Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi was interviewed by
Al-Midan, Aqidaty and al-Arabi.
Only al-Midan asked al-Qaradawi about the recent religious dialogue
conference in Cairo
[see RNSAW, 2001, week 45A, art. 27]. al-Qaradawi responded: " I was surprised that during the
end of the
conference one of the cardinals of the Vatican objected to a text in the closing statement which
referred
to Islām as a heavenly, godly religion. They requested to cancell the words heavenly and godly. I became
very angry and I said that if these heretic things do not stop, the request to cancell a paragraph
belonging to
the fundamentals of religion, than there is no need to hold a conference. We cannot make a
dialogue while the other
rejects the principle that Islām is a heavenly, godly religion. If this is what
religious men do how should it be
with common people?"
The three papers asked al-Qaradawi
about the use of the dialogue with
Christians but he strongly argues in favor of this because dialogue aims
to reduce the struggle between Muslims and
Christians. Some Political leaders in the West may want a
religious war but that needs to be prevented through
dialogue.
Other questions concentrated
on whether he had really asked Usama Bin Laden to hand
himself over, the Fatwá allowing Muslims serving in
the American army to take part in America’s war on Afghanistan
and about his opinion concerning inter-
religious dialogue.
Al-Qaradawi stressed that he had asked
Bin Laden to hand himself over
to save the Afghans from the American war. He said that this was his duty as a true
Muslim.
According to Sout al-Azhar the Muftī of Egypt, Dr. Nasser Farid Wassel, had expressed the
same opinion. The Muftī said that there was no legal evidence against Bin Laden, who the USA considers the
foremost
person responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington and that handing himself over was
for the sake of
international peace and the peace of the Afghans. He added that if Bin Laden did not
receive a just trial, he
should then be tried before an Islamic court.
Back to the interview
with Shaykh al-Qaradawi. When
asked about the advantages of inter-religious dialogue while the defamation
campaigns against Islām and Muslims
were still going on. al-Qaradawi said that Muslim and Christian
religious leaders could play an important role in
limiting the possibility of a conflict between Muslims
and Christians. He added that inter-religious dialogue was
more important in the meantime than at any other
time before. He believed that the Muslim scholars who were opposed
to inter-religious dialogue did not
understand Islām well, because Islām encourages dialogue. In addition, having
inter-religious dialogue
conferences where many Westerners and followers of other religions attend will help in
explaining the
reality of Islām.
[Translator’s note: What al-Qaradawi said about the Fatwá
allowing
Muslim-American military men to participate in America’s war against Afghanistan was translated in
previous weeks.]
