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Sheikh Yūsuf al-Qaradawi: A Moderate Voice from the Muslim World?

Article  in  Religion Compass · September 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2010.00236.x

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Religion Compass 4/9 (2010): 563–575, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2010.00236.x

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawı: A Moderate Voice from the

Muslim World? _
Ana Belén Soage*
The University of Granada

Abstract
Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi is one of the most prominent and respected religious scholars in the
Muslim world, particularly amongst so-called moderate Islamists. In this article, we start by pro-
viding a summary of his biography, including the influence of the Muslim Brothers Society on his
political and intellectual development. We will then explore his key ideas, notably the adoption of
the term wasatiyya or ‘middle way’ to describe his position vis-à-vis the main questions facing both
Muslims and Islam. Finally, we will take a look at his attitude towards those who not share his
vision, which exemplifies the less appealing aspects of his thought.

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawı is possibly the Islamic scholar best known in the Muslim
world today. To a great_ extent, he owes his fame to his regular appearances in al-Jazeera’s
religious program, al-Sharıa wa’l-Hayat. However, even before the launch of the
Arabic news channel, he was already _ a respected scholar who had written dozens of
volumes.
Al-Qaradawı has played an important part in the so-called Islamic awakening which,
starting in _the early 1970s, has gradually islamized – to a greater or lesser degree – practi-
cally all Arab and Muslim countries. The sheikh has written a number of books hoping
to guide the awakening (e.g. For the sake of a mature awakening; The Islamic awakening
from adolescence to maturity) and to mediate in its internal disagreements (e.g. The Isla-
mic awakening between legitimate disagreements and reprehensible disunity; The Islamic
awakening between rejection and extremism).
Finally, al-Qaradawı is considered the pioneer of the wasatiyya – or ‘middle way’ –
_
trend within Islamism, which rejects both Westernization and _ Islamist fanaticism and
advocates a moderate – but still political – version of Islam.

Biographical Background1
Yusuf Mustafà al-Qaradawı was born in 1926 in a small village of the Nile Delta and was
brought up_ _ within a _poor, deeply family of farmers. He showed his intelligence and
tenacity early in life, and had memorized the Koran by the time he was nine. Back then,
al-Azhar was the only institution providing an education to the children of families of
modest means, and upon finishing his primary schooling Yusuf was able to convince his
uncle – who had taken charge of him after his father’s death and would have wanted
him to learn a trade – to allow him to enroll at the Azhari secondary school in the
provincial capital, Tanta, despite the lack of job prospects that entailed.
It was in Tanta_ that_ al-Qaradawı first came into contact with the Muslim Brothers’
_ _
Society and listened to the fiery _speeches of its founder, Hasan al-Banna. He soon became
a ‘Brother’ himself, which led to spells in prison whenever _ the Society clashed with

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564 Ana Belén Soage

successive governments. The first time was in 1948–9, after the assassinations of judge
Ahmad al-Khazandar, who had passed harsh sentences on members of the organization, and
_
Prime Minister Mahmud al-Nuqrashı, who banned the Society following the judge’s mur-
der. The next wave_ of arrests occurred in 1954, as a result of an assassination attempt on
Abd al-Nasir.2 On that occasion, al-Qaradawı was only released in 1956. Finally, he was
imprisoned_ again in 1962 for his alleged involvement
_ in a plot to overthrow Abd al-Nasir.
After his graduation, al-Qaradawı worked first at the Ministry of Religious Endow- _
ments, then at al-Azhar. In 1962 _ this institution sent him to Qatar, and he has lived in
the emirate ever since. He has become a prolific writer, boasting over a hundred titles
with new ones being added to the list every year, and an international celebrity as a regu-
lar guest of al-Jazeera’s religious program, al-Sharıa wa’l-Hayat (Islamic law and life). In
addition, he cofounded and presides the European Council _ for Fatwa and Research and
the International Union for Muslim Scholars, which are mainly concerned with the reli-
gious needs of Muslim communities living in the West.
Al-Qaradawı is widely regarded as one of the Muslim Brothers’ main ideologues. He
_ offered the position of General Guide of the Society several times but has
has even been
always declined. In fact, the sheikh claims that he has left the organization, explaining
that he aspires to be the guide of all Muslims and not just a group of them.3 In any case,
the Society’s founder, Hasan al-Banna, was probably the figure that influenced the
_ as the next section will show.
sheikh’s trajectory the most,

The Influence of Hasan al-Banna

_
Hasan al-Banna exercised a capital influence on al-Qaradawı’s life and intellectual devel-
_
opment. The sheikh idealizes the founder of the Muslim _ Brothers’ Society, writing, for
instance, that during his speeches he ‘shined as if his words were a revelation of the Rev-
elation, or a torch from the light of prophecy’.4 The sheikh exonerates al-Banna of all
the ‘mistakes’ of his organization, such as the assassinations of al-Kharandar and
al-Nuqrashı – these are attributed to the Society’s paramilitary wing, al-Nizam al-Khass,
which had become ‘a state within the state’.5
More importantly, al-Qaradawı has adopted al-Banna’s main contribution to Islamism,
which had in turn been borrowed _ from the totalitarian ideologies of the 1930s and 40s:
the notion of the ‘totality’ (shumuliyya) of Islam, i.e. considering the Muslim religion a
complete system that covers all dimensions of existence. In al-Banna’s words:
‘We believe that the mandates and precepts of Islam are comprehensive [shamil] and organize
the affairs of this life and the next, and that those who think that its precepts are only con-
cerned with the ritual or the spiritual are wrong. Islam is creed and worship, nation and nation-
ality, religion and state, spirituality and action, Book and sword.’6
Al-Qaradawı embraced that all-encompassing notion of Islam. In fact, some of his com-
ments in_ this respect could have been written by al-Banna himself:
‘We believe in the totality [shumul] of Islam. Islam is not only spirituality; it is religion and
worldly affairs, missionary work and temporal power, creed and law, rectitude and strength.
Islam is industry and agriculture. Islam is art. Islam is everywhere.’7
Elsewhere, he explains:
‘[Islam] is, on itself, a comprehensive [shamil] doctrine and creed. [Islam] is not satisfied unless
it controls society and guides every dimension of life, from entering the toilet to the construc-
tion of the state and the establishment of the caliphate.’8

