Qaradawi: “MB asked me to be a chairman”

Qaradawi: “MB asked me to be a chairman, but I preferred to be a spiritual guide for the entire nation”
 
In an interview with Dream channel’s program; al- `asheratu Masa’a (Ten o’clock pm) 2/9/2006 Saturday evening, Dr. al- Qaradawi said that late Judge Muhammad al- Ma’moun al- Hudaibi- the former MB chairman- sent Dr. Muhammad `Emarah asking him to be a chairman for the Group, but he refused preferring to be a Da’ia for the entire world, “MB consider me their Mufti, but I don’t have a relation with the organization, because being an MB chairman is something difficult requiring a highly sophisticated wisdom, and I prefers to be devoted to the entire nation, and I feel comfortable with this decision. I like MB considering them the nearest group to be righteous” “, he added
 
He disagrees with the notion that the MB don’t have the schematic idea to spread their activities, but the security persecution hinders them from carrying out the plans. “I hope the freedom would prevail in Egypt opening the doors for reform”, he said.
 
He said “MB did not use weapons except for resisting the British occupation. The only violent incident was the killing of al- Khazendar, but Imam al- Banna was not aware of it, that is to say that it was carried out without being organized by the Group. It is crystal clear that since this incident, there has been no violent action carried out by the Group”

AL- Qaradawi denoted that he feel worried about returning to Egypt . “When I travelled to Qatar, I decided to come back after six years, because Egypt is really a fertile place for Islamic Da’wa, but when I was asked to return to it, I rejected in order not to be imprisoned; In Qatar, I move freely from one place to another, but in Egypt , I face so many security restrictions. For example, under Sadat’s regime, I had never been chased by the security or the state security investigations, but after his regime, I have always been investigated by the state security investigation. I remember being asked- since 10 years- by a state security officer “does anybody bother you?”! I replied “I am always dignified all over the world except in Egypt !” al- Qaradawi explained.
 
Al- Qaradawi said “Allah- the Almighty- helped me reach this moderate thought. I memorized the Glorious Qur’an, and used to attend the lectures of certain Sheikhs then criticize their opinions, because I have a mentality capable of accepting and rejecting ideas. I joined the Azhari institute in Tanta . I used to read a lot, so that my horizons widened since being young. After that I joined the Muslim Brotherhood Group and worked with Imam al- Banna. I was affected by al- Banna’s moderate thoughts and principles”.
“I did not suffice with the religious studies, that’s why my culture is moderate relating to the past and present thought, not only to the past as some Sheikhs do. There are some narrow- minded Sheikhs who still live with the past principles and notions following sole religious school; we should follow more than one school in order to be able to distinguish between the current ideas and therefore understand our religion well”, he added.
 
About his relation to the MB, al- Qaradawi said “when I joined the MB, I benefited from them; I became a Da’ia instead of being just a sermonizer, and cared for the entire nation instead of just caring for myself. MB has a variety of members, who have different professions, that is why I became extrovert and open- minded Da’ia. MB was interested in making me move around Egypt ’s governorates to spread the Da’wa, but they did not care for making me learn different languages. I was captured along with the MB in 1949 then the Military Prison in 1954”.
 
When was asked about the accusation of being a member of a secret cell as well as a spiritual guide for the group, he answered “I am not compatible with the secret cells and I was a spiritual guide for everybody, not just for the Group. I was sentenced for ten years but with a stay of execution, but when I came back from the court, they re-sentenced me in the Military Prison due to defending myself in the court”.

“The regime selects the most ignorant persons to torture us in the prisons after convincing them that we are the enemies of the country! but when these persons deal with us inside the detentions, they change their ideas about us, even they might weep for torturing us before, asking us to forgive them for that, so the security chiefs used to change them in order not to have a good relation with us and stop torture. As soon as we get out of the prison, we used to forgive them, because this is the nature of the MB, Allah, the Almighty, takes revenge for us from the unjust who tormented us; and what happened to Hamza al- Basioni, a former chief of the Military Prison, is clear evidence for that”.
As for Taliban, ha said “they are studying the old juristic and religious science, thinking that every ancient science and heritage is enough for this current life, though being sincere, they lack the knowledge of the Reality Jurisprudence”
 
About al- Qa’eda network, he said “they adopted the fundamentalist and fanatic Islamic opinions, but Islam has nothing to do with bloodshed. They are in a bad need for understanding the religion in the correct way”.

He also indicated that this kind of dogmatic thought resulted of the excessive tyranny the Muslims experience all over the world; in Palestine , Lebanon , Iraq , and Afghanistan . He said that the USA backs all these atrocities along with the some of the Arab regimes’ conspiracy with it. “As we condemn September 11 attacks, we also condemn the reasons lying behind them”, he added.
 
As for the Shiites he said “we believe in the unity of the Muslims regardless their difference in opinions, especially during the current events; the nation is seriously threatened of changing its identity, so that we called for rapprochement between several juristic schools, because the enemies of the nation don’t want it to be united. The enemies want a real religious war and dispute between both the Sunnis and Shiites; this is quite evident in Iraq “.

“I myself have an intimate relation with Hassan Nasrollah, I met him in Beirut , and he welcomed me at the Southern Suburb. I said that Nasrollah achieved triumph through two things: freedom in the state and religious faith and creed, because this faith is the basis for victory. Some of the Sunnis participated in the war against Israel along with Hezbollah. Whoever resists Israel is our friend, because a Muslim should be siding with the oppressed against the tyrants. I am against judging any Muslim to be infidel, that’s why I have never judged the Shiites to be infidels, but I disagree with them in certain issues as they differ with us in certain issues. This shouldn’t imply that some of them spread their thought. In order to achieve rapprochement, I told the Shiites that no one is allowed to spread his thought in another country of other school”, he added.