OK, just kidding! Actually, MEMRI reports that a broad spectrum of Scandinavian Muslim leaders criticized Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, for his recent statement on Al-Jazeera TV about the Holocaust:
"In response to MEMRI TV's February 1, 2009 release of a translated and subtitled clip capturing prominent Sunni sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi on Al-Jazeera TV in January 2009 calling the Holocaust "divine punishment" for the Jews and warning that "Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers [i.e. Muslims]," and also saying that he would "shoot Allah's enemies, the Jews," it was reported that Muslim Imams and Islamic groups in Scandinavia have distanced themselves from the remarks and are questioning association with Al-Qaradhawi."
"....On February 16, the Norwegian newspapers Dagbladet and Aftenpost reported that the Islamic Council of Norway had, on that same date, denounced Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi's statements on Al-Jazeera TV as "unacceptable." According to the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPE), Aftenposten quoted Islamic Council of Norway head Senaid Kobilica as saying that the council also planned to raise the matter with the European Council for Fatwa and Research, which Al-Qaradhawi heads."
MEMRI has numerous quotes from Norwegian, Danish and Swedish Muslim council leaders and imams who strongly criticized Qaradawi's statements. We haven't heard anything similar from Massachusetts Muslim leaders and imams, have we? Imagine Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) imam Basyouny Nehela or Muslim American Society (MAS) director Bilal Kaleem saying something like "It's unacceptable that Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi honors the Holocaust, we strongly reject that"? I'm guessing that'll never happen, but I'd love to be proven wrong.
Meanwhile, our local ISB/MAS is busy giving dawah training from the Islamic American University, an Ohio-based "online" university that has Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi as its chairman.
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