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 A Moderate Voice from the Muslim World? 565

Thus conceived, al-Qaradawı argues, Islam is suitable to every period of time, everywhere
_
– as opposed to other religions, notably Judaism and Christianity, which Muslims consider
superseded by Muhammad’s Revelation.9 The sheikh attacks those who question the
relevance of the Islamic mandates, denouncing the ‘insolence’ of their wanting to ‘steal
from the Koran its quality of eternal’.10 But to be comprehensive, Islam must be continu-
ously (re-)interpreted to adapt it to new and changing circumstances, as we will see next.

The Renewal of Islam

That interpretation is called ijtihad, i.e. the effort of an Islamic scholar or alım (pl. ulama,
more commonly transcribed as ‘ulema’) to find answers to new questions and solutions to
new problems in the Koran and the Sunna (collections of ahadıth – sing. hadıth – i.e. say-
ings and deeds attributed to prophet Muhammad). During the _ first centuries
_ of Islam, dif-
ferent interpretations led to the appearance of a myriad of schools of jurisprudence. Most
would eventually disappear, and only four Sunni schools survive: the hanafı, the shafi’ı,
_
the malikı and the hanbalı. At the same time, a number of factors – prominent among
_
them, the need to protect religious orthodoxy, resist the pressures of the political establish-
ment and maintain some semblance of unity in the face of political disintegration – led to
the gradual ‘closure of the door of ijtihad’ among Sunni Muslims.
For the next centuries, religious scholars limited their role to preserving, commenting
and transmitting the works of the first ulema. It was only in the XIX century that Jamal
al-Dın al-Afghanı and his disciple, Muhammad Abduh, argued for the need to re-open
the door of ijtihad to provide Islam with _ the tools to adapt to modernity. Their stated
aim was to return to the path of the salaf, i.e. the venerable ancestors, who had not been
afraid to interpret the Koran and the Sunna if and when required.11 In his discussions
with fellow scholars, al-Afghani questioned their attitude to ijtihad:
What does it mean, that the door of ijtihad is closed? By what text was it closed? Which imam
[religious guide] said that, after himself, no Muslim should use his personal judgement to under-
stand religion? […] Anyone with a good command of Arabic, a sound mind and knowledge of
the life of the ancestors, the principles of unanimity of the ulema, and which rulings must be
applied literally and which, allegorically, can delve into the Koran and the true ahadıth […].12
_
Al-Qaradawı considers himself the heir to that reformist tradition within Islam. He often
quotes a_ hadıth according to which ‘at the beginning of every century, God sends to the
_
Muslim community someone to renew its religion’.13 And he has unequivocally stated
that ‘[r]enewal for us [i.e. Muslims] is not only a demanding necessity; it is a religious
obligation’,14 and that ‘ijtihad is an obligation and a necessity: an obligation imposed by
the sharıa and a necessity imposed by reality’.15
However, and contrary to al-Afghani and Abduh,16 al-Qaradawı indicates that the task
_
of interpreting the texts should be left to those ‘with a comprehensive knowledge of the
Koran, the Sunna, the Arab language, the purposes of Islamic law and the origins of juris-
prudence, as well as of people and of life’.17 Given that most of those items are subjects
in the al-Azhar curriculum, he can only be referring to ulema such as himself. Further-
more, whereas for the original, late-xix-century Salafists ijtihad was a way of circumvent-
ing hundreds of years of stagnation and accessing directly the sources of Islamic
knowledge, al-Qaradawı insists on the importance of the legacy of the mediaeval authors:
_
That immense treasure of jurisprudence illuminates the way [of the modern jurist] so that
he can built on its basis a contemporary jurisprudence that rests on its logic, spirit, premises,

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teachings and assumptions. That way, he can treat the problems of his time – taking into
account the change of period, place and degree of human development, naturally.18
Thus al-Qaradawı argues that renewal should not seek to supersede tradition, but to strike
_
a balance between tradition and modernity. That endeavor to achieve an equilibrium
leads us to the sheikh’s main contribution to Islam: the concept of wasatiyya.
_
Wasatiyya
_
The main contribution of al-Qaradawı to Islamism is his popularization of wasatiyya,
_
which can be loosely translated as ‘moderation’. _
The term has become a bit of a cliché,
invoked to legitimize all kinds of institutions and events. However, it is al-Qaradawi who
has been dubbed ‘the spiritual father of the wasatiyya trend’.19
The term wasatiyya is derived from the Koran, _ in which God states: ‘Thus We have
appointed you a _ middle nation (ummatan wasatan), that ye may be witnesses against
mankind, and that the messenger may be a witness _ against you.’ (2:143). However,
sheikh al-Qaradawi traces his version of wasatiyya back to Muhammad’ Abduh and his
disciple Rashıd Rida, and uses it to denote an_ equilibrium between
_ the fixed dogmas of
_
Islam and the changing conditions of life:20
Wasatiyya is the [right] balance between mind and the Revelation, matter and spirit, rights and
_ individualism and collectivism, inspiration and obligation, the text [i.e. the Koran and
duties,
the Sunna] and personal interpretation [ijtihad], the ideal and reality, the permanent and the
transient, relying on the past and looking forward to the future.21
Al-Qaradawı also uses the term wasatiyya to refer to one of the trends within Islamism.
_
He distinguishes _
four: the excommunicating trend (tayyar al-takfır), the immobilist, zeal-
ous one (tayyar al-jumud wa’l-tashaddud), the violent one (tayyar al-unf) and the moder-
ate one (tayyar wasatiyya). Obviously, the sheikh sees himself as belonging to the
moderate trend, which_ he portrays as follows:
[Wasatiyya] represents a combination of Salafism and of renewal, an equilibrium between the
_
fundamentals and change: the fundamentals of Islamic law and the change that occurs through-
out time. […] This trend is not detached from the past, does not turn its back on the present,
and does not neglect the future. Rather, it lives in the present, is inspired by the past and looks
forward to the future.22
Elsewhere, al-Qaradawı refers to wasatiyya is the ‘saving boat’ of an umma (Islamic com-
_
munity) immersed _in tragedies and problems. 23
As for the latter, they are mostly blamed
on the enemies of Islam, as we will see next.

