Sheikh Qaradawi, Islamist champion of Arab revolts, critic of 9/11 attacks, dies at 96
- He was one of the most recognisable and influential Sunni Muslim clerics in the Arab world, whose prominence grew after the 2011 Arab spring uprisings
- He was often described as a moderate who strongly condemned the 9/11 attacks in the US, but he also sanctioned violence in causes he favoured
Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, a spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood who championed the 2011 Arab spring uprisings and unsettled rulers in Egypt and the Gulf with his Islamist preaching, died on Monday. He was 96.
Born in Egypt, Qaradawi spent much of his life in Qatar, where he became one of the most recognisable and influential Sunni Muslim clerics in the Arab world thanks to regular appearances on Qatar’s Al Jazeera network.
Broadcast into millions of homes, his sermons fuelled tensions that led Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to impose a blockade on Qatar in 2017 and declare Qaradawi a terrorist.
His death was announced on his official Twitter account.
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 attacks in the United States, and supported democratic politics.
But he also sanctioned violence in causes he favoured.
