Influential Muslim religious leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi dies

Qatar-based Egyptian scholar Qaradawi, who was in his nineties, was well-known throughout the Muslim world.

Qaradawi's dying was introduced on his official Twitter account [File: Graeme Robertson/Getty Images]

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of many Sunni Muslim world’s most influential non secular students, has died.

Al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian who was based mostly in Qatar, was the chairman of the Worldwide Union of Muslim Students, and in addition a religious chief for the Muslim Brotherhood. He was 96 years previous.

His dying on Monday was introduced on his official Twitter account.

Al-Qaradawi, who previously made common appearances on Al Jazeera Arabic to debate non secular issues, hosted a preferred TV program, “Shariah and Life,” during which he took calls from throughout the Muslim world, shelling out theological rulings and providing recommendation on all the things from international politics to mundane elements of every day life.

Al-Qaradawi was extremely vital of the coup that overthrew Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013.

Morsi had been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood earlier than he grew to become president, and was backed by the motion.

Al-Qaradawi was unable to return to Egypt following Morsi’s overthrow resulting from his opposition to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The non secular chief had beforehand been in exile from Egypt previous to the 2011 revolution that overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak.

His dying sparked sturdy reactions throughout the Muslim world, as folks took to social media to mourn his dying.

On the age of 96, Sheikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi, probably the most influential up to date Muslim students, has died in the present day. His progressive views paved approach for brand spanking new developments in trendy Islamic thought, and his help for the Arab Spring & our goals for freedom will all the time be remembered. https://t.co/1vEomUs8e3

— Abdelrahman Ayyash (@3yyash) September 26, 2022

The Muslim Brotherhood, which was based in Egypt and had branches throughout the area, performed a substantial function within the 2011 uprisings that rocked the Center East and led to widespread demonstrations in a number of international locations throughout the area.

Al-Qaradawi had been tried and sentenced to dying in absentia in Egypt.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal El Shayyal, mentioned Qaradawi authored “greater than 120 books and greater than 50-60 different publications that spoke to a big part of the worldwide Muslim group”.

“He was most likely probably the most internationalised Muslim scholar that Islam had in trendy days – most likely the one most influential in that he didn’t restrict his teachings to a selected part of Islam,” he mentioned.

Qaradawi typically spoke about modern-day points, together with  all the things from the “permissibility of relationships to elections and democracy to social justice points,” El Shayyal added.

Born in 1926, whereas Egypt was nonetheless underneath British colonial rule, Al-Qaradawi mixed non secular training with anti-colonial activism throughout his youth. His activism in opposition to the British occupation and later, his affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood led to his arrest a number of occasions in the course of the 1950’s.

He moved to Qatar within the early Sixties when he was appointed Dean of the School of Shariah at Qatar College after which later granted Qatari citizenship.

Ibrahim Salah Al-Nuaimi, chairman of the Doha worldwide centre for interfaith dialogue, described Qaradawi as a “reasonable, nice scholar”.

“He labored carefully with many representatives of various faiths to convey collectively concord and to actually put down the hate speeches” that may someday come up between totally different faiths,” Al-Nuaimi informed Al Jazeera.

One his early well-known works was the 1973 e-book Fiqh al-Zakat (The Jurisprudence of Zakat). Al-Qaradawi additionally sought to reinterpret historic guidelines of Islamic regulation to be able to higher combine Muslims in non-Muslim societies.

He supported suicide bombings in opposition to Israel within the Second Intifada and in addition voiced help for the Iraqi insurgency that erupted after the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein. His stance on each points received him a protracted standing infamy within the West.

In 2009, Israel’s Shin Guess inner safety company accused al-Qaradawi of allocating $21 million to a charity funded by Hamas to arrange militant infrastructure in Jerusalem. Hamas, which guidelines the Gaza Strip, denied the allegations.