Attitude towards ‘the Other’

One of the recurrent themes of Islamism is that Islam is threatened by enemies who want
to destroy it because it represents the only chance for the Muslims to rise again. Naturally
enough, the first enemies are the foreign powers that colonized the Islamic world and
continue interfere in its internal affairs. Western interference was one of the reasons
behind the establishment of the Muslim Brothers’ Society; in his memoirs, Hasan
al-Banna remembers the shock he experimented when he first arrived in Cairo: _
After the last war I witnessed, whilst in Cairo, how the dissipation of souls and minds, morals
and uses reached new heights in the name of intellectual freedom. The wave of atheism and

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 A Moderate Voice from the Muslim World? 567

licentiousness was colossal, overwhelming, unstoppable. […] I witnessed how the social life of
my beloved Egyptian people oscillated between the dear Islam that they had inherited,
defended, lived with and cherished for fourteenth centuries and this violent Western attack,
equipped with all the destructive weapons of wealth, prestige, ostentation, pleasure, strength
and means of propaganda.24
Sayyid Qutb was even more generalizing and uncompromising in its attitude towards
non-Muslims – all non-Muslims. In his eyes, the problem was not colonialism but a fun-
damental clash of civilizations:
The people of the Book were against the Muslims at the time of the prophet (peace be upon
him) and are against the vanguard of the Islamic renaissance today simply because they are Mus-
lims who believe in God […] They attack the Muslims for being Muslims instead of Jews or
Christians, and [also] because they are depraved and have distorted the message that God
revealed to them.25
In the eyes of many Islamists, the ‘enemies of Islam’ include not only foreigners but also
those Muslims who question the relevance of certain aspects of the Islamic heritage and
argue that Muslim states have much to learn from the West. This was one of the main
themes of Rashid Rida, who used harsh language against those whom he saw as under-
mining Islam. For instance, this was the introduction to his review of Alı Abd al-Raziq’s
Al-islam wa-usul al-hukm (Islam and the foundations of government), in which the
author argued _against _the caliphate:
The enemies of Islam continue to endeavor to topple its throne, destroy its dominion, invali-
date its laws and enslave the peoples that worship God through its teachings. They resort to fire
and the sword, cunning and deceit, ideas and attitudes. They pervert doctrines and morals,
attack the essence and the character of the Muslim community, and sever all the ties that bind
together individuals and peoples so that they become easier for the covetous to devour, prey to
the beasts of colonialism.26
Al-Qaradawı subscribes to the theory according to which the Islamic world is under
_ describes a global conspiracy in which the enemies of Islam have joined
attack. He
forces:
[T]he Muslim world – from the East to the West and from the North to the South – has been
the victim of a fierce attack that has targeted its countries and all that they hold sacred. It is
an unending war, sometimes open, others, clandestine. A war that all non-Muslim forces –
Jews, crusaders, communists, idolaters – have agreed on, in spite of their differences in other
matters.27
In a work entitled The enemies of the Islamic solution, the sheikh lists the forces that, he
claims, are working against Islam: colonialism, Zionism, communism, the ‘hypocritical’
rulers of the Islamic world and the ‘slaves’ of Western thought.28 Let us look at each of
these groups in turn.

WESTERN COLONIALISM

Al-Qaradawı categorically accuses the big Western capitals of plotting to destroy Islam.29
However, _ he is rather inconsistent in his criticism. Sometimes he insists on the West’s
intrinsic animosity against the Muslim religion, which he traces back to the Crusades, and
it is to that animosity – and not to some more or less legitimate interests – that he attri-
butes Western behavior towards the Islamic world.30 On other occasions, hostility is put

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down to ignorance, in which case it would be the Muslims’ responsibility to correct the
West’s distorted picture of Islam.31
But al-Qaradawı contributes to reinforce the equally distorted picture of the West
among Muslims_ when he denounces it as ‘the civilization of the Antichrist’ – who in the
Muslim tradition is one eyed – because, in his view,
[…] it is a one-eyed civilization that looks at life, the individual and creation from a single per-
spective, the materialistic perspective, and forgets that creation has a God, that the individual
has a soul, and that life has an objective: to prepare for the next life, which is better and more
lasting.32
However, al-Qaradawı is always eager to portray himself as a moderate, and he reminds
_ discussions with the People of the Book, i.e. Jews and Christians,
Muslims that in their
the Koran urges them to focus on the points of agreement and to endeavor towards
understanding.33 Furthermore, he sees opportunities to cooperate against ‘the enemies of
faith, preachers of atheism and depravity, supporters of materialism, advocates of nudism,
sexual promiscuity, abortion, homosexuality and same-sex marriage’.34 An example he
likes to quote is the alliance of al-Azhar, the Muslim World League, the Islamic Republic
of Iran and the Vatican during the UN conferences on population (Cairo, 1994) and
women (Beijing, 1995).35

