Al-Qaradawi And The Disgrace Of Normalizing Ties With Israel

2010-07-14
The Arab region is witnessing a conflict between senior Muslim religious scholars over the interpretation of some sensitive national issues, like normalization of ties with Israel, martyrdom-seeking operations, and the construction of the steel wall to tighten the blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip. The pro-authorities religious scholars come up, now and then, with religious fatwas that serve and justify their ruling regime's policies. This is what the late Al-Azhar Mosque Rector, cleric Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, did on more than one occasion and on more than one issue, most notably the issue of meeting with Israeli [officials] and rabbis. The fatwa released by his successor, which says that those who oppose or hamper Palestinian reconciliation commit a sin, is perhaps a continuation of the same approach.

Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, chairman of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, has constantly espoused a position opposed to the pro-sultan preachers, defending resistance and sacrifice of life for the sake of the nation's causes, faith, and rights, consistently guided by the Holy Koran, Prophet Muhammad's tradition, and the life of the Prophet's companions.

The other day, Dr Al-Qaradawi issued a firm fatwa condemning the calls sanctioning visits to Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem under occupation, regarding such calls as disgrace, proscribed by the Islamic shari'ah, and legitimize the occupation forces. This fatwa came in response to a statement by the Egyptian Awqaf Minister, Hamdi Zaquq, in which he said that he is interested in getting a visa to visit occupied Jerusalem and that his visit constitutes "a great support for the Palestinian cause and people."

The Egyptian awqaf minister represents a ruling regime that has established close ties with Israel on all political, economic, and diplomatic levels. This regime exports gas to the Hebraic State at a very cheap price and imposes an oppressive blockade on two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in cooperation with the Israeli government. As such, it is only natural that he should see nothing wrong in travel to occupied Jerusalem and to put on record a precedent encouraging others to follow suit.

Regrettably, Dr Zaqzuq sticks to his position, desperately defending it and not hesitating to announce that he will visit occupied Jerusalem upon getting the necessary visa from the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. He denies that his step is within the framework of normalization of ties with Israel. This insistence on normalization of ties by the Egyptian awqaf minister comes at a time when the Coptic Pope, Shanudah, refuses to permit his church parishioners to visit occupied Jerusalem despite the enormous pressure on him by the Egyptian government, which reached the point of supporting calls to rebel against him and foment divisions among the followers of his church.

We in Al-Quds al-Arabi back Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi's fatwa which incriminates all calls for and all forms of normalization of ties with Israel as long as the territories remain under occupation and face continued grabbing by the successive Israeli governments, which reject peace and continue to commit war crimes in the Gaza Strip and in south Lebanon.

Visits to the occupied territories by Muslim religious clerics and senior officials will only serve to legitimize the Israeli occupation and give a misleading picture to the world about Israel's tolerance towards other religions at a time when it Judiazes Arab mosques and churches in the holy city, undermines the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and implements plans to partition it, if not, in fact, it is seeking to demolish it by the excavations under its foundations.