Wednesday, June 25, 2008

more on al Qaradawi the moderate (?)

Some excerpts from the Peninsula (Qatar) on al Qaradawi's perspective on different issues, from women's role in society:

Turning to the status of women, Qaradawi said women must study and become great leaders, teachers and scientists.

"We support and promote equality of opportunity for males and females. In Qatar, there is equality between men and women, especially in terms of benefits and pay, they are the same in the employment sector and equality is evident; it does not discriminate by gender".


to the need for the Middle East to become agriculturally solvent:

Qaradawi urged Arab societies to promote agriculture, noting that this was something Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) had encouraged Muslims to do. He said there was enough land in Sudan which, if cultivated properly, could feed the entire ummah (Muslim society).

"This is an ummah not sufficient in agriculture," he said. Islam was not the reason for this problem, he added. "Religion is not what held us back, but it is the misunderstanding of our religion."


Clearly, he counts a wide range of issues in his purview; I am inclined to think that a policy wherein a government engages only with groups that it agrees with one hundred percent of the time could be called isolationist.

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