THE MUSLIM RULERS

Al-Qaradawı also deplores that Western influence has led to a rift between the Muslim
_ their people. In a work entitled The Islamic awakening between rejection and
rulers and
extremism, first published in 1982 but which continues to be in print, his attitude is
uncompromising:
The rulers, whom God has entrusted with the Muslim peoples, walk down a valley which is
not the valley of Islam. They form alliances with those who challenge God and challenge
those who are allied to God. They get close to those who have distanced themselves from
God and take their distanceç from those who have got closer to God. They advance those
who have degraded Islam and degrade those who have advanced Islam… And they only
remember Islam during the celebrations, pretending in front of their peoples, laughing right in
their faces!36
The sheikh’s criticism has become less virulent in more recent works, but he continues
to condemn the ‘hypocritical’ rulers who pretend to be Muslims but implement
Western-style secularist policies.37 And he contrasts the fervor of the so-called Islamic
awakening – the youth who go to fight jihad, the women who donate their wedding
rings to Islamic NGOs, the preachers who curse the Jews, the Serbs, the Hindus and the
Russians… – with the indifferent attitude of most Muslim governments, which submit to
foreign pressures to serve their own interests.38

SECULARISM

Al-Qaradawı explains that whereas in the West secularism was the result of the emancipa-
_ the power of men of religion, in the Muslim world it is a foreign ideology
tion from
imposed – once again – by foreign powers. He explains that ‘Islam is being forced to bear
the burden of a history which is not its history, of an umma which is not its umma, in a
land which is not its land, the result of conditions it never knew’.39 And in a recent work

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 A Moderate Voice from the Muslim World? 569

about the history of the Arab empire entitled Our calumniated history, the sheikh
denounces ‘the secularists, who are opposed to the sharıa and would want us to import
our values, our ideas, our laws and our traditions from the West’.40 Later, he describes
them as ‘the enemies of the umma, who wish to delete its historical memory […] – and
if they cannot delete [it], they try to distort it’.41 In his eyes, it is only the implementa-
tion of the sharıa that will mean a true end to colonialism.42
The sheikh characterizes the Muslim secularists as an elite alienated from the people.
He describes the cultural associations in the Islamic world as ‘organized by people
estranged from their umma: estranged from their creed, their values and their norms’.43
He denounces ‘a culture that challenges religion’, denouncing Westernization as the most
serious problem confronting Islamic societies.44 And when asked about the assassination
of secularist author Farag Foda, murdered in 1992 due to his controversial writings against
the Islamists, he avoids condemning the crime, instead ‘those for whom being apostates
are not enough and seek to propagate apostasy’.45

COMMUNISM

One might have thought that Communism had lost its importance with the end of the
Soviet Union, but a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall al-Qaradawı still identified it
as one of the main enemies of Islam.46 He rejects it because of what_ he sees as its materi-
alistic conception of existence, its moral relativism, the tyranny of its regimes, its con-
tradictions…47 And he considers it just another ‘crusading’ weapon to turn Muslims away
from Islam:
[Western crusaders] despaired of converting us to their religion and are now content with
diverting us away from our religion. Since they could not turn us into Christians they try to
turn us into communists, so after the failure of the preachers of Christianity they opened wide
the gates to the preachers of Marxism. Their goal is to destroy us, never mind if it is with red
sickles. Their goal is that we give up the source of our strength and our unity, i.e. Islam.48
As well as being depicted as a weapon of the ‘crusaders’, communism is dubbed ‘the
daughter of Judaism’ – and, the sheikh adds, ‘today the Jews are our main enemies’.49 He
even denounces that it was the Jews that propagated the communist ideology in the
Middle East.50
Al-Qaradawı insists that communism has nothing to offer; even its main positive
feature, the_ championing of the poor, was preceded by the Islamic institution of zakat
(legal alms).51 The sheikh goes as far as speculating that if Marx had had the opportunity
to know Islam, he might have realized the error of his ways.52 paradoxically, just as
Sayyid Qutb seems to have borrowed the Leninist idea of a politically aware, mobilized
vanguard (talıa) leading the way to an Islamic order53arıq (Damascus?: Dar Dimashq,
_
1964?, passim.), al-Qaradawı has adopted Marxism’s historical determinism and speaks of
_
‘the inevitability of the Islamic solution’ (hatmiyyat al-hall al-islamı).54
_ _
ZIONISM

In the former section, we have seen in al-Qaradawı’s discourse certain anti-Semitic

_
elements. The examples abound and are often related to the existence of the state of
Israel. To encourage Muslims to support the Palestinian cause, the sheikh claims that all
the Jews in the world support Israel.55 He asserts that the Zionists, with their ‘Jewish
perfidy’, destroyed the caliphate because of the caliph’s alleged opposition to their

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570 Ana Belén Soage

acquisition of land in Palestine.56 And he insists that ‘there can be no dialogue with those
of the People of the Book that are iniquitous and overstep the limits, like the Christians
during the Crusades or the Jews nowadays’.57
However, on other occasions the sheikh’s anti-Semitism seems unrelated to the exis-
tence of the Jewish state. He explains that according to the Koran, the Jews were,
together with the idolaters, the worst enemies of the Muslims.58 Similarly, he character-
izes them as ‘the infidel, cunning, treacherous enemies that the Koran depicted as rebel-
lious against God and His prophets – as well as describing their cruelty, treachery,
fickleness, lying and other vices’.59 Then again, elsewhere he pretends that the Koranic
verses that attack the Jews should be interpreted in their historical context, and that the
current conflict between Jews and Muslims is because of a dispute over land and has no
religious basis.60
In any case, al-Qaradawı considers Zionism the most dangerous of the enemies of
Islam.61 He denounces the_ two alleged strategies pursued by the Jewish state that Muslims
must be aware of and oppose: the establishment of Greater Israel and the naturalization
with the Arab world.62 Regarding the latter, he writes:
What is the meaning of ‘naturalization’? It means to render something natural. And how can
the unnatural become natural? How to turn the relentless enemy into a friend? How can the
thief become the friend of the owner of the house he has robbed? What does Israel want? The
Zionist entity pretends to become integrated in the area by changing the peoples of the umma
psychologically and intellectually, so that they accept that hostile, usurping entity.63
To deal with such an enemy, all methods are legitimate. Al-Qaradawı has even defended
suicide attacks against Israeli civilians, arguing that, in reality, Israel_ is a militarized state in
which there are no civilians.64 Unsurprisingly, such statements have cost him much good
will, especially in the West, and have contributed to travel bans to the United States and
the United Kingdom.
Confronted with the threats he has identified, al-Qaradawı argues that Muslims have
one chance to recover their lost strength and their past glory: _ the Islamic awakening.

