Though Islam does not have a Vatican City, it does have an answer man, a “Dear Abby” in the Muslim world. His name is Muslim televangelist Youssef al-Qaradawi. He is very much a big influence for Sunni Muslims. He speaks about what the much talked about “Muslim Brotherhood” are thinking and talking about.
From the Der Spiegel website:”This man is a word machine, a one-man talk show that leaves no subject unexamined. Youssef al-Qaradawi has to talk: about former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, about mothers’ milk banks, and about the right of Palestinian women to blow themselves up.
He is a driven man. There are so many decisions to be made in this godforsaken modern age, and yet there is only one mufti, only one Islamic scholar like Qaradawi, who knew the Koran by heart by the time he was 10, only one man who can help the faithful understand the world.
Qaradawi is the father figure of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s best-organized opposition group. The Brotherhood is sure to play a part in deciding what path Egypt will now take.
The Islamist group asked Qaradawi to be their leader in 2002, but he turned them down. Such a position would have been too limiting. He has a different mission. He feels compelled to talk.”
With the help of Al-Jazeera, it has been broadcasting Mr. Qaradawi’s program, “Shariah And Life”, he answers on the weekly Sunday program, which he has been doing for fifteen years, not only answer questions but take a number of political stands.
Mr. Qaradawi makes it well-known on his show that he is for not only a “United Muslim Nations” as a new form of the old Muslim caliphate, which includes outright hatred for Israel and the Jewish people. In January of 2009, he came out with this:
“Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by [Adolf] Hitler.”
Sure sounds like one who be least likely to encourage Egypt to continue to uphold the “Camp David Peace Treaty” with Israel, should in the event the Muslim Brotherhood end up being the likely political power in Egypt.
Mr. Qaradawi, who can be used as a “hypermarket” for Islamic dogmas, can either be thought of as such for those Muslims who are finding the most appropriate fatwas. For this is the responsibility of the scholar in Islam to correctly interpit its scriptures.
Mr. Qaradawi also is a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, where he met the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna. From the Der Spiegel website article:” Banna offered an Islamic alternative to the alleged ills of modern life: corruption and gambling, insolent women and provocative writings, alcohol and the neglect of the poorest members of society. In a word: godlessness.”
But also from the same Der Spiegel article, there are those who believe this Tv imam is much more dangerous than first thought:”The TV imam’s followers in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood share his intangibility. For some, they are the dyed-in-the-wool Islamists, while others see them as champions of democracy on the Nile.
“There is no question that true democracy must gain the upper hand,” Mohammed Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, wrote recently. “The Brotherhood adheres to its roots in Islamic thought. It refuses to accept any attempt to impose any ideological line on the Egyptian people.”
This sounds good. But as an underground organization, the Muslim Brothers had no opportunity to try out their religious principles on everyday political life, and on tolerance and the balance of interests. They experienced the meaning of human rights firsthand during the years of repression. It changed them.
“Caution is the watchword,” writes Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, referring to the tactics of the Muslim Brotherhood. According to Ramadan, its leaders know that “now is not the time to expose itself.”
At this point in time, when people are asking who are the Muslim Brotherhood and what they stand in light of the recent events of Egypt and now all over the Middle East, could Youssef al-Qaradawi be a “who’s who to look at in the future as in regards to Egypt, the Middle East, and the Muslim Brotherhood.
With MANY THANKS to both Der Spiegel Online and Alexander Smoltczyk. Read More Here:\”Islam\’s Spiritual \”Dear Abby\”
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