LONDON, 9 July 2004 — A leading Muslim theologian who condemned the Sept. 11 attacks but condones some suicide bombings is being investigated on suspicion of making race-hatred remarks, British police said yesterday.
Egyptian-born Islamic scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who has been banned from entering the United States since 1999, arrived in Britain on Monday for a weeklong speaking tour. “The Metropolitan Police received a complaint late on July 7 against (Qaradawi), alleging incitement to racial hatred. We are in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS),” a police spokesman said.
He said the complaint was made by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who last week asked the Home Office to bar the scholar from entering the country. The CPS confirmed it had received a file on Qaradawi from the police, but declined to discuss its contents. The complaint came just hours after Home Secretary David Blunkett announced he intended to legislate to protect Muslims from religious abuse in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, but that Qaradawi’s speeches would be monitored while he was in the country.
Blunkett, under mounting pressure to expel the Qatar-based scholar, said his comments would be scrutinized for any indications of preaching race hate or intolerance.
Among other engagements, Qaradawi is due to speak at Friday prayers in London’s central mosque. Newspapers and some parliamentarians have urged the government to deport Qaradawi.
His supporters note, however, that he has been visiting Britain for the last 30 years without provoking complaints. Arguing his case on suicide bombings on BBC television, Qaradawi said on Wednesday they were justified in certain circumstances. The prominent poet, writer and public speaker has a reputation for spurning extremists.
After Sept. 11, he urged all Muslims worldwide to donate blood to help the victims and he condemned the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed 202 people, as barbaric and immoral.
The Muslim Council of Britain, representing some 400 different organizations, has condemned media attacks on Qaradawi, describing him as “a voice of reason and understanding”.
BBC’s Newsnight program aired late Wednesday an interview with the theologian taken last month at his home in Qatar during which he talked openly about his views on Palestinian suicide bombers. Asked if Islam justified suicide bombings in Israel, he said: “It’s not suicide. It is martyrdom in the name of God.”
“It is allowed to jeopardize your soul and cross the path of the enemy and be killed, if this act of jeopardy affects the enemy, even if it only generates fear in their hearts, shaking their morale, making them fear Muslims,” he said. “If it does not effect the enemy then it is not allowed.”
