Muslim cleric says: Death to gays and Jews
OutRage! News Service | 09.07.2004 09:10 | Gender | London | World
Giving a platform to Dr Al-Qaradawi is an insult to women, Jewsish and gay people. He endorses wife beating and the killing of homosexuals and Jews. We urge the Mayor of London not to host this misogynist, anti-Semite and homophobe", said Peter Tatchell of the gay rights group OutRage!.
Ken Livingstone hosts Muslim homophobe and misogynist
Dr Al-Qaradawi endorses violence against women and gay people?
LONDON - UK- 9 July 2004
Giving a platform to Dr Al-Qaradawi is an insult to women, Jewsish and gay people. He endorses wife beating and the killing of homosexuals and Jews. We urge the Mayor of London not to host this misogynist, anti-Semite and homophobe", said Peter Tatchell of the gay rights group OutRage!.
Just over a week after leading London's Gay Pride parade, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, will host a Muslim conference at the GLA headquarters in City Hall, next Monday, 12 July 2004, where the keynote speaker will be Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a leading Muslim scholar who endorses wife beating, the destruction of Jews and the execution of lesbians and gay men.
"Ken Livingston would not give a platform to the BNP. Dr Al Qaradawi is even more extreme. He sanctions violence against women, Jews and gay people," says Brett Lock of OutRage!
"While we condemn Islamophobia, we also condemn the homophobia of Islamic fundamentalists. The Muslim and Gay communities should work together to combat prejudice in all its forms."
Dr Al-Qaradawi is the chief scholar of the website Islamonline, and leader of the group of panelists who provide answers online to questions posed by Muslims on moral issues.
Dr Al-Qaradawi's website denounces homosexuals as 'perverted', 'abominable', and a 'corruption'.
It says lesbians and gay men should be executed by 'burning or stoning to death'.
His website also says it is permissible for a husband to 'beat' his wife, providing it is done 'lightly' and with his 'hands'.
The Islamonline 'About Us' section confirms Dr Al-Qaradawi's responsibility for its content:
"Our goal is for this site to be worthy of your trust. To reach our goal, a committee of the major scholars throughout the Islamic world, headed by Dr. Yusuf Qaradawi, was formed. Its role is to ensure that nothing on this site violates the fixed principles of Islamic law (Shar'ia)."
The Islamonline website gives several examples of Dr Al-Qaradawi's endorsement of violence against women and his endorsement of the execution of gay people:
1) The eminent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, states:
"Almighty Allah has prohibited illegal sexual intercourse and homosexuality and all means that lead to either of them. This perverted act is a reversal of the natural order, a corruption of man's sexuality, and a crime against the rights of females...
.... Muslim jurists hold different opinions concerning the punishment for this abominable practice. Should it be the same as the punishment for fornication, or should both the active and passive participants be put to death? While such punishments may seem cruel, they have been suggested to maintain the purity of the Islamic society and to keep it clean of perverted elements."
Source:
http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=100855
2)
QUESTION:
Death Fall as Punishment for Homosexuality
I have read in a newspaper that an Iranian man who was convicted of raping and killing his 16-year-old nephew is to be executed by being thrown off a cliff in sack; and if the man survives the fall down a rocky precipice, he will be hanged. What is your comment on this issue?
ANSWER:
First of all, it should be clear that this man committed two heinous crimes: 1) homosexuality, and 2) murder. Each crime is sufficient to warrant death penalty.
The long exposition can be read at:
http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=76474
3)
QUESTION:
Islam's Stance on Homosexual Organizations
ANSWER:
In brief: "Verily, the punishment here is the burning of both homosexuals (the actor and acted upon) or stoning them with rocks till death because Allah Most High stoned the people of Lut after demolishing their village."
The long answer is at:
http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=72432
4)
Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, argues that beating one's wife painlessly is permissible: "It is permissible for him to beat her lightly with his hands, avoiding her face and other sensitive parts. In no case should he
resort to using a stick or any other instrument that might cause pain and injury."
