Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide who was instrumental in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and destabilized rulers in Egypt and the Arab Gulf with his Islamic preaching, died on Monday at the age of 96.
Born in Egypt, Qaradawi spent much of his life in Qatar, where he became one of the most recognized and influential Sunni Muslim clerics in the Arab world, thanks to regular appearances on Qatar’s Al Jazeera network.
Qaradawi, who studied at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, was often described by supporters as a moderate who offered a counterweight to the radical ideologies espoused by al-Qaeda. He strongly condemned the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and supported the democratic system.
But he also supported violence in the causes he championed.
In Iraq, after a US-led invasion in 2003, he supported attacks on US coalition forces and defended Palestinian suicide bombings against Israeli targets during an uprising that began in 2000.
During the Arab Spring uprisings, he called for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to be killed and declared jihad against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Qaradawi joined the Muslim Brotherhood at a young age. Advocating Islam as a political program, the Brotherhood has been seen as a threat by autocratic Arab leaders since it was founded in 1928 in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna, whom Qaradawi knew.
He turned down the chance to lead the organization, focusing instead on preaching, Islamic knowledge and building a following that extended far beyond the group.
Its prominence grew after the Arab uprisings of 2011.
Qaradawi also opposed the radical Islamic State group, saying he completely disagreed with Daesh “in ideology and means”.
However, he dismissed the US role in fighting the group as self-interest. Critics noted how that stance seemed to contrast with his tacit support for US action in Syria in 2013, when Washington considered, but never carried out, attacks on the Syrian government for the use of chemical weapons.
He strongly supported the Palestinian struggle with Israel.
Source: CNN Brasil
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