More on Qaradawi's visit to London. As the British press continues to be filled with attacks on the "extremist", "terror supporting", "controversial" "cleric", Muslims wonder if the West really wants moderate Islam at all: given these attacks on "the scholarly figure widely considered to be the world's chief proponent of moderate Islam," the attacks on Qaradawi by the British press were "a sharp tug at the rug under the feet of moderate Muslims: because if he is an extremist, who is there left to be moderate?"
For Qaradawi's part, during his khutba this afternoon in London, he pushed his extremist message: ""You can love other religions as long as they don't cause any trouble to you; you must not hate them or dislike them (for their views)."
Most Arab coverage has emphasized his moderation, with many questioning the motives behind the attacks.
Al Jazeera (I love, by the way, how the Elaph story manages to work the phrase "the satellite station funded by the Qatari government" into two consecutive paragraphs about al Jazeera... jeebus, guys, give it a rest): "Those who stand behind the campaign to destroy his reputation are those who fear the centrism of his project and the moderation of his vision." Qaradawi, they remind us, condemned the September 11 explosions for shedding the blood of innocent victims, and also condemned the attacks in Bali in Indonesia, considering them unethical acts.
Al Rai (Qatar): "It is well known by Islamic and European public opinion, especially among the political elite, that Shaykh Qaradawi represents a voice for moderation and wisdom from an Islamic perspective.... We are again returning to the deterioration between the West and the Islamic world.... In response to the voices of extremism there are voices of moderation and rationality in the Islamic world, who want to change the negative picture.. presented by those who want to push us into their vision of a clash of civilizations."
Amjad Nasir (Al Quds Al Arabi), in an essay called "Qaradawi is not Usama bin Laden!": "I am not, certainly, one of the supporters of Shaykh al Qaradawi.. intellectually, I am his opposite, but this does not mean that I can not respect the man for his commitment to dialogue."
The Guardian has a short overview of Qaradawi here.
Qaradawi is very traditionalist and conservative, and I don't really therefore consider him "moderate." Some of his political opinions are those that most pundits would consider pretty controversial, such as his fatawi in favor of suicide bombing. That said, he has condemned other things and he sounds pretty ecumenical in the interfaith dialogues I have heard with him; although he dodges the questions of the Muslim attitude towards apostasy and turns them back on the questioner. Although he leaves me pretty cold he's basically a right-wing traditionalist, not an extremist nor a terrorist.
Posted by: Anna in Cairo | July 11, 2004 at 07:08 AM