Free Republic

SNIPPET: “Condemnations of Israel’s commando raid on the flotilla trying to break a blockade on Gaza are pouring in after 10 people were reported killed in the violence at sea early Monday. Egypt announced Tuesday that it would open its border with Gaza, which Reuters describes as “a major boost for Hamas and a blow to efforts by Israel and its Western allies to cripple the Islamists.” Turkey is threatening to send more ships, escorted by its own navy, while there are fears Hizballah will use the incident to justify a new wave of rocket attacks toward Israel. Was it,...

Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, Chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2011: Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: The truth is that I do not want to say anything to Al-Qadhafi, because one should only address people who are reasonable. People who are not reasonable should not be addressed. That man is no longer reasonable. He has been crazy for a long time. Among the signs of his madness, as we have seen, he wanted to be a philosopher, and come up with theories, like Marx and...

Up until now, the Egyptian revolution generally, and the Brotherhood in particular, has lacked a charismatic thinker, someone who could really mobilize the masses. Qaradawi is that man. Friday, February 18 may be a turning point in Egyptian history. On that day Yusuf al-Qaradawi spoke to a giant cheering crowd in Tahrir Square. He praised the army – to ward off it’s repression and to encourage it to support a transformation of the country. He preached caution and patience, working with the army. And he also lavished praise on the pro-Islamist chairman of the committee to write the new constitution,...

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Muslim cleric issues fatwa on Gaddafi * From: AFP * February 22, 2011 8:44AM INFLUENTIAL Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has issued a fatwa that any Libyan soldier who can shoot dead embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi should do so "to rid Libya of him." "Whoever in the Libyan army is able to shoot a bullet at Mr Gaddafi should do so," Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric who is usually based in Qatar, told Al-Jazeera television. He also told Libyan soldiers "not to obey orders to strike at your own people," and urged Libyan ambassadors around the world to dissociate themselves from Gaddafi's...

A disparate mix of Egyptians packed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square for Friday’s prayer service-cum-political rally: young and old, secular and devout, Muslims and Christians. At least a million people filled the now-emblematic square, but the event was most remarkable for the presence of one man – Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, arguably the most influential Sunni Muslim cleric in the world, making his first public appearance in Egypt in 50 years. [....] As often in the past, Qaradawi spoke of democracy and pluralism. He urged the army officers temporarily ruling Egypt to deliver on their promises of handing power to a civil...

Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an influential Sunni cleric who is banned from the United States and Britain for supporting violence against Israel and American forces in Iraq, delivered his first public sermon here in 50 years on Friday, emerging as a powerful voice in the struggle to shape what kind of Egyptian state emerges from the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. [....] Sheik Qaradawi, a popular television cleric whose program reaches an audience of tens of millions worldwide, addressed a rapt audience of more than a million Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square to celebrate the uprising and honor those who died....

Google executive Wael Ghonim, who emerged as a leading voice in Egypt's uprising, was barred from the stage in Tahrir Square on Friday by security guards, an AFP photographer said. Ghonim tried to take the stage in Tahrir, the epicentre of anti-regime protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, but men who appeared to be guarding influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi barred him from doing so. Ghonim, who was angered by the episode, then left the square with his face hidden by an Egyptian flag. Qaradawi gave a Friday sermon in the square, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered a...

For the first time since he was banned from leading weekly friday prayers in Egypt 30 years ago, prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi will lead thousands in the weekly prayers from Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday. Sources told Al Arabiya that a military force will accompany the head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars from his home to Tahrir Square, provide security for the prayers and accompany him back to his residence. Al-Qaradawi last delivered a Friday prayer sermon in Egypt in 1981 after the assassination of former President Anwar el-Sadat.

Homeland Security: President Obama promised lobbyists wouldn't run his White House. They're just doing it from across the street — at a Shariah-compliant coffee chain tied to a radical jihadist group. That's right: According to the New York Times, prominent K Street lobbyists are buttonholing Obama officials at a Caribou Coffee shop on Pennsylvania Avenue, raising far more than just ethics questions. What the Times story neglects to mention is that Caribou Coffee is a Shariah-compliant firm owned by an Islamic bank based in Bahrain. One of its founders and a current adviser are leaders in the radical Muslim Brotherhood....