Source:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Islamic%20law
Dr Al-Qaradawi endorses violence against women and gay people?
LONDON - UK- 9 July 2004
Giving a platform to Dr Al-Qaradawi is an insult to women, Jewsish and gay people. He endorses wife beating and the killing of homosexuals and Jews. We urge the Mayor of London not to host this misogynist, anti-Semite and homophobe", said Peter Tatchell of the gay rights group OutRage!.
Just over a week after leading London's Gay Pride parade, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, will host a Muslim conference at the GLA headquarters in City Hall, next Monday, 12 July 2004, where the keynote speaker will be Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a leading Muslim scholar who endorses wife beating, the destruction of Jews and the execution of lesbians and gay men.
"Ken Livingston would not give a platform to the BNP. Dr Al Qaradawi is even more extreme. He sanctions violence against women, Jews and gay people," says Brett Lock of OutRage!
"While we condemn Islamophobia, we also condemn the homophobia of Islamic fundamentalists. The Muslim and Gay communities should work together to combat prejudice in all its forms."
Dr Al-Qaradawi is the chief scholar of the website Islamonline, and leader of the group of panelists who provide answers online to questions posed by Muslims on moral issues.
Dr Al-Qaradawi's website denounces homosexuals as 'perverted', 'abominable', and a 'corruption'.
It says lesbians and gay men should be executed by 'burning or stoning to death'.
His website also says it is permissible for a husband to 'beat' his wife, providing it is done 'lightly' and with his 'hands'.
The Islamonline 'About Us' section confirms Dr Al-Qaradawi's responsibility for its content:
"Our goal is for this site to be worthy of your trust. To reach our goal, a committee of the major scholars throughout the Islamic world, headed by Dr. Yusuf Qaradawi, was formed. Its role is to ensure that nothing on this site violates the fixed principles of Islamic law (Shar'ia)."
The Islamonline website gives several examples of Dr Al-Qaradawi's endorsement of violence against women and his endorsement of the execution of gay people:
1) The eminent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, states:
"Almighty Allah has prohibited illegal sexual intercourse and homosexuality and all means that lead to either of them. This perverted act is a reversal of the natural order, a corruption of man's sexuality, and a crime against the rights of females...
.... Muslim jurists hold different opinions concerning the punishment for this abominable practice. Should it be the same as the punishment for fornication, or should both the active and passive participants be put to death? While such punishments may seem cruel, they have been suggested to maintain the purity of the Islamic society and to keep it clean of perverted elements."
Source:
http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=100855 2)
QUESTION:
Death Fall as Punishment for Homosexuality
I have read in a newspaper that an Iranian man who was convicted of raping and killing his 16-year-old nephew is to be executed by being thrown off a cliff in sack; and if the man survives the fall down a rocky precipice, he will be hanged. What is your comment on this issue?
ANSWER:
First of all, it should be clear that this man committed two heinous crimes: 1) homosexuality, and 2) murder. Each crime is sufficient to warrant death penalty.
The long exposition can be read at:
http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=76474 3)
QUESTION:
Islam's Stance on Homosexual Organizations
ANSWER:
In brief: "Verily, the punishment here is the burning of both homosexuals (the actor and acted upon) or stoning them with rocks till death because Allah Most High stoned the people of Lut after demolishing their village."
The long answer is at:
http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=72432 4)
Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, argues that beating one's wife painlessly is permissible: "It is permissible for him to beat her lightly with his hands, avoiding her face and other sensitive parts. In no case should he
resort to using a stick or any other instrument that might cause pain and injury."
Source:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Islamic%20law
OutRage! News Service
e-mail:
media@outrage.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.outrage.org.uk
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
deciphered
09.07.2004 10:31
john
Decoded....
09.07.2004 12:00
Lesbian and gay people are so insignificant that they can't possibly have any legitimiate concerns of their own; hence any issues that they bring up must naturally be a subterfuge for someone else's covert agenda.
