Qaradawi is the most popular and influential Islamic preacher in the world. His endorsement of the rebellion against Assad as a jihad will mean that many more jihadis will stream into Syria.
Qaradawi was on the Board of the Islamic Society of Boston, as I pointed out at Jihad Watch back in March 2004. If anyone in Boston had been paying attention to the implications of that fact back then, the Boston Marathon bombings may never have happened.
Qaradawi is a vicious Jew-hater. He has said on al-Jazeera: “Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them — even though they exaggerated this issue — he managed to put them in their place. This was divine punishment for them. Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers”¦.”
Qaradawi continued: “I’d like to say that the only thing I hope for is that as my life approaches its end, Allah will give me an opportunity to go to the land of Jihad and resistance, even if in a wheelchair. I will shoot Allah’s enemies, the Jews, and they will throw a bomb at me, and thus, I will seal my life with martyrdom.”
He says that Muslims are “required” to go to Syria because in Islamic theology, jihad warfare is fard kifaya, an obligation of the community as a whole but not of every individual believer. Jihad becomes fard ayn, obligatory on every individual Muslim to aid in some way, when a Muslim land is attacked.
“Rockets from Syria hit Hezbollah stronghold,” by Karin Laub for the Associated Press, June 1 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):
…In Qatar, an influential Sunni Muslim cleric whose TV show is watched by millions across the region, fanned the sectarian flames ignited by the Syria conflict and urged Sunnis everywhere to join the fight against Assad.
“I call on Muslims everywhere to help their brothers be victorious,” Yusuf al-Qaradawi said in his Friday sermon in the Qatari capital of Doha. “If I had the ability I would go and fight with them.”
“Everyone who has the ability and has training to kill … is required to go,” said al-Qaradawi, who is in his 80s. “We cannot ask our brothers to be killed while we watch.”
He denounced Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, as “more infidel than Christians and Jews” and Shiite Muslim Hezbollah as “the party of the devil.”
He said there is no more common ground between Shiites and Sunnis, alleging that Shiite Iran “” a longtime Syria ally that has supplied the regime with cash and weapons “” is trying to “devour” Sunnis….