US embassy cable - 05DOHA1268

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 001268 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KISL, PTER, QA 
SUBJECT: QARADAWI VIEWED LOCALLY AS A MODERATE SCHOLAR 
 
REF: A. DOHA 1056 
 
     B. DOHA 1226 
     C. 04 DOHA 1417 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Chase Untermeyer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary. Dr. Yousef al-Qaradawi is the most 
influential Muslim scholar in Qatar. His positions on social 
issues are seen as moderate by his followers. He plays an 
important role in Islamic banking in the country. His 
personal wealth is due to favors bestowed by the ruling Al 
Thani family. Some local Muslims acknowledge his religious 
expertise but question his "political" rulings and criticism 
of the U.S. He has been described as a politician maneuvering 
to increase his base of support. Few here believe that 
Qaradawi is a danger to society because he might tempt youth 
to go to Iraq to fight in the insurgency. End Summary. 
 
Qaradawi Finds Refuge in Qatar 
------------------------------ 
 
2. (C) Dr. Yousef al-Qaradawi, 79, comes from the Muslim 
Brotherhood movement in Egypt. At odds with Gamal Abdel 
Nasser's regime, he came to Doha in 1962. He developed strong 
ties with Qatari leadership that continue to today. He was 
granted Qatari citizenship in 1968 by Sheikh Khalifa bin 
Hamad Al Thani who was then Heir Apparent. Qaradawi has been 
granted other favors by the Qatari government; in particular, 
he was given substantial properties including villas, which 
he rents, and the building which houses the Ruling Family 
Council, an organization of the Al Thani family. We have no 
figures on Qaradawi's income, but it is substantial. 
 
Arabic TV 
--------- 
 
3. (C) Qaradawi by title is professor of the life of the 
prophet Mohamed at Qatar University, but he no longer teaches 
in the classroom. Qaradawi's most visible presence is through 
the weekly television show "Sharia and Life" on Al Jazeera. 
He is the primary, but not exclusive, guest on this religious 
program which reaches millions of Arab viewers. The program, 
in the interview format, deals with current topics that can 
cross into the political spectrum. Qaradawi has his own 
program on Qatari TV, called Guidance of Islam, in which he 
responds to letters seeking guidance on a range of religious 
issues. This program is not political. Seen on regional 
sattelites, the program reaches a wide audience. Qaradawi 
maintains an international presence as a founding member of 
the International Union of Muslim Scholars, based in London, 
and the European Assembly for Legal Opinions and Research, 
based in Dublin. 
 
Popular in the Mosque 
--------------------- 
 
4. (C) Through these two television programs, Dr. al-Qaradawi 
maintains a significant international profile. Locally, his 
influence is perhaps greater. Unlike in Saudi Arabia, there 
are few preachers of any stature from any political 
persuasion in Qatar. Qaradawi stands out. The Grand Mosque, 
down the road from the Embassy, is filled on Fridays when it 
is known in advance that he will be giving the sermon and 
leading the prayer. During Ramadan, the Grand Mosque is host 
to the most intense evening "tarawih" prayer; it is fully 
attended as Qaradawi leads the prayer and gives a sermon 
afterwards. 
 
Condemnation of London Bombings 
------------------------------- 
 
5. (C) Because of his local prominence and because of his 
close ties to the Qatari leadership, he is regarded as the 
"mufti" of Qatar -- authorized to make religious 
pronouncements on behalf of the state, even though there is 
no such official title. For example, Qataris and other local 
Muslims look to his advice on financial investments. Earlier 
in 2005, Qaradawi pronounced permissible buying shares in the 
hot Qatari stocks, Qatar Industries and Qatar Gas Transport 
Company, thus permitting Qataris to partake in these 
lucrative IPOs. Almost all Muslims believe he is moderate on 
strictly religious issues: He is not overly quick to prohibit 
an activity; he accepts the role of science in many issues 
such as bioethics; and he supports the role of women in the 
workplace. Most recently, he condemned the killing of the 
Egyptian Ambassador to Baghdad and and the July 7 bombings in 
London. He critized Qatari landlords who raise rents too 
rapidly and impose hardship on local tenants. Another example 
of his religious moderation: During a visit to Algiers at the 
end of June, he supported eliminating the study of Islamic 
law from the Algerian high school curriculum (in favor of 
specialized study at the unversity level). 
 
6. (C) The rapidly-growing Islamic banking industry in Qatar 
offers a prominent practical role for Qaradawi that gives him 
substantial visibility. He is on the Islamic Law advisory 
boards of Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar International Islamic 
Bank, and Qatar National Bank (QNB). He performed the 
ribbon-cutting at the opening of QNB's Islamic division. In 
truth, it would be nearly impossible for these Islamic banks 
to find a substitute for whom customers would have the same 
level of trust. 
 
7. (C) While moderate on the issues mentioned above, he 
stands out as a critic of Israeli actions in Gaza and the 
West Bank. He does not accept dialogue with Jews unless they 
have demonstrated that they do not accept "Zionism" (ref A). 
He has stated this position publicly, and in line with it, he 
did not attend the Dialogue of Religions in Doha in June 2005 
(ref C) because of the participation of American and French 
Jews. 
Critics of his Political Positions 
---------------------------------- 
8. (C) Other locals -- including both Qatari thinkers and 
expat Muslims -- are critical of Qaradawi for taking on 
political issues. Some comment that his positions are not 
logical: he called for a boycott of American products, for 
example, while his children where travelling to the U.S. to 
study in American univesities. He came under some criticism, 
particularly from the Kuwaiti press, for his position in 
support of the insurgency in Iraq. Arab newspaper reporters 
sensed that his "clarification" of a reported fatwa on the 
targetting of American civilians was muddled (ref B); in the 
clarification, set up as a press conference, Qaradawi 
condemned the taking of French and Italian hostages while 
avoiding any condemnation of the taking of American 
civilians. The former dean of Islamic Religion at Qatar 
University makes the argument that Qaradawi's position on 
Iraq is a danger to confused local youth. However, this 
liberal approach gets no traction in this conservative 
society, and the former dean is viewed as a mouthpiece for 
the American point of view. 
 
9. (C) There is also the view that Qaradawi is simply a 
politician whose maneuvers are made to maximize his 
popularity and strength. In this view, positions on Iraq, 
Israel and Palestine, and the U.S. will reflect popular 
feeling rather than provide intellectual leadership. If new 
ideas come to the Arab street, Qaradawi will probably be too 
old to be an opinion leader. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
10. (C) Yousef al-Qaradawi is the one Islamic thinker in 
Qatar who matters. The others are distant also-rans. It is 
apparent that local Muslims and Muslims in Qaradawi's wider 
audience view him with a wider lens that brings in his 
expertise on religious matters. For this reason, he is called 
a moderate by many, and indeed he is when compared to some 
hard-line preachers in Saudi Arabia. The logic of his 
argument that the United States, as supporter of regional 
dictators, is the primary source of ill in the region is 
being outpaced by a more sophisticated call for reform in 
some countries. We would like to see Qaradawi enter this 
debate, but so far he has not done so. 
UNTERMEYER