Esposito says he’s a “reformist”
“Appropriate statements must be made in the appropriate setting.” Arafat was a master of that. From the MEMRI Blog :
At the fifth conference of the International Al-Quds Institute, held in Algeria, institute head Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi was asked whether his recent call for “civil jihad” in Palestine would influence people to give up the original jihad.
Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi answered, “We are not abolishing the military jihad with the civil jihad, but appropriate statements must be made in the appropriate setting. In another place I call for military jihad and even for martyrdom operations. In the eyes of some people, my blood is permitted because of this. But at the Al-Quds Institute, I call for civil jihad.”