Monday, May 15, 2006
Palestine is ‘property of Islam’: Qaradawi
HAMAS would be toppled quickly if it gave concessions to Israel “because nobody has the right to give up even a grain of sand that belongs to Palestine,” prominent Islamic scholar Dr Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi said in his sermon yesterday. However, he added that the Arabs and Muslims could have a truce with Israel.
Speaking on the fatwas (edicts) drawn up by the two-day Muslim Scholars Gathering for the Support of Palestine held at the Ritz Doha, Qaradawi called upon Muslims around the world to give Zakat and alms to the besieged Palestinians.
“The Palestinian teachers who have not been paid for months deserve to receive Zakat,” Qaradawi said, adding that Muslims should also donate amounts accruing from bank interest to the Palestinians.
He called upon the Arab and Muslim peoples to put pressure on their governments to refuse the orders of the US. “We are not slaves to the Americans, we would like our rulers to say no to America,” he said.
The scholar also stressed that Palestine is a “property of Islam” and not owned by a specific person. “If the present generation retreated, the coming generations will still have the right to liberate Palestine,” he said while stressing that if it were not for the political borders, millions of young people would flood into Palestine for jihad.
“A Qatari youth told me that he and 30 others plan to leave for Palestine for jihad,” Qaradawi said.
Regarding the banks blocking aid transfers to the Palestinian Authority, Qaradawi said such banks should be confronted and boycotted. “People should go to these banks and tell their officials that they will withdraw their deposits.”
He also exhorted Palestinians to stop internal fighting. “Palestinians’ blood should be saved for the fight against Israel and fighting among Palestinians should be prohibited,” he said while calling upon Muslims around the world to help them in their ordeal.
In the sermon at the Omar Ibn al-Khattab mosque in Khalifa city, al-Qaradawi said Islam has successfully overcome hard times, “Muslims have ended the presence of the Crusaders who unleashed a bloodbath when they invaded Jerusalem.”
Muslims also achieved a dual victory against the invading Tatars, “one a military victory and other a moral one when they embraced Islam”, he said, stressing that this was the first time in history that the invaders had embraced the religion of the invaded nation.
Regarding what he labelled as “Zionist colonisation”, Qaradawi pointed out that relations between Muslims and Jews had been good till the appearance of Zionism. Jews had lived among Muslims for centuries and been treated better than anywhere else. But they turned against Arabs and Muslims with the advent of Zionism and wanted to colonise Palestine as settlers.
“The Jews mistakenly claim that Allah has given them Palestine as their homeland, which is untrue. Allah has never ordained that people should be deported from their homes to be replaced by strangers,” Qaradawi said.
He said Islam will prevail because “the darkest hour is that which comes before the dawn.”
Source:
http://www.islamicawakening.com/view...p?newsID=7836&