Qaradawi refutes Iranian news agency’s allegations as ‘untrue’

By Anwar ElshamyDOHA-BASED Islamic scholar Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi has dismissed as “untrue” allegations made by an Iranian news agency that he had succumbed to “pressures by extremists” in voicing concern over the Shia expansion in Sunni-dominated countries. Sheikh Qaradawi, chairman of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), said in a statement,which was made available to Gulf Times, that he was surprised by the claims that he is not seeking the unity of the Muslim world.“I have always been against extremists everywhere.

In all my sermons, books and studies I was always calling on Muslims to seek a moderate line and be united irrespective of the school of thought they embrace. As long as a Muslim is witnessing that there is No God but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah, then he is a Muslim,” he said. The Iranian news agency, was reacting to Sheikh Qaradawi’s statement in an interview published in an Egyptian newspaper in which he warned against Shia efforts to convert the Sunni Muslims to the Shia school of thought. About his statement that Shias are “heretics”, Qaradawi said that he condemned several heresies in the Shia practices including the way they mark the anniversary of the martyrdom of grandson of Prophet Muhammad as well as the infallibility of the imams.“All the Sunni scholars condemn such heresies. But they are not making them non-Muslims anyway,” he said.

However, Qaradawi reiterated that Sunni Muslims should wake up to what he called “Shia bids to invade the Sunni communities” saying that it is his duty to raise alarm about such threat. “I remember when I was on a visit to Iran that I told some Shia clerics, including Ayatollah Mohamed al-Taskhiri, that the Shia efforts to convert a number of Sunni Muslims to embrace the Shia school of thought would only lead to divisions and sedition among Muslims,” he said. Qaradawi also dismissed as “untrue” the claim that he played down the importance of the “victory” achieved by Hezbollah against Israel in the July 2006 war because the Lebanese party was following the Shia school of thought

.He said he had been in support of Iran’s right to possess nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. “In my Friday sermon, I even called upon Muslims around the world to defend Iran if it was attacked by the US. I did that because Iran is an integral part of the Muslim world and it is our duty to defend it against any foreign aggression,” he added. Qaradawi also dismissed the news agency’s allegation that his sons had turned away from the Islamic culture and adopted the Western lifestyle. “I do not know how such news agency can spread such baseless news. I do not have any of my sons living in London. My three daughters have obtained PhD from London but they are teaching now in Qatar University,” he added.
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