Youssef Qaradawi, who disappeared in Doha on Monday, had the ability to utter the worst horrors without departing from his calm and his smile. Thus, on January 30, 2009, speaking on the Al-Jazeera channel, he declared that “throughout history, Allah has imposed on [Juifs] people who punished them for their corruption. The last punishment was administered by Hitler. Before everything he did to them – and although they [les juifs] exaggerated the facts – he managed to put them in their place. It was divine punishment. If Allah wills, next time it will be by the hand of the believers.” But when he received the author of this article in Istanbul, on the occasion of the European Council for fatwa and research, which he chaired, the preacher was indignant that France could close its borders to him. “I deeply regret this fundamentalist image attributed to me. On the contrary, I am a tolerant man, and I denounce terrorism. I condemned the attacks of September 11,” he said.
Born into a peasant family in Egypt on September 9, 1926, Youssef Qaradawhi memorized the Koran from the age of ten, according to his biography, and joined the Brotherhood of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded by Hassan al-Banna, at a very young age. This led to him being imprisoned many times between 1949 and 1962. Stripped of Egyptian nationality, he went into exile in Qatar in the 1970s. Founder and president of the department of Islamic studies at the University of Doha, the Sheikh becomes the most famous theologian and preacher of Sunni Islam. Author of over one hundred and twenty books, including The Lawful and the Unlawful in IslamYoussef Qaradawi owes his international notoriety above all to the show Sharia and Lifeaired on the Al-Jazeera channel.
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Sentenced to death by Egypt
He was a very complex character. While justifying suicide attacks against Israelis, including women, which he called “suicide operations”, the preacher could be almost moderate – compared to the Salafists – in allowing Muslims living in Europe to consume vinegar made from alcohol, or a Muslim woman to be able to open the door to the postman in the event of the husband’s absence… This is what he called “the middle way”. Youssef Qaradawi liked to recall that on at least two occasions the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood had asked him to take the lead, but that he had preferred to decline the offer. Sentenced to death in absentia in Egypt in 2015, he had hardly left Qatar since.
During another interview with the author of the article, in Doha, Youssef Qaradawi had received him in the company of another journalist. He had only addressed himself to ask him what he wanted to drink. Then he had brought back two coffees, presumably considering that a woman should consume the same thing as a man. Without ever losing a mischievous look behind silver glasses, the preacher had assured them that he was encouraging Muslims in Europe not to repudiate their wives on a whim. And that when the wife showed herself to be rebellious towards her husband, it was always necessary to try to reason with her. Only as a last resort was it permissible to beat her, but lightly, avoiding the face. Always in the name of the golden mean.
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