Green Party LGBT News
| Qaradawi ban | 8 February 2008 |
SummaryThe government's decision to ban Muslim fundamentalist cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi from entering Britain for medical treatment is "unwarranted and unmerciful," says Green Party candidate and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. "We should show Qaradawi the mercy that he seeks to deny others." |
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Main Body
"Qaradawi is anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and an advocate of terrorist attacks on innocent civilians."But he is coming to Britain to receive medical treatment, not to resume his hate preaching. In these circumstances a ban is unjustified.
"We should show Qaradawi the mercy that he seeks to deny to fellow Muslims who transgress his dogmatic, illiberal interpretation of Islam.
"It is wrong for the government to stoop to Qaradawi's level of inhumanity. We should let him come to Britain for medical treatment, to show that our liberal, humanitarian values are better than his bigotry and his glorification of religious violence.
"Qaradawi is a hypocrite. He wants medical treatment in a country whose liberal values he despises.
"He is also a hypocrite because he is seeking medical treatment that he would refuse to people who do not share his hardline interpretation of Islam.
"He believes medical treatment should be denied to Muslims and non-Muslims that he disagrees with. He believes that such people should be allowed to die.
"Qaradawi is on record as advocating the denial of medical treatment to Muslims who do not share his particular brand of Islam. He says that Muslims should not donate organs to Muslims who adopt other faiths or become atheists. An apostate should not be given an organ donation because he has transgressed Islam and 'deserves killing,' Qaradawi wrote in a fatwa issued on the website of which he is the chief scholar, Islamonline, on 24 June 2002.
islamonline.net
"The Muslim Council of Britain is talking nonsense when it claims that Qaradawi is a moderate. Compared to al-Qaida he is less extreme, but compared to most Muslims in Britain he is a fundamentalist and a preacher of intolerance.
"In October 2004, a petition signed by 2,500 of the world's leading Muslim intellectuals from 23 countries was delivered to the United Nations. It condemned Islamic theologians who promote fundamentalism, intolerance and violence. The 'sheikh's of death' named in the petition included Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The signatories accused him of "providing a religious cover for terrorism."
Qaradawi advocates:
- Killing Muslims who have turned away from Islam (apostates) The execution of gay people in Islamic societies
- Suicide bombing of innocent Israeli civilians
- Female genital mutilation (female "circumcision")
- Husbands forcing their wife to wear the hijab
- Violence against disobedient wives in certain circumstances
- Blaming rape victims who dress immodestly
"Qaradawi is a religious sectarian who preaches against Muslims who do not adhere to his particular strand of Islam. He is intolerant of other, different sects of Islam," said Mr Tatchell.
Briefings on Qaradawi's anti-humanitarian agenda:
Qaradawi filmed by the BBC justifying suicide bombings that kill innocent civilians suicide bombings that kill innocent civilians
A refutation of the apologia and distortions of the truth by those who defend and support Qaradawi www.londoncommunitycoalition.org
The detailed dossier of the multi-ethnic, multi-faith London Community Coalition on Qaradawi's right-wing, fundamentalist, anti-humanitarian politics www.londoncommunitycoalition.org
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