THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 135, July 25, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
TOP MUSLIM CLERIC QARADAWI URGES WESTERN MUSLIMS
TO "LIBERALIZE" OUTWARDLY, ANYWAY
By Raymond Ibrahim
ISLAMIST PENETRATION, SUBVERSION, & CONQUEST OF WESTERN SOCIETIES: RENOWNED MUSLIM SCHOLAR
SHEIKH YUSUF AL-QARADAWI RECOMMENDS THAT MUSLIMS RESIDING IN THE WEST REMAIN LOYAL TO SHARIA LAW
(ISLAMIC LAW), BUT POSTPONE EFFORTS TO ENFORCE ITS HARSHER ASPECTS (E.G., SUBJUGATION OF NON-MUSLIM
INFIDELS, ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY OVER WOMEN, JIHAD, & DRACONIAN PUNISHMENTS), UNTIL CIRCUMSTANCES ARE
MORE OPPORTUNE FOR IMPOSITION OF SHARIA IN WESTERN COUNTRIES. QARADAWI URGES MUSLIMS IN EUROPE &
AMERICA TO PRETEND TO CONFORM TO WESTERN NORMS & STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR, UNTIL CIRCUMSTANCES ARE
MORE ACCOMODATING TO THE OUTRIGHT OVERTHROW & DESTRUCTION OF INFIDEL LEGAL, POLITICAL, & SOCIAL
SYSTEMS.
FULL STORY:
A recent episode of the popular Arabic show "al-Sharia wa al-Haya" ("Law and Life"), which airs weekly on Al
Jazeera and features renowned Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, addressed the important, yet little
known, Muslim concept of taysir (pronounced "tey-seer").
Qaradawi, who is touted by the likes of John Esposito and CAIR as a "moderate" even as he legitimizes suicide
attacks against Israel (including by women) and death for apostates explained that, according to fiqh al-taysir (the
"jurisprudence of ease"), Islam (not unlike Catholicism) offers Muslims dispensations, whenever needed: "For Allah
desires ease for you, not hardship" (Koran 2:185; see also 5:6, 4:26-28, 2:286). For instance, Muslims traveling during
the month of Ramadan or engaged in jihad need not observe the obligatory fast.
Qaradawi stressed that no one advocated taking the "easy way" as much as Muhammad himself. He offered several
examples, including how Muhammad would be angry with prayer leaders who tired the people with long prayers.
(Other less flattering, though applicable, anecdotes concerning Muhammad's "leniency" come to mind, such as when
his followers thought they had to practice coitus interruptus while raping their captive women so as not to impregnate
them, only to be told by the Prophet that "There is no harm if you do not practice it, for it [the birth of the child] is
something ordained [by Allah]").
Lest it be abused, Qaradawi warned that taysir should only be used as needed, based on the vicissitudes of time and
chance. In other words, Muslims should not actively seek the easy way, but rather, when uncontrollable
circumstances create hardships, Muslims are free to opt for the easy way as long as they recognize that the "hard
way" (i.e., total implementation of Sharia) is the ideal way.
Qaradawi proudly contrasted taysir with the practices of Jews and Christians who "took things to the extreme, and
thus were treated extremely." After quoting the verse, "Ask not about matters which, if made known to you, may
make things difficult for you" (Koran 5:105), Qaradawi said Allah made things difficult for the "anal" Jews because
they always insisted on receiving specific details for his otherwise simple commandments. As for Christians,
Qaradawi, in dismay, pointed to monks and anchorites, who, by shunning all female contact, and living in absolute
solitude and austerity, also went to the extreme.
The most significant point of the program came when Qaradawi said that taysir is especially needed in "this era" and
"especially for those Muslim minorities living in Europe and America."
Now, why is that? For starters, by migrating to the West of their own free will, Muslims themselves not
"uncontrollable circumstances" create this apparent need for taysir. Moreover, Western religious freedom allows
Muslims to uphold Islam's fundamental Five Pillars: Muslims can proclaim the shahada (profession of faith), pray,
fast, give zakat (except to terrorists), and go on the hajj. So what, exactly, is Sheikh Qaradawi referring to that makes
living in the West especially hard on Muslims?
The answer is obvious: Qaradawi is referring to those other aspects of Sharia law you know, subjugation of
non-Muslim infidels, absolute authority over women, jihad, draconian punishments, and all the rest that do create
"hardships" for Muslims who try to implement them in the West, for instance, by getting them arrested and
imprisoned.
In other words, far from "liberalizing" Muslim life, taysir allows only for insincere conformity. As Qaradawi made
clear, to practice taysir is not to renounce Sharia's otherwise harsh obligations; it is to put them on hold till
circumstances are more accommodating.
Qaradawi's Muslim Brotherhood colleague, Tariq Ramadan, provides an ideal example: he recommends that a
"moratorium" a temporary ban be placed on the Muslim practice of stoning adulterers to death; yet he
refuses to say that stoning is intrinsically un-Islamic. This, of course, is taysir in practice: because stoning people
in the West is liable to get the stoner incarcerated or worse, upholding the Sharia mandate to stone adulterers is
"hard" on Muslims living in the West, so best to put it on hold that is, till circumstances are more opportune.
A final observation: the notorious doctrine of taqiyya, which permits Muslims to deceive non-Muslims, is rooted
in taysir; in fact, one of the few books devoted to the topic, al-Taqiyya fi al-Islam, spends some time
rationalizing taqiyya in light of taysir. And there it is: when Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, perhaps the most
authoritative Muslim voice in Sunni Islam today, calls on Muslims "especially in Europe and America" to practice
taysir, he is, in essence, calling on them to practice taqiyya calling on them to conform outwardly to Western
standards, while inwardly maintaining loyalty to Sharia.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
The Islamist Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Lawfare -- The Use of Law as a Weapon in War & Politics:
Islamist Lawfare & the "Legal" Jihad Against America & the West
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Raymond Ibrahim, a historian of Islam, Islamism and the Middle East, is the Associate Director of the Middle East Forum,
a guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College, and the editor of The Al-Qa'ida Reader, a collection
of tranlations of key texts and documents of the Islamist movement. Ibrahim's translations of the religious texts and
political propaganda comprising this collection help readers comprehend the origins, development, history, and serious
danger of the Islamist war doctrines of Usama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Founders of Al-Qa'ida and
implacable enemies of the U.S.A. and the West.
The foregoing article by Raymond Ibrahim was originally published in Pajamas Media, July 23, 2010, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-ΰ-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/2693/qaradawi-urges-western-muslims- liberalize)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
July 25, 2010
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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