Yusuf Al Qaradawi wrote more than 120 books and more than 50–60 additional works that impacted a significant portion of the world’s Muslim population.
The Arab and Muslim world was shaken with the news of the passing of Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi on Monday, an Egyptian scholar of Islam and the founder of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS).
Al Qaradawi, who was born in Egypt in 1926, passed away in Qatar, where he had relocated following the 2013 overthrow of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-led government.
He was a vocal opponent of the overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Morsi, a key figure in the prominent Muslim Brotherhood movement.
However, Qaradawi has been unable to return to Egypt since current president Abdelfattah El Sisi grabbed power and imposed a harsh crackdown on the now-outlawed group.
A court in Egypt sentenced Qaradawi and countless others in absentia in 2015 for a widespread prison break that occurred during the 2011 uprising. The late scholar at the time rejected the verdict as “nonsense.”
Many have taken to social media to express their grief and mourn him.
Qatari officials react
Qatar’s Assistant Foreign Minister Lolwa Alkhater issued a statement on Twitter, in which she mourned the scholar.
“We mourn on behalf of the Muslim community the scholar Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He dedicated his life to serving the religion of God and did not fear the blame of an oppressor in the name of God.
“May God reward him for us and Islam. Oh God, forgive him and have mercy on him and make the highest heavens stable and his final resting place. The Ummah lost one of its fortified fortresses, and there is no might nor power except with God.”
Similarly, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani relayed his condolences to the Islamic scholar’s family on Twitter.
“May God have mercy on His Eminence Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who spent his life in the service of his religion and his nation, and put him in spacious gardens. My sincere condolences to his family and admirers and to the entire Islamic nation.”
Qatari Minister of State Hamad Al-Kuwari said: “May God have mercy on our dear father, our great teacher and our great sheikh #يوسف_القرضاوي and may he rest in peace”
The rest of the world reacts
News of his passing was also met with messages of condolences by journalists and activists around the globe.
