Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Yusuf al-Qaradawi (يوسف القرضاوي; or Yusuf al-Qardawi; 9 September 1926 – 26 September 2022) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar based in Doha, Qatar, and chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

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

He was best known for his programme الشريعة والحياة, al-Sharīʿa wa al-Ḥayāh ("Sharia and Life"), broadcast on Al Jazeera, which had an estimated audience of 40–60 million worldwide.

Al-Qaradawi was born on 9 September 1926 in Saft Turab rural village in the Nile Delta, now in Gharbia Governorate, Egypt, into a poor family of devout Muslim peasants.

He became an orphan at the age of two, when he lost his father.

Following his father's death, he was raised by his mother and uncle.

He read and memorized the entire Quran before he was ten years old.

He then joined the Institute of Religious Studies at Tanta, and graduated after nine years of study.

While in Tanta, Al-Qaradawi first encountered Hassan al Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, when al Banna gave a lecture at his school.

Al-Qaradawi wrote of the lasting impact of this encounter, describing al Banna as "brilliantly radiating, as if his words were revelation or live coals from the light of prophecy."

His connection with the Muslim Brotherhood led to imprisonment under King Farouq in 1949, then three more times during the term of President Gamal Abdul Nasser.

After graduating from the Institute of Religious Studies he moved on to study Islamic Theology at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, from which he graduated in 1953.

He earned a diploma in Arabic Language and Literature in 1958 at the Advanced Arabic Studies Institute.

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

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

In 1962, he was sent by Al-Azhar University to Qatar to head the Qatari Secondary Institute of Religious Studies.

He 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.

Al-Qaradawi had a prominent role within the intellectual leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian political organization, although he repeatedly stated that he was no longer a member and twice (in 1976 and 2004) turned down offers for the official role in the organization.

Al-Qaradawi was sometimes described as a "moderate Islamist".

In 1977, he laid the foundation for the Faculty of Shari'ah and Islamic Studies at the University of Qatar and became the faculty's dean.

In the same year he founded the Centre of Seerah and Sunna Research.

He also 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.

His next appointment was in Algeria as Chairman of the Scientific Council of Islamic University and Higher Institutions in 1990–91.

He returned to Qatar once more as Director of the Seerah and Sunnah Center at Qatar University.

He was also known for IslamOnline, a website he helped to found in 1997 and for which he served as chief religious scholar.

Al-Qaradawi published more than 120 books, including The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam and Islam: The Future Civilization.

He also received eight international prizes for his contributions to Islamic scholarship, and was considered one of the most influential Islamic scholars living.

In 1997, Al-Qaradawi helped found the European Council for Fatwa and Research, a council of important and influential Muslim scholars dedicated to researching and writing fatwas in support of Western Muslim minority communities based in Ireland, and he served as its head.

He also served as the chairman of International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS).

Some of his views, such as his condoning of Palestinian suicide bombings against Israelis, caused reactions from governments in the West: he was refused an entry visa to the United Kingdom in 2008, and barred from entering France in 2012.

Al-Qaradawi finished third in a 2008 poll on who was the world's leading public intellectual.

The poll, Top 100 Public Intellectuals, was conducted among readers of Prospect Magazine (UK) and Foreign Policy (United States).

On 2 August 2010, the bank was removed from a list of entities and individuals associated with Al Qaeda maintained by the United Nations Security Council.

In the wake of the 2011 Revolution he returned to Egypt for the first time since leaving in 1961.

Al-Qaradawi was a principal shareholder and former Sharia adviser to Bank Al-Taqwa.

After the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Qaradawi made his first public appearance in Egypt after 1981.

In Tahrir Square, he led Friday prayers on 18 February, addressing an audience estimated to exceed two million Egyptians.

It began with an address of "O Muslims and Copts", referring to Egypt's Coptic Christian minority instead of the customary opening for Islamic Friday sermons "O Muslims".

He was reported to have said, "Egyptian people are like the genie who came out of the lamp and who have been in prison for 30 years."

He also demanded the release of political prisoners in Egyptian prisons, praised the Copts for protecting Muslims in their Friday prayer, and called for the new military rulers to quickly restore civilian rule.