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Sunni cleric says Iraq caliphate violates Sharia
DOHA: Sunni Muslim religious scholar Yusef al-Qaradawi said on Saturday that the declaration of an Islamic caliphate by militants fighting the governments in Syria and Iraq violates Sharia law.
Last Sunday, the militants declared an “Islamic caliphate” in areas they control in Iraq and Syria and ordered Muslims worldwide to pledge allegiance to their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Qatar-based Qaradawi, seen as a spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in his native Egypt, said in a statement that the declaration “is void under Sharia“.
“We look forward to the coming, as soon as possible, of the caliphate,“ Qaradawi said, of the form of pan-Muslim government last seen under the Ottoman Empire.
“But the declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under Sharia and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria,“ he added.
The influential cleric said the declaration and nomination of Baghdadi by a militant group “known for its atrocities and radical views” fail to meet strict conditions dictated by Sharia.
The title of caliph, he said, can “only be given by the entire Muslim nation” not by a single group.
Since last Sunday, other leading Muslim figures have denounced the announcement by the Islamic State, which was previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
A caliphate is fundamentally a universal Islamic state ruled by a single leader with both political and religious authority.
Many Sunnis associate the caliphate with a golden age of Islam, but the declaration made by the Islamic State has triggered indignation among those who see it as heresy.
Al-Azhar, the top authority of Sunni Islam, “believes that all those who are today speaking of an Islamic State are terrorists,” senior representative Sheikh Abbas Shuman said earlier this week.
“The Islamic caliphate can't be restored by force. Occupying a country and killing half of its population ... This is not an Islamic state, this is terrorism,” he said.
In Saudi Arabia, bastion of Sunni Islam and home to the religion's holiest places, Al-Riyadh daily ripped the caliphate as being “no more than one person heading a terrorist organisation“. Rebels in Syria, who have been battling the militants who have infuriated many by their brutality, have branded the caliphate announcement as “null and void”.
Jordanian Al-Qaeda cleric Issam Barqawi, known as Abu Mohammed al-Maqdessi, also denounced it, warning it will lead to more bloodshed.
Comments (23) Closed
Isn't he the same cleric who on-air asked for apostates to be killed, wives can be beaten "lightly", women to be blamed for rape by not dressing modestly enough. So should I be happy that he is looking as a moderate compared to ISIS. Is there no saner voice of Islam left who cares for humanity anymore.
let God save muslim ummah, which I think at the edge of extinction
Whose sharia will that be?
Does it or will it effect the ISIS, as the Sunni cleric says caliphate violates sharia? All they want to avenge, the killing of Saddam Hussain and other sects of Islam specially the Shiites.
It has been few years that a big bang hasn't happened. Emergence of ISIS looks like that we are about to see something happen (I wish it wouldn't though). After 9-11 we had few sequels as in London bombings, Mumbai and of course the three character movie, Saddam, Gaddafi and Bin Laden. Now it has been quiet again which does not bode good for the "bidnezz". If you need to sell fear and its security, you need a perpetual boogeyman.
There you are . . . No man, no matter who, a sultan, a king, a a dictator, a Mohandas, a muffasar, or even a caliph must go without having a FATWA. :)
Will the eminent Pakistani supporters of the caliphate please now please move to the 'liberated' lands? Please do us a favor and leave Pakistan and its system alone.
No Caliphate! Just "Band of gangsters, murderer's, giving Islam a bad name!
Wake up muslims these terrorists are now declaring Caliphate. They even can not read Quran properly, they even do not know the ABC of Islam. For God sake do not listen to these ignorants.
This mess created by the Muslims is in the first place the direct result of listening to the Mullahs and ignoring the dictates of Allah and The Holy Prophet SAW.
Shaikh Qardawi has given a clear edict to the Muslims and we should be very careful in commenting against him.
@dhk : Shaikh Qardawi never said what you accuse him of saying. He is the most respected voice in the Islamic world today.
question is that who is funding them?
@dhk NO he is not the same person. Don't mislead people.
@Agha Ata Please read "Mohaddas" instead of Mohandas. Sorry!
There is no Islamic State north of Baghdad nor a caliph. It is a drama staged by US, Iraq. Iran and Syria to defame Sunni resistance.
@yousuf ali
It would be better if this extinct
@Fazal Karim ...you are seriously delusional.
@Fazal Karim
The drama similar to one staged around Karachi Airport? Please come out of conspiracy-theory mind set.
@Fazal Karim Here we go again, conspiracy theorists are active again. Pls come out of this mind set of blaming others for your problems. Whole world knows that a group has declared calphate and you are denying that fact. You and muslims are invited to join that group and help them in their so called religious cause.
All these pious entities criticizing ISIS are responsible for her birth.
Dr Yusef al-Qaradawi is an Intl. and a renowned Egyptian Islamic Scholar (based in Qatar and also an affiliate of one of my former Egyptian teachers and a prolific ME author of 'Political and Social issues in Islam' at UoL) and Dr Qaradawi who has authored several books on Islam that have also been translated in English. Therefore, his fatwa and that of Al-Azhar University against ISIS carries significant influence.
I wish, though, that the Pakistani and Indian Islamic scholars had also issued a Fatwa, as they seem to be silent on this subject?
The Prophet (pbuh) warned in several Sahih Hadith of such extremists and 'seceders' or kharji`i's or Khawarij or Kharjiite's, who will come in our midst; and there will be lots of killing; and to beware of them.
We have entered a new phase in our Islamic and World history. Those who have studied 'Muslim Theology' and read the Seerah or the Biography of the Prophet - pbuh can relate with and understand the classical period of Islamic History, and these people (ISIS and all the offshoots of Al-Qaeda) do not 'fit the best of character' of those greatest of leaders and men & women of Khulfa-e-Rashidun and later periods nor are they 'fit for purpose'!
As the sayings go, 'don't judge a book by its cover', folks, the physical appearance of a so-called 'pious man' is not enough for obeisance to such ruthless men and murderers; 'actions speak louder than words'!
Thanks to Dawn for publishing this article and fatwa's immediately and as a matter of urgency to allay further confusion and uncertainty among, at least, the readers of Dawn. I wish to express, also, my thanks for publishing my aforementioned comments (for whatever little its worth) and the conviction of my belief and support for the fatwa's given by such learned Scholars of Islam (still among our midst) against ISIS and all such deluded miscreants, and to provide reassurance to those who may be confused between truth and falsehood; but "Allah (swt) knows best".