The Islamic Awakening (al-sahwa al-islamiyya)

_
Since the 1970s, the Muslim world has experimented an awakening (sahwa) of Islam,
which has manifested itself most dramatically in acts of violence perpetrated _ by radical
Islamists. Over the course of that decade, al-Qaradawı’s birthplace, Egypt, witnessed a
series of clashes between extremist Islamists and the_ security forces. Just to cite the most
spectacular: In 1974, a group of young Islamists stormed the Military Academy at Helio-
polis, in Cairo, with the intention of stealing its weapons and staging a coup d’état. In
1977, the leaders of another group that the media dubbed Al-Takfır wa’l-Hijra (Excom-
munication and Emigration) because of its philosophy were detained following their
kidnapping and assassination of a former minister of Religious Endowments. Finally, in
1981, a coalition of two radical groups, Islamic Gihad and al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, assassi-
nated president Anwar Sadat during a military parade.
However, the Islamic awakening did not just mean terrorist violence. The average
Egyptian felt it through the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and, particularly, of the
forceful Islamic Groups (al-Gama’at al-Islamiyya), which started to appear in Egyptian
universities and mosques at the beginning of the 1970s. Although they were opposed to
the regime and advocated the establishment of an Islamic state, they could count on the
support of the Sadat government, who regarded them as useful in its confrontation with

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 A Moderate Voice from the Muslim World? 571

Nasserists and communists. Through a combination of persuasion, coercion and the pro-
vision of social services, the Islamists were able to impose their puritanical version of
Islam in campuses and beyond.
The Islamic Groups ran summer camps to indoctrinate their supporters and attract new
recruits. For the coaching of their members, they used texts like al-Qaradawı’s already-
mentioned The Islamic awakening between rejection and extremism.65 _In that work,
Islamist radicalism is attributed first and foremost to the failure of Egyptian society to
implement Islam:
We must be brave and admit that it was often our behavior that pushed those youth to what
we call ‘extremism’: We call to Islam but do not practice it. We read the Koran but do not
execute its mandates. We pretend to love the prophet (peace be upon him) but do not follow
his example. We write in our constitutions that the religion of the State is Islam but do not give
it the place it deserves in government, legislation and education. […] We should start by
reforming ourselves and our societies according to what God ordered before demanding from
our youth calm, level-headedness, equanimity and moderation.66
The sheikh remind us that he has been keen to ‘guide the awakening (sahwa)’ ever since
the 1970s.67 To that end, he has written works such as For the sake of _a mature awak-
ening,68 The Islamic awakening between legitimate disagreements and reprehensible
disunity69 or The Islamic awakening from adolescence to maturity,70 just to cite those
with the word ‘sahwa’ in the title.
_
Al-Qaradawı rejects the arguments of the ‘secularist’ – i.e. non-Islamist – authors that
_
have analyzed the sahwa phenomenon. These have attributed it to a number of causes
_ one by one: economic, explanation that he rejects as reduction-
that the sheikh dismisses
ist; psychological, although he recognizes the traumatic impact of the 1967 defeat in the
Six Days War; political, particularly the role of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat – which,
he points out, does not explain the awakening before Sadat’s rule or in countries other
than Egypt71… He prefers to put down the sahwa to the umma’s divine origin and
mission: _
It is a feature of our umma to be woken up by Islam and for Islam […] This umma has been
hit by terrible crises72 from the beginning of its history [...] but has always been able to over-
come the factors of internal weakness and external aggression and turn the defeats into victories,
weakness into strength, division into unity, dispersed members into a giant body.73
That is the core of al-Qaradawı’s message: That Islam constitutes the Muslim umma’s
source of strength and that _the failure to implement its message is behind the Islamic
world’s current state of weakness and dependency – a message difficult to argue with in
Muslim societies, which not only continue to be profoundly religious but have also
witnessed the failure of the political projects imported from the West. At the same time,
the fact that al-Qaradawı derives his legitimacy from the Koran and the Sunna makes it
_
difficult for him to compromise with those who do not share his vision.

Short Biography
Ana Belén Soage holds two degrees, in Politics and Translation, from London Metro-
politan University and the University of Granada. She is the author of several dozen
academic papers on Islam and Islamism. She is currently in Egypt, conducting PhD
research on the evolution of political Islam with a grant from the Spanish government.

ª 2010 The Author Religion Compass 4/9 (2010): 563–575, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2010.00236.x

Religion Compass ª 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
572 Ana Belén Soage

