Rejoice, dhimmis! I imagine Rowan Williams is really stoked about this bit of news. I’m a bit late with this for this year, but barring a jihadist nuke in Pakistan or Iran you should have another chance to receive these magnanimous greetings from your overlords.
That’s right: the great Qaradawi, who has won praise from John Esposito as a champion of a “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism and human rights,” has done it again! He has broken with a 700-year-old ruling by Ibn Taymiyyah, a favorite jurist of contemporary jihadists, and stated that it is permissible for Muslims to give Jews and Christians greetings on their holidays! What generosity! What open-mindedness! What magnanimity!
“Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi: Muslims May Wish Christians A Happy Holiday,” from the MEMRI Blog (thanks to Dinah Lord):
Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, head of the International Council of Muslim Clerics, has permitted Muslims to extend greetings to Christians and to other “people of the book” (i.e. Jews) on their holidays.
He said that changes in the global situation have led him to disagree with Sheikh Ibn Taymiyya, who banned such greetings.
Al-Qaradhawi also called to replace the Islamic term ahl al-dhimma (the people of the dhimma) with the term “civilians.”
Source: islamonline.net, December 29, 2007
Ah. More “reformist” Islam. There was apparently no word from Qaradawi on whether these “civilians” will be freed from the subjugation mandated for the dhimmis, but let’s not ask for too much “reform” at one time, eh?