The website of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has posted statements by the organization's secretary-general, 'Ali Al-Qaradaghi, in response to the murder of French history teacher Samuel Paty in a Paris suburb on October 17, 2020. The teacher was attacked and beheaded for showing his students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a lesson on freedom of speech. The murderer, an 18-year-old Chechen refugee, was shot dead by French security forces after refusing to put down his weapon.
On the day of the murder, the IUMS website posted statements by Al-Qaradaghi, in which he condemned the teacher's murder but also blamed the French authorities and the victim himself, saying that a teacher's role is to "instill peace in the young, rather than incite them." In another statement from the same date, posted on the website as well as on Al-Qaradhari's personal Facebook page, Al-Qaradaghi claimed that the crime had been planned and staged by the French authorities in order to accuse Islam of terrorism, and added that "the real murderer is still alive."
It should be noted that French President Emmanuel Macron said on October 2, 2020 that Islam was "in crisis all over the world," and outlined a plan to fight "Islamist separatism" in France.[1]
The IUMS is based in Doha and has been supported since its founding by the Qatari regime and by Turkey. The organization was established in 2004 by Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, who also headed it until late 2018, and who has resided in Qatar and enjoyed the backing of its regime since the 1960s. The IUMS website has for years been promoting extremist discourse, including incitement to jihad and terror and hatred of Jews and Christians. [2]
'Ali Al-Qaradaghi (source: Facebook.com/AliAlQaradaghi)
In an interview on Sudan's Dorar TV several days before the murder in Paris, Al-Qaradaghi said, in response to the abovementioned statements by the French president, that Macron espouses a “Crusader ideology” and that the West is going through a moral crisis.
The following are translated excerpts from Al-Qaradaghi's recent statements:
The Murder In Paris Was The Result Of "Irresponsible" Statements By French Officials; A History Teacher Should Not Incite His Students
The statement posted October 17 on the IUMS website said:
"Islam is the religion of mercy.
"The union condemns the murder of the French teacher while simultaneously condemning anyone who is responsible for fomenting racist hatred and attacks against religions.
"The secretary-general of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, 'Ali Al-Qaradaghi, expressed his opposition to the terror attack that took place in the French capital Paris, in which a French teacher was murdered, defining such actions as a sin, no matter who perpetrates them. He added that such criminal actions serve only those who wish to harm Islam and the Muslims, and wondered: Have these crimes ever done anything for Islam, except blacken its image and [thus constitute] the most horrifying crimes against the [Islamic] nation?
"At the same time, [Al-Qaradaghi] also condemned the statements made in response to this incident by French President [Emmanuel] Macron, who [described] the murder of the teacher as Islamic terror and insisted on defining Islam as terror. According to [Al-Qaradaghi], these crimes are the result of irresponsible statements by officials in France and elsewhere, and this is what the union has warned about time and time again out of a desire to attain stability, quiet and peace in all communities and sectors. He stressed that offending and insulting the Prophet Muhammad does not constitute freedom of speech but rather racism, arrogance and the degradation of all Muslims, and added that a history teacher should, [and even] must, instill peace among the young, rather than incite them and humiliate the prophet and the religion of some two billion people…
"[Al-Qaradaghi] called on [the people of] the free and enlightened world to coexist on a basis of mutual respect, and to turn toward good deeds, cooperation and overall development, and to eradicate the coronavirus pandemic, as Allah said [in Quran 2:208]: 'O believers! Enter into peace wholeheartedly and do not follow Satan’s footsteps.'…"[3]
The Murder Was Planned By French Authorities; The Real Murderer Is Still Alive
In the second statement, also posted on October 17, Al-Qaradaghi claimed that the murder had been planned by the French authorities in order to associate Islam with terrorism and that the real culprit is still alive. He wrote:
"Regarding the report about the student who butchered his teacher, the cunning reaction of the dark corridors [of power] in France, aimed at painting Islam and the Muslims as terrorist, was a badly-staged reaction...
"First of all, such behavior on the part of a teen is reprehensible, whether the incident was staged and the [alleged] perpetrator [chosen in advance], and whether the incident actually occurred. Second, while I completely oppose such an incident, no matter how and why it happened, there are some legitimate questions [that need to be asked]:
"Where was the teacher's discretion when he published cartoons that offend the beliefs of his teenage students? Why don't the authorities in France prohibit teachers to harm the sanctities of the students' religion? Why don't they pass a law that penalizes [acts of] disparaging religions, like [the law] that penalizes antisemitism? Why don't the French authorities uphold the principle of respecting religions and sanctities [important to members of] to French society? Isn't this better than freedom that leads to chaos?
"The crime and its timing make us suspect that it was not a spontaneous incident. Isn't it puzzling that the French video [tries] to convince us that the young perpetrated was killed immediately and that the French authorities have the right to apply discriminatory laws to Islam and the Muslims, on the grounds that a teen butchered his teacher?
"One needs only notice the prompt statements of the French authorities to understand that this incident was planned, planned, planned. Why did they not arrest the murdering student, interrogate him and place him on public trial, to ascertain his identity and his motives? Why did they kill him and allow the security apparatuses to describe [the incident] as they saw fit? Why did the authorities in New Zealand, for example, arrest Brenton Tarrant, perpetrator of the March 15, 2019 shooting in the Al-Nour mosque and Linwood Islamic Center in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which many were killed and wounded? Why is he still alive, in prison, while France eliminated the suspect and thereby enabled security action and statements that sow fear of Islam and Muslims among the public?
"We hold [all] religions sacred and oppose [the act of] offending any religion. We see any act of terrorizing as a crime and forbid all taking of life, including [the life of] non-Muslims. But the action of the intelligence [apparatuses], the quick production [of this incident] and the silencing [of anyone who questioned it] do not promote a solution to the crisis, but rather complicate it.
"O President Macron, the solution lies in brain, not brawn, and in transparency and clarity rather than obscurity and obfuscation. The solution lies in constructive dialogue as part of a social [quest for] peace based on respect for religions and their symbols.
"The real murderer is still alive."[4]
On October 18, 2020, the IUMS website posted a press report on Al-Qaradaghi's statements titled "Al-Qaradaghi Questions the Paris Incident: The Real Murderer Is Still Alive" (Iumsonline.org, October 18, 2020)
Macron Has a Crusader Ideology, Still Lives in the Middle Ages; The West Is in Moral Crisis
In an October 14, 2020 interview on Sudan's Dorar TV, Al-Qaradaghi said that French President Emmanuel Macron has a “Crusader ideology” and is a member of the far right. Claiming that the West is going through a moral crisis, he also said that the West wants to get rid of its elderly people, and that it would have not done anything about coronavirus if these were the only people that it affected.
For excerpts from the interview, click here or below:
[1] France24.com, October 2, 2020.
[2] In an interview he gave on Al-Jazeera in November 18, 2018, the present head of the IUMS, Dr. Ahmad Al-Raissouni, revealed that Qatar has supported the organization since its inception and that Turkey now funds it as well, and said: "There is nothing wrong with that and we don't hide it. On the contrary, we are proud of it and we urge all the countries to follow in the footsteps of those two" (aljazeera.net, November 18, 2018).
[3] Iumsonline.org, October 17, 2020.
[4] Iumsonline.org, October 17, 2020; Facebook.com/Ali.AlQaradaghi/posts/4015815391765149, October 17, 2020. It should be noted that the post on the Facebook page does not include the last line ("the real murderer is still alive").
