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On August 26, 2014, leading Sunni scholar Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi was interviewed by the Turkish Andaolu news agency. In the interview, Al-Qaradhawi criticized the announcement of a caliphate by the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and said that Sunni-Shi'ite dialogue had collapsed because of the Shi'ite attempts to "invade" Sunni turf. Following are excerpts from the interview.
Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: At the beginning, I advocated [interfaith dialogue] with the Shiites, but later, we had disagreements on many issues. I realized that they were trying to invade the Sunni belief. We sent forty preachers to African countries, and they detected in all the Islamic countries there millions of dollars and thousands of Shiites invading Sunni [turf]. That is why I no longer advocate [dialogue]. They are the ones who caused the rift between us.
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The extremist groups appear among Muslims because of the corrupt circumstances and corrupt rulers. These groups emerge like Al-Qaeda before them, with Bin Laden and Yahya [sic] Al-Zawahiri… The new