” which pursues the middle way between tradition and modernity, and his work to promote the affairs of Muslims and the unity of the Islamic nation.

One of the Sheikh's concerns was the Palestinian issue. His book Jerusalem: The Concern of Every Muslim opposed peace agreements with Israel and was the religious authority that approved suicide attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. The permission to harm civilians was explained that Israel is a militaristic society and therefore every Israeli citizen is considered a potential soldier. Al-Qaradawi’s critics later accused him of approving the adoption of similar methods of action against Arab-Muslim citizens by Salafi-jihadist terrorist organizations such as ISIS.

While the Islamist camp embraced al-Qaradawi in his death, the opposing camp defied him as one of the creators of the Arab Spring. In Egypt, he was mentioned as someone who encouraged the public in Arab countries to harm the security forces, and as someone who was sentenced to death in a Cairo court in 2015 for his alleged role in breaking into prisons in 2011 that enabled the escape of thousands of prisoners. Clerics in the United Arab Emirates also welcomed the passing of the "terrorist" who preached "fraternal war, deviation, and destruction."

Al-Qaradawi died just days after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made a historic visit to Qatar, marking the acceptance by the Muslim Brotherhood's patron of the government that ousted them in 2013. In Egypt there were jokes about the old sheikh who died after he was unable to bear the sight.

Topics: Egypt, Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict
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      • Israel and the Global Powers
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      • Iraq and the Iraqi Shiite Militias
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      • Hamas and the Gaza Strip
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