Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Who is Yusuf al-Qaradawi?

Yusuf al-Qaradawi is an Egyptian Islamic theologian. He is best known for his programme, al-Sharīʿa wa al-Ḥayāh, broadcast on Al Jazeera, which has an estimated audience of 60 million worldwide. He is also well known for IslamOnline, a popular website he helped found in 1997 and for which he now serves as chief religious scholar.

Al-Qaradawi has published more than 120 books, including The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam and Islam: The Future Civilization. He has also received eight international prizes for his contributions to Islamic scholarship, and is considered one of the most influential such scholars living today. Al-Qaradawi has long had a prominent role within the intellectual leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian political organization, but twice turned down offers for the official role in the organization.

Some of al-Qaradawi's views have been controversial in the West: he was refused an entry visa to the United Kingdom in 2008, and barred from entering France in 2012.

As of 2004, al-Qaradawi was a trustee of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He also served as a consultant scholar for an epic movie in English on Muhammad, and a 30-part series on the second caliph ‘Umar b. al-Khațțāb.