Notes
* Correspondence address: Ana Belén Soage, La Cartuja, Granada, Spain, 18071. E-mail: [email protected]
1
The following biographical information comes from al-Qaradawı’s autobiography, Ibn al-qarya wa’l-kuttab (Son
of the village and the Koranic school), which has appeared in book _ form (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2004) and has also
been serialized in al-Qaradawı’s own website (http: ⁄ ⁄ www.Qaradawı.net ⁄ site ⁄ topics ⁄ index.asp?cu_no=2&lng=0
_
&template_id=189&temp_type=41&parent_id=) and in that of Islam_ Online (http: ⁄ ⁄ www.islamonline.net ⁄ Arabic ⁄
personality ⁄ 2001 ⁄ 11 ⁄ article1.SHTML [both last accessed 12 ⁄ 4 ⁄ 2009]. Our references are taken from the latter. For
a more detailed summary of al-Qaradawı’s biography, see the author’s ‘‘Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawı: Portrait of a
Leading Islamist Cleric’’. Middle East Review _ of International Affairs 12 ⁄ 1, pp. 51-68. _
2
There seems to be substantial evidence that the whole incident was staged by Nasir himself with the help of the
CIA, which also played a role in the 1952 Revolution. See Olivier Carré, Les Frères _ musulmans. Égypte et Syrie
(1928-1982) (Paris: Gallimard, 1983), pp. 61-2.
3
Yusuf al-Qaradawı. Nahnu wa’l-gharb. As]ila sha ]ika wa-ajwiba hasima (Cairo: Dar al-Tawzıya wa’l-Nashr al-Islami-
yya, 2006), p. 206. _ _
4
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, ‘‘Ma[ al-Ikhwan al-Muslimın. Hasan al-Banna shaykh wa-ustadh wa-qa]id’’. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.
_
islamonline.net ⁄ Arabic _
⁄ personality ⁄ 2001 ⁄ 12 ⁄ article5.SHTML#4 [13 ⁄ 03 ⁄ 2009]
5
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, ‘‘Qatl al-Khazandar. Khataya al-afrad tulsaq bi’l-Jama[ a’’. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.islamonline.net ⁄
Arabic ⁄ personality _ ⁄ 2001 ⁄ 12 ⁄ article8.SHTML#3 _[13 ⁄ 3 ⁄ 2009] _
6
Hasan al-Banna, ‘‘Risalat al-mu]tamar al-khamis’’, in Majmu [ at rasa ]il al-imam al-shahıd Hasan al-Banna (Alexandria:
Dar_ al-Da[ wa, 1998), p. 167. _
7
‘‘Al-muslimun wa’l-[ unf al-siyası, part 1’’. Al-Sharı [ a wa’l-Hayat. 23 ⁄ 5 ⁄ 2004. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.aljazeera.net ⁄
channel ⁄ archive ⁄ archive?ArchiveId=92972 [13 ⁄ 3 ⁄ 2009] _
8
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, Al-hulul al-mustawrada wa-kayfa janat [ alà ummatina (Cairo: Maktabat al-Wahba 1977 [1971]),
p. 313. According _ to a hadith_ or prophetic saying, Muslims should enter the toilet with their left foot and leave it
with their right foot.
9
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, Kayfa nata[amil ma[ al-Qur]an al-[ azım (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2005 [1999]), pp. 63.
10
Ibid., pp. 63-4. _ As an example, he defends Islamic inheritance _ laws (according to which men get twice as much
as women) and polygamy; ibid. pp. 64-5.
11
Hence the name given to the movement they launched: Salafiyya. Nowadays, the term is used to refer to groups
that advocate a literalist interpretation of the sacred texts, i.e. the Koran and the Sunna.
12
Jamal al-Dın al-Afghanı, ‘‘Insidad bab al-ijtihad’’, in Sayyid Hadı Khusraw Shahı, Al-athar al-kamila. Al-sayyid
Jamal al-Dın al-Husaynı al-Afghanı. Vol. VI. Khatirat (Cairo: Maktab al-Shuruq al-Duwaliyya, 2002), pp. 150-1.
13 _
See, for instance, Yusuf al-Qaradawı, Al-d_ ın wa’l-siyasa (2006). Available at: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.Qaradawı.net ⁄
_
site ⁄ topics ⁄ static.asp?cu_no=2&lng=0&template_id=254&temp_type=42&parent_id=12; ‘‘Al-siyasa bayna _al-jumud
wa’l-tatarruf ’’. 26 ⁄ 5 ⁄ 2008. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.Qaradawı.net ⁄ site ⁄ topics ⁄ article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=5981&version
_
=1&template_id=119&parent_id=13; _ at bi-intisar al-Islam’’. 24 ⁄ 1 ⁄ 1999. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.aljazeera.
‘‘Al-mubashshir
net ⁄ channel ⁄ archive ⁄ archive?ArchiveId=89738 [all last accessed_ 8 ⁄ 3 ⁄ 2009]; Thaqafatuna bayna al-infitah wa’l-inghilaq
(Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2000), p. 53. One could be forgiven for thinking that he would like to be considered _ this
century’s renewer. For instance, his personal website reproduces the enthusiastic letter of one of his devotees, who
addresses him as ‘‘commander [amir] of the preachers of our time’’ and ‘‘renewer of our time’’. See Ahmad Abu
Bakr Al  Muslih, ‘‘Risala ilà amır al-du[at fı [ asrina’’, Al-Sharq (undated) http: ⁄ ⁄ www.qaradawi.net ⁄ site _ ⁄ topics ⁄
_ _ _
printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=3810&version=1&template_id=119&parent_id=13 [last accessed 28 ⁄ 4 ⁄ 2009].
14
‘‘Reform according to Islam’’. Al-Jazeera Net. 20 ⁄ 05 ⁄ 2004. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ english.aljazeera.net ⁄ archive ⁄ 2004 ⁄ 05 ⁄
2008410114555767536.html [last accessed 14 ⁄ 04 ⁄ 2009].
15
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, Hawla qadaya al-Islam wa’l-asr (Cairo: Maktabat al-Wahba, 1992), p. 43.
16
For al-Afghani’s _ take_ on the_ matter, see the quote above. [ Abduh’s position is similar: ‘‘Every Muslim must
understand God from God’s Book, and His Prophet from His Prophet’s words, without mediation from the ances-
tors nor from those who succeeded them.’’ See Muhammad [ Abduh, Al-Islam wa’l-nasraniyya ma[ al-[ ilm wa’l-mada-
niyya, in Muhammad [ Imara, Al-a[ mal al-kamila li’l-im _ am Muhammad [ Abduh. Al-juz _ ] al-thalith. Al-islah al-fikrı
_ ahiyyat (Beirut & Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq), p. 305._
wa’l-tarbawı wa’l-il _ _
17
Al-Qaradawı, Hawla qadaya al-Islam wa’l-asr, p. 44.
18 _
Yusuf al-Qara _awı, Ummatun
d _ a bayna qarnayn (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2000), p. 225. See also Min ajl sahwa rashida
(Cairo: Dar al-Shur _ uq, 2001), pp. 49-50. _ _
19
Patrick Haenni, ‘‘Divisions chez les Frères musulmans. La nouvelle pensée islamique des déçus de l’expérience
militante’’, Le manifeste des libertés. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.manifeste.org ⁄ article.php3?id_article=230 [last accessed
02 ⁄ 05 ⁄ 09].
20
‘‘Al-Islam al-dımuqratı al-madanı’’. Al-Sharı [a wa’l-Hayat 14 ⁄ 12 ⁄ 2004. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.aljazeera.net ⁄
Channel ⁄ archive ⁄ archive?ArchiveId=108218#L1 [last accessed 15 ⁄ 4 ⁄ 2009].
21
Al-Qaradawı, Thaqafatuna bayna al-infitah wal-inghilaq, p. 30.
_