IPT News June 9, 2010 SNIPPET: "The Turkish-based charity that helped drive last week's deadly confrontation with Israeli commandos has deep ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups. The Hamas ties are not in question. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and IHH officials simply do not acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist group." SNIPPET: "U.S. officials have expressed concern over the fact that "IHH representatives have met with senior Hamas officials in Turkey, Syria, and Gaza over the past three years," but IHH is not a designated terrorist organization in the United States. It's fair to ask, why not?"...

A prominent Muslim scholar banned from the United States for six years returned Wednesday for visits to four cities... "In the name of your fear or mistrust of Muslim-majority countries, you may end up betraying your own values," Tariq Ramadan ... Ramadan said he was happy to be in the U.S. ...to speak on a panel Thursday at The Cooper Union college. "My name has been cleared," he said. The 47-year-old professor at Oxford University in England was permitted to return to the United States after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in January signed orders enabling re-entry for him...

The bizarre story behind the construction of Boston's most controversial building

The controversy over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed is expanding, as more Muslims join the boycott and protests against Denmark and various European newspapers decide to publish the cartoons, mostly out of solidarity with Jyllands Posten and to make a strong political stand. One issue that puzzles many Danes is the timing of this outburst. The cartoons were published in September: Why have the protests erupted from Muslims worldwide only now? The person who knows the answer to this question is Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a man that the Washington Post has recently profiled as “one...

Islamic Terrorism's Fave Coffee Opens in Detroit's Airport By Debbie Schlussel If you live in one of the many areas around the U.S. (and elsewhere in the world) where Caribou Coffee is sprouting, please don't patronize this coffee chain. That includes people waiting at baggage in Detroit Metro Airport's McNamara terminal, where the store has now been awarded the exclusive, coveted slot. In the past, I've written about Caribou Coffee's ties to Islamic terror in the New York Post (a version of the article appears here)and discussed it on Fox News Channel's "O'Reilly Factor" and MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews."...

Interesting.... This muslim Cleric visited london EXACTLY one year ago from the date of the attacks, July 7, 2004 CNSNews.com) - London Mayor Ken Livingstone's previous support of a Muslim cleric who advocates suicide bombings may cause him some embarrassment as he now must speak for the city in the wake of Thursday's terrorist bombings. Livingstone condemned the Thursday attacks as "mass murder," and added that "this was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful, it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners." Yet Livingstone has in the past...

(CNSNews.com) - London Mayor Ken Livingstone's previous support of a Muslim cleric who advocates suicide bombings may cause him some embarrasment as he now must speak for the city in the wake of Thursday's terrorist bombings.Livingstone condemned the Thursday attacks as "mass murder," and added that "this was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful, it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners."Yet Livingstone has in the past labeled Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi a "man of peace" and a "moderate" despite the fact that Al-Qaradawi has supported suicide bombings and...

The Islamic organization poised to build the largest mosque in the Northeast on a site in Roxbury has long-standing ties to an Egyptian cleric who praises suicide bombings and a Muslim activist indicted last week in a terrorism financing probe. The Islamic Society of Boston, which has city approval to build a sprawling $22 million Islamic cultural center and mosque on Malcolm X Boulevard, has had a long association with Dr. Yusuf Abdullah al-Qaradawi, whose vocal support of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas prompted the State Department to bar him from entering the U.S. four years ago. The local religious...

Controversial cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi was set to address worshippers at a London mosque but was expected to shy away from using it as a platform to voice his extremist views. Dr al-Qaradawi, whose week-long visit to the country has attracted widespread criticism, was speaking at the Central London Mosque but is expected to preach mainstream Muslim views. The Egyptian-born cleric will tell worshippers "that preserving Islamic identity does not contradict with being law-abiding citizens", a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain said. The Crown Prosecution Service is considering a file against Dr al-Qaradawi for his inflammatory comments after he...

LONDON (Reuters) - A leading Muslim theologian who condemned the Sept. 11 attacks and the Bali bombing but condones some suicide bombings will have his speeches monitored while in Britain, Home Secretary David Blunkett said on Wednesday. Blunkett, under mounting pressure to expel outspoken Egyptian-born cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, said his comments while on a speaking tour of Britain would be scrutinized for any indications of preaching race hate or intolerance. "We will certainly monitor what he has got to say and what he has got to do," Blunkett told BBC radio on the same day he said he planned to...