58 Facts About Yusuf al-Qaradawi

1.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi was an Egyptian Islamic scholar based in Doha, Qatar, and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

2.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi's influences included Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, Sayyid Rashid Rida, Hassan al-Banna, Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi, Abul A'la Maududi and Naeem Siddiqui.

3.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi was known for IslamOnline, a website he helped to found in 1997 and for which he served as chief religious scholar.

4.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi received eight international prizes for his contributions to Islamic scholarship, and was considered one of the most influential Islamic scholars living.

5.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi became an orphan at the age of two, when he lost his father.

6.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi read and memorized the entire Quran before he was ten years old.

7.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi then joined the Institute of Religious Studies at Tanta, and graduated after nine years of study.

8.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi earned a diploma in Arabic Language and Literature in 1958 at the Advanced Arabic Studies Institute.

9.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi enrolled in the graduate program in the Department of Quran and Sunnah Sciences of the Faculty of Religion's Fundamentals, and graduated with a master's degree in Quranic Studies in 1960.

10.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi completed his PhD thesis titled Zakah and its effect on solving social problems in 1973 with First Merit and was awarded his PhD degree from Al-Azhar.

11.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi left Egypt for Qatar in 1961, and did not return until the overthrow of the military regime by the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.

12.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi served at Egypt's Institute of Imams under the Ministry of Religious Endowments as supervisor before moving back to Doha as Dean of the Islamic Department at the Faculties of Shariah and Education in Qatar, where he continued until 1990.

13.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi returned to Qatar once more as Director of the Seerah and Sunnah Center at Qatar University.

14.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi served as the chairman of International Union for Muslim Scholars.

15.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi referred to Hosni Mubarak as "the tyrannical pharaoh".

16.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi described the sermon as "nonsectarian" and "broadly political".

17.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi called on Libyan ambassadors around the world to distance themselves from Gaddafi's government.

18.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi advised that the only way to rectify the situation is for older Muslims to reform themselves and their societies according to the actual teachings of Islam.

19.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi described them as "heretics" and said that Sunni leaders in the region have voiced concern about a Shiite resurgence.

20.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi's comments are seen as divisive and legitimising anti-Shia rhetoric.

21.

In May 2013, Yusuf al-Qaradawi verbally attacked the Alawite sect, which many describe as an offshoot of Shia Islam and of which President Bashar al-Assad is a member, as "more infidel than Christians and Jews".

22.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi asked Allah to annihilate them completely, without sparing any of them.

23.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi cited a verse from the Quran which says that there should be no debate with the People of the Book except in a way that is best, and went on to say that the Jews have committed great injustice and that "their hands are soiled with blood".

24.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi explains that many hadiths state that any apostate should be killed, and that this is necessary to preserve Islam.

25.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi advocates giving apostates a chance to repent before carrying out the sentence, and says that hidden apostates should not be punished by the Muslim community, but left to the judgement of God.

26.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi considered pregnant women and their unborn babies to be valid targets on the grounds that the babies could grow up to join the Israeli Army.

27.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi suggested that the trial was "an act of vengeance by the Americans" for his missile attacks on Israel.

28.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi refused to be blindfolded, and insisted upon facing death with open eyes.

29.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi began to strictly observe the prayers, to read the Quran, and to do charitable work.

30.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi would help build mosques, and would say that if anybody wants to build a mosque, the government should pay half the cost of the building materials.

31.

In 2006, in response to Muslim scholar Abdullah Ibn Jibreen's fatwa declaring that it was forbidden for Muslims to support or pray for Hezbollah because they are Shia, Yusuf al-Qaradawi said that supporting Hezbollah is a religious duty for all Muslims and that resistance, whether in Palestine or Lebanon, is the most noble act.

32.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi added "Shias agree with the Sunnis in the main principles of Islam while the differences are only over the branches" and called upon the Sunnis and Shia of Iraq to end the civil war.

33.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi called for victory against the ruling Ba'ath party and claimed the army would be the major factor in the revolt.

34.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi claimed that when he offered to mediate negotiations between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Syrian government, someone deliberately sabotaged it.

35.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated on Channel 4 News that it was justifiable in certain circumstances but the "ideal was for Muslim men never to beat their wives, and if husbands wrongly beat their wives, they have the right to fight back".

36.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi called for the termination and ban of "female circumcision" in some parts of the Muslim world, especially in rural Africa where most still practice it.

37.

On 5 June 2006, on the Al Jazeera program Sharia and Life, Yusuf al-Qaradawi reiterated orthodox views on homosexuality.

38.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi said there are more than dozens of verses in the Torah that support stoning for adulterers, fornicators, LGBT people, and for many other reasons.

39.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi said it has nothing to do with Islam; neither Qur'an nor Sunnah.

40.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi called on those who do it to be punished with death for their crime; a life for a life.

41.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi said that to use the birth date of Muhammad in remembrance of his life story is not bid'ah.

42.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi will be rewarded for his actions as well as getting the reward of those who've followed it successively until the Day of Judgment.

43.

Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi emphasizes that good innovative actions are strongly encouraged as long as it doesn't go against the Sharia.

44.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi pointed out that a woman's face is not an awrah.

45.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi called those who don the niqabs as following tradition and culture before Islam came to Arabia.

46.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi twice turned down offers to be its leader.

47.

On 16 May 2015 Yusuf al-Qaradawi was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court along with the ousted President Mohamed Morsi and over 100 other Egyptians affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

48.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi's remarks drew harsh criticism from Muslims in Russia.

49.

The Middle East Media Research Institute, alleges that Yusuf al-Qaradawi issued a Fatwa following the Iraqi insurgency, saying,.

50.

In December 2014 the International Union of Muslim Scholars led by Yusuf al-Qaradawi was expelled from the Cairo-based International Islamic Council for Da'wah and Relief based on the allegation that the group mixed religion and politics and supported terrorism.

51.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi was a former Sharia adviser and shareholder to Bank al-Taqwa, once listed by the USand the UN as a terrorist financier associated with al-Qaeda but delisted in 2010.

52.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi had three sons and four daughters, three of whom hold doctorates from British Universities.

53.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi's daughter, Ilham Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, is an internationally recognized nuclear scientist.

54.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi's son, Abdulrahman Yusuf al-Qaradawi, is a poet and a political activist in Egypt.

55.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi wrote many books, some of which were translated into English:.

56.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi published some excerpts of his poetry in the book Nafahat wa Lafahat.

57.

Al-Qaradawi was the subject of the book The Global Mufti: The Phenomenon of Yusuf al-Qaradawi published by Columbia University Press.

58.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi is profiled as one of the leading liberal voices in contemporary Islam in Charles Kurzman's book Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook, published by Oxford University Press.