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 A Moderate Voice from the Muslim World? 573
22
‘‘Al-wasatiyya fı’l-Islam’’, Al-Sharı [a wa’l-Hayat 26 ⁄ 10 ⁄ 1997. In http: ⁄ ⁄ www.aljazeera.net ⁄ channel ⁄ archive ⁄
_
archive?ArchiveId=91751#L5 [last accessed 15 ⁄ 4 ⁄ 2009]
23
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, Kalimat fı’l-wasatiyya al-islamiyya wa-ma[alimu-ha (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2008), p. 9.
24
Hasan al-Bann_a, Mudakkirat al-da3wa_ wa’l-da3iya (Cairo: Dar al-Shihab, 1966), p. 53, 54.
25 _
Sayyid Qutb, Fızilal_ al-Qur]an (Beirut & El Cairo: Dar al-SHuruq, 1982), p. 924. The last sentence refers to the
widely-held belief among _ Muslims that Jews and Christians falsified their sacred books to delete any reference to
prophet Muhammad. Such claim also explains the inconsistencies between the Bible and the Koran.
26
Rashıd Rida, Al-Manar XXVI: p. 100.
27
Yusuf al-Qara _ dawı, Al-sahwa al-islamiyya bayna al-juhud wa’l-tafarruq (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2001 [1982]), p. 91.
28
Yusuf al-Qarad _ awı, A[ d _a ]_ al-hall al-islamı (Cairo: Maktabat
_ al-Wabha, 2000).
29
Yusuf al-Qara_dawı, Al-thaqa_fa al-[ arabiyya wa’l-islamiyya bayna al-asala wa’l-mu[asira (Cairo: Maktabat al-Wahba,
1994), p. 172. _ _ _
30
Al-Qaradawı, Al-sahwa al-islamiyya bayna al-juhud wa’l-tafarruq, p. 93-4.
31
‘‘Al-Qarad _ awı: ‘Lam _ _ ad[u li’l-[ unf wa-nushaddid _ [ alà al-ghadb al-’ aqil’’’. 11 ⁄ 02 ⁄ 2006. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.Qaradawı.
_
net ⁄ site ⁄ topics ⁄ article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=4161&version=1&template_id=104&parent_id=15 [18 ⁄ 04 ⁄ 2009] _
32
Al-Qaradawı, Hawla qadaya al-Islam wa’l-asr, p. 185. See also ‘‘Al-muslimun wa’l-[ unf al-siyası, part 1’’.
33
E.g. Al-Qara _ _ ı, Ummatun
daw _ a bayna qarnayn,_ p. 244; Fı fiqh al-aqalliyyat al-muslima (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2007),
p. 68; Al-thaqafa_ al-[ arabiyya wa’l-islamiyya bayna al-asala wa’l-mu[asira, p. 163; ‘‘Al-islah wa’l-musharika fı al-sharı[ a
al-islamiyya’’. Al-Sharı [a wa’l-Hayat. 27 ⁄ 12 ⁄ 2006. In:_ http: ⁄ ⁄ www.aljazeera.net
_ _ ⁄ archive ⁄ archive?ArchiveId
⁄ Channel
=1036217#L1; ‘‘Al-khitab al-isl _ amı fı [ asr al-[ awlama’’. Al-Sharı [ a wa’l-Hayat. 22 ⁄ 12 ⁄ 2002. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.
aljazeera.net ⁄ Channel ⁄ archive _ _
⁄ archive?ArchiveId=91431#L5 _
[both last accessed 16 ⁄ 4 ⁄ 2009]. However, the sheikh
seems to suggest that dialogue should only take place with the ‘‘People of the Book’’, i.e. Jews and Christians.
34
Al-Qaradawı, Fı fiqh al-aqalliyyat al-muslima, p. 69.
35 _
Ibid.; Ummatun a bayna qarnayn, p. 233.
36
Al-Qaradawı, Al-sahwa al-islamiyya bayna al-juhud wa’l-tatarruf, pp. 86-7.
37
Al-Qarad _ awı, A[ d_ a _] al-hall al-islamı, pp. 139-42; _ Dars al-nakba
_ al-thaniya. Li-madha inhazimna.. wa-kayfa nantasir
(Cairo: Maktabat _ al-Wahba,_ 1987), p. 37-9. _
38
Al-Qaradawı, Ummatuna bayna qarnayn, p. 202.
39
Al-Qarad _ awı, Al-sahwa al-islamiyya bayna al-juhud wa’l-tafarruq, p. 88. See also Al-thaqafa al-[ arabiyya wa’l-islamiyya
bayna al-asala _ wa’l-mu_[a_sira, pp. 169-70. _
40 _ a al-muftarà_ [ alay-hi (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2006 [2005]), p. 8.
Tarıkhun
41
Ibid., 9.
42
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, Bayyinat al-hall al-islamı wa-shubuhat al-[ almaniyın wa’l-mutagharribiyyin (Cairo: Maktabat
al-Wahba, 1988), p. _ 183. _
43
Al-Qaradawı, Thaqafatuna bayna al-infitah wa’l-inghilaq, p. 64.
44
Ibid., p. _61. _
45
‘‘Al-muslimun wa’l-[ unf al-siyası, part 2’’. Al-Sharı [ a wa’l-Hayat. 30 ⁄ 5 ⁄ 2004. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.aljazeera.net ⁄
channel ⁄ archive ⁄ archive?ArchiveId=92986 [last accessed 18 ⁄ 04_ ⁄ 2009]. Farag Foda was assassinated by radical
Islamists in 1992 after a group of Al-Azhar scholars accused him of blasphemy. During the subsequent trial, Muslim
Brother Muhammad al-Ghazali – an old friend of al-Qaradawı’s – testified in favor of the assassins, alleging that if
the state does not punish apostasy, somebody has to do it. For _ more on Foda, see the author’s ‘‘Faraj Fawda, or the
cost of freedom of expression’’. Middle East Review of International Affairs 11:2 (June 2007); pp. 26-33.
46
Al-Qaradawı, A[ da ] al-hall al-islamı, pp. 105-36.
47
Ibid., pp._ 131ff. _
48
Ibid., pp. 132-3.
49
Ibid., p. 132.
50
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, ‘‘Min Taur ilà Hikstep.. Rihla qasiya la tunsà’’, In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.islamonline.net ⁄ arabic ⁄
personality ⁄ 2001 ⁄ _12 ⁄ article11.shtml#1 _ [last accessed 02_ ⁄ 05 ⁄ 2009].
51
Al-Qaradawı, A[ da ] al-hall al-islamı, pp. 135-6.
52
Ibid. p. 136._ _
53
Sayyid Qutb, Ma[alim fı’l-T ariq (Damascus?: Dar Dimashq, 1964?), passim.
54
Al-Qaradawı has written _a series of four books discussing the inevitability of the Islamic solution: Al-hulul
al-mustawrada _ wa-kayfa janat [ alà ummatina (The imported solutions and how they have harmed our umma); Al- _ hall
al-islamı farıda wa-darura (The Islamic solution: A necessity and an obligation; Cairo: Maktabat al-Wahba, 2001); _
Bayyinat al-hall_ al-isl_ amı wa-shubuhat al-[ almaniyın wa’l-mutagharribiyyin (The evidence of the Islamic solution and the
suspicions of_ the secularists and the Westernized); and A[ da ] al-hall al-islamı (The enemies of the Islamic solution).
55
E.g. al-Qaradawı, Ummatuna bayna qarnayn p. 216; ‘‘Al-Islam _ wa-mishkilat al-fuqr’’.
56
Yusuf al-Qara _ dawı, ‘‘Filistın.. Sina[ at al-mawt’’, In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.islamonline.net ⁄ Arabic ⁄ personality ⁄ 2001 ⁄ 12 ⁄
article6.SHTML#4 _ [last accessed _ 18 ⁄ 04 ⁄ 2009].
57
Al-Qaradawı, Thaqafatuna bayna al-infitah wal-inghilaq, p. 52.
58
Al-Qarad _ awı, Ummatuna bayna qarnayn, pp. 203-4.
_

