Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the chairman of IslamOnline.net, the president and founder (in 2004) of the International Association of Muslim Scholars, and the chairman and founder (in 1997) of the European Council for Fatwa and Research. He is also the founder and former dean of the faculties of Shariʿa and Islamic Studies at the University of Qatar and the former chairman of the Islamic Scientific Councils of Algerian Universities and Institutions. His books include الثقافة العربية الاسلامية بين الاصالة والمعاصرة (The Arab Islamic culture between authenticity and modernity), Cairo, Maktabat Wahba, 1994; اوليات الحركة الاسلامية في المرحلة القادمة (Priorities of the Islamic movement in the coming phase), Beirut, al-Risala, 1992; الصحوة الاسلامية بين الرفض والتطرف (The Islamic awakening between rejection and extremism), Beirut, al-Risala, 1981; الحل الاسلامي فريضة وضرورة (The Islamic solution is a religious obligation and a necessity), Beirut, al-Risala, 1974; and الحلال والحرام في الاسلام (The lawful and the prohibited in Islam), Indianapolis, American Trust Publications, 1960. Born in 1926 in Saft Turab, Egypt, al-Qaradawi holds a B.A. (1953), a M.A. (1960) and a Ph.D. (1973) from al-Azhar University's Faculty of Theology. He resides in Qatar.

www.qaradawi.net

A Western writer was reported to have said: "The West is West, and the East is East; never will they meet." We disagree because we believe that the West and East are both parts in the vast kingdom of God….

An attempt was made to assign distinct characteristics for each, the East and the West. They said the West is rational and the East is spiritual; the West is a scientist and the East, an artist; the West is philosophy's land and the East is the prophets' land. This is disputable since among Easterners are scientists, and among Westerners are spiritualists. Human beings are human beings. God did not create Westerners in a certain way and Easterners in a different way. You are all Adam's descendants and Adam was made from clay. Everyone was created from clay and the Earth was created with a blow from the divine spirit….

We believe that the individual, as a human being, is intrinsically no different from any other. Genes are genes and characteristics are characteristics. We are all Adam's descendants and Adam was made from clay. Arabs are not superior to foreigners, and whites are not superior to blacks–except by their recognition of the power of the Almighty Taqwa.

– Yusuf al-Qaradawi, "A Call for a Political Reaction and an Economic Boycott in Support of the Prophet," qaradawi.net, February 26, 2008