Brett Lock
He should speak
09.07.2004 12:12
Muslims like Christians ans Jews before them are moving away from organised religion as education exposes it for the sham we recognise it to be. Islam will wither and die in the UK as the following generations adopt the secular lifestyle.
Muslim clerics and organisations like his are increasingly viewed in the same light as Louis Farrah and Billy Graham, yesterdays men with little or no relevance to the 21st Century. Let us allow the man to speak, Muslims are bright enough to laugh at him.
Jorno
...
09.07.2004 13:05
I worry that the moderate voices calling for the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Arab world have essentially been crushed, and now something new is brewing. Don't you find it interesting how intolerance and fascism essentially get passed on down a chain. FOr example, anti-semitism gave birth to zionism, with the same seed in both ideologies 'Jews cannot live with non-Jews'. And now the seed has been passed on to Islamic fundamentalism. I think it is a problem, of our own creation, but one that will continue even after we solve the former problems. If we don't change our policies soon, then the Arab world will be completely in the hands of people like this, who are essentially fascists, but who are the only voices loud enough to be heard over all the bullshit we have tried to smother the issue with.
Hermes
Londonistan
09.07.2004 13:46
Matt
Free Speech, Freedom from Fear and Legitimacy
09.07.2004 16:16
I am not a particular fan of Mr Livingstone - one recalls how he decried Reclaim the Streets and the anarchist movement following May Day four years ago - but credit where credit is due, he clearly supports womens and gay rights. Some groups may feel his policies are left-reformist, which they undoubtedly are, but I doubt he would have marched on gay pride on July 3rd if he didn't genuinely support gay human rights. I hear he issued a condemnation of certain dancehall reggae acts 'Christian' fundamentalist homophobia during his speech in Traflagar Square. All well and good.
The issue of how the left, progressive and anarchist movements relate to Muslims has become very fraught over the past three years. Everyone has strong opinions on the subject, and a lot of debate has taken place as to how (if at all) to ally with people from religous backgrounds, who may subscribe to a mixture of reactionary and progressive ideals. Similar debates have occured in the past: for example, during the Peace/Anti-Nuclear movement of the 1980's, when radical feminist, left and anarchist groups had to deal with Christian pacifists such as the Pax Christi or the Anglican Peace Fellowship. A crucial difference is that those groups - even if they were conservative - never demanded the execution of atheists, Jews, gays etc. This geezer clearly does.
I hope the second poster in this thread is correct in saying that the vast majority of British Muslims will laugh at the reactionary cleric and ignore him. But perhaps Mr Livingstone could do more - a lot more - to publicly distance himself from this man's hateful views. If he did, I'm sure he'd gain a lot more respect from everyone who values secular freedoms.
There's a Jewish Socialist Group, which produces a quarterly journal (you can get it in Housmans, Bookmarks, Index, or your local radical bookstore). They often debate how freedom of speech should be balanced with freedom from hate groups. It would be interesting to hear what their line on this issue is.
Thanks.
Caz
Independent Left
Free speech has a price!
09.07.2004 21:27
As soon as you start to speak of oppression of other peoples rights you lose the right to demand your own rights i.e. freedom of speech....... right?
Oi!
...
10.07.2004 09:01
But I worry that this is a dangerous pattern.
In times of extreme hardship, people have often turned towards the people who shout the loudest. The defeated and economically oppressed German people turned to a loud voice that seemed to offer hope, and unleashed a terror upon the world that we're still feeling the consequences of.
The vast majority of Muslims believe this man to be very silly. HOWEVER, as we continue to rape Iraq, and support the occupation of Palestine, the position of this man is going to seem more and more reasonable. I find myself nodding my head in approval when I hear US soldiers have been killed in Iraq. 'Damn right', I think. But I am not a violent person, and these men and women have families, often come from poor backgrounds, and are simply ignorant of the circumstances that led them there. But I want them driven from Iraq, the forces of US imperialism defeated, the Israeli occupation to end, and I find myself sympathising with people who are, essentially, not very nice, but who are prepared to take the step to take up arms and fight on behalf of their oppressed brothers and sisters.