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Religion Compass ª 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
574 Ana Belén Soage
59
Ibid. p. 183.
60
‘‘[ Ilaqat al-muslimın bi’l-yahud’’. Al-Sharı [a wa’l-Hayat. 19 ⁄ 01 ⁄ 2005. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.aljazeera.net ⁄ Channel ⁄
archive ⁄ archive?ArchiveId=11257. Such assertions have _ provoked violent criticisms against the sheikh by radical
Islamists, e.g. ‘‘Some mistakes of Yusuf al-Qaradawı’’. IslamicWeb.com. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ islamicweb.com ⁄ beliefs ⁄
misguided ⁄ Qaradawı.htm; ‘‘Reading in Qaradawısm’’. _ Allahuakbar Net. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.allahuakbar.net ⁄ jamat-
e-islami ⁄ Qaradaw _ ısm ⁄ reading_in_Qaradawısm.htm_ [all last accessed 18 ⁄ 04 ⁄ 2009].
61
Al-Qaradaw _ ı, Ummatuna bayna qarnayn, _ p. 180-1.
62
Ibid. pp._ 180ff. Note that the strategies seem somewhat contradictory.
63
Ibid. pp. 183.
64
Ibid. p. 114; ‘‘Al-muslimun wa’l-[ unf al-siyası, part 2’’. In: http: ⁄ ⁄ www.aljazeera.net ⁄ channel ⁄ archive ⁄ archive?
ArchiveId=92986#L5.
65
Al-Qaradawı, Al-sahwa al-islamiyya bayna al-juhud wa’l-tatarruf.
66
Ibid., p. _20. _ _ _ _
67
Yusuf al-Qaradawı, Al-sahwa al-islamiyya min al-murahaqa ilà al-rushd (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2002), p. 12.
68
Al-Qaradawı, _Min ajl sa_hwa _ rashida.
69 _
Yusuf al-Qara dawı, _Al-
_ sahwa al-islamiyya bayna al-ikhtilaf al-mashru[ wa’l-tafarruq al-madhmum (Cairo: Dar
al-Shuruq, 2001). _ _ _ _
70
Al-Qaradawı, Al-sahwa al-islamiyya min al-murahaqa ilà al-rushd.
71
Al-Qarad _ _ a bayna qarnayn, pp. 99-102.
_ awı, Ummatun
72
The terms _ used is naksat and nakbat, which designate the Arab defeats to Israel in 1948 (the nakba or ‘‘catastro-
phe’’) and in 1967 (the naksa or ‘‘setback’’).
73
Al-Qaradawı, Ummatuna bayna qarnayn, pp. 102, 103.
_

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