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UNSPUN
as-salaamu 'alaykum everyone,
Readers may recall that last July 2004 the pro-Israeli
lobby in the UK went into hysterics when it found out that the government
had refused its request to ban the visit to the UK of the popular Muslim
scholar, Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
In particular, the pro-Israeli lobby's friends in
the media targeted the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, for hosting Dr Qaradawi
at his City Hall headquarters. The Board of Deputies of British Jews
even handed a 'dossier' of Qaradawi's alleged remarks to the police and to the
Mayor urging Qaradawi's prosecution.
Last week, Ken Livingstone produced his own Press
Release and dossier
refuting the allegations made against Qaradawi.
The press, however, did not let go and last
week tried to humiliate the Mayor by drawing attention to remarks allegedly
made by Dr Qaradawi about the terrible devastation caused by the recent Tsunami
in South-East Asia. Qaradawi was alleged to have said that the area's devastated
were renowned for their 'sex tourism and gambling activities' and deserved God's
punishment. Dr Qaradawi's remarks, if accurately reported, are strange because
the area that bore the brunt of the disaster, Aceh - where over 110,000 people,
mainly Muslims, perished is perhaps the most devout and Islamic part of
Indonesia. There is no 'sex tourism' industry or 'gambing dens' in Aceh.
Your UNSPUN moderators will try and find out if Dr Qaradawi got confused - he is
only a man after all - and will keep you posted, insha' Allah.
The Mayor's office last week also produced an
excellent collection of cuttings from British newspapers about Dr Qaradawi's
visit last July in PDF format. Click here to
download it.
Finally, last Sunday (16 Jan 2005), the ITV London
programme, The Week, carried a
studio discussion about the Qaradawi visit between Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain and Brian Coleman -
the leader of the Tory group in the Greater London Assembly. To see the
broadband version click here and to see the 56kb
version (lower quality) click here.
salaams,
Moderators,
UNSPUN *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links
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