Maybe it's a sign of our own weakness. We don't feel strong enough to topple the exploitative capitalist system, so we look towards the Muslims to fight on our behalf. Ultimately, if our own beliefs as the progressive left are to have a part in any future world, we need to be a hell of a lot more organised, and a lot stronger, because if we are not, then we'll simply be irrelevant, trying vainly to tag onto a movement that has its own strength and inner dynamic, that has aims that could be sympathetic or hostile to our own.
Hermes
Against Violence
10.07.2004 11:30
You make it sound as there is no alternative to violence - and thus giving excuses to those who preach violence, even if you believe it to be too extreme. In case you forgot, many of us are against *all* violence, many of us think that we can change things without recoursing to violence, and, unlike most of those who preach violence, we act in accordance to what we think.
Don't tell me nonviolence doesn't work. Sometimes you get there, sometimes you don't - just like any violent conflict - but with nonviolence, there is always something left, whatever the results of the main campaign.
nonviolent
...
10.07.2004 14:57
The basis of non-violence is that the very act of it should cause a change in the hearts of the oppressor. That I can stand in front of a bulldozer, about to demolish the home of a family, and the bulldozer will stop. But sometimes the driver does not stop...
I am uncertain, because I know the use of force becomes a slippery slope, and an easy way out, but being unwilling to confront a situation with force if the oppressor is simply not vulnerable to peaceful resistance is also an easy way out. But I think there is a tendency in our culture and media to love up the elements who struggled against us non-violently, and to condemn those who used violence. But Gandhi did not defeat the British on his own. A lot of it was also to do with large angry Sikh men chasing down the British with machetes, for example. As well as Martin Luther King, there was Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers. But our culture holds up Dr. King higher than anyone else, because he was not a direct threat ( although very strong, and admirable ).
But I think with Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, the message was more to be strong, be prepared to use force, but avoid using it if at all possible. The Black Panthers would come across the police abusing a black man in their neigbourhood, and they would stand in sight, a law book in one hand and a shotgun in the other, and read out the rights of the man, and it really freaked out the police.
And I just think of how many peaceful tribes and civilisations we have come across in our colonial past, and killed and destroyed them. I don't think we have any right to tell, for example, the Palestinians to resist non-violently. Without the threat of violent reaction to the occupation, their rights and dignity would be trampled over even more so.
For us, here, to say we're pacifists, is a bit of a luxury, because we don't suffer as they do. Martin Luther King and Gandhi suffered, and were very brave, but it also springs from their respective religions. In Islam, though, it states that if you are being invaded and oppressed, you should defend yourself with force. It is a religious imperative stated in the Qu'ran, so don't expect the likes of Gandhi to spring up in Palestine or Iraq. They are going to resist with violence, and I believe they have every right to resist against what is an even greater violence we perpetrate against them.
But I am uncertain, at the end of the day, because I hope I am never in a situation where I feel I have to use violence. It is not something to be sought out. And it is not the key to change in this country. But we do need to be strong. The politics of the left are almost completely irrelevant to large portions of society, and I don't see it having the courage to face that head on. Instead, there's a kind of contempt for 'ordinary people' who 'don't get it'. And the left is constantly fighting amongst itself. So it's all very frustrating, and here I am typing away and not doing anything about it, except I'm leaving the country very shortly for a year or so.
Be strong, do good things, I hope we'll find our way soon...
Hermes
Allah is a five knuckle shuffler
16.07.2004 21:10
Muslim Cleric Says: Death to Gays and Jews
Evil Elvis
GAYS say death to muslims
12.09.2005 12:30
If anyone can tell me the point of the muslim religion I would be more than glad to read it. All we ever hear about is, the death and distruction you brown faces cause. So I think it is a neccesity for you kuhns to pick up your pointed sticks (used obviously as toothbrushes) and return to your little hovel in your jungle home, never to return again. Fare thee Well.
outragedgay