Renowned Islamic scholar and Founding President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) Sheikh Yusuf Al‑Qaradawi passed away in Doha at the age of 96 Monday, September 26, 2022.
The news of his demise was shared on his official Twitter account, followed by the same announcement on IUMS Twitter. “The Islamic nation has lost one of its most sincere and virtuous scholars,” the IUMS added.
One of the most influential Islamic scholars and thinkers of the present age, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi was born in Egypt on 9 September 1926.
Al-Qaradawi was awarded his PhD degree with First Merit from Al Azhar University in 1973, upon completion of his thesis entitled “Zakah and its effect on solving social problems”. He was the Founder and President of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, the chairman of the Jerusalem International Foundation, and a member of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. He was also a trustee of the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, which is an independent research institution.
Qaradawi was jailed three times for his relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood and subsequently stripped of his Egyptian citizenship in the 1970s—driving him to seek exile in Qatar. Qaradawi has been sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court along with over 100 other Egyptians affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation banned in Egypt.
Sheikh Qaradawi authored more than 120 books, including his most famous Al–Halal Al-Haram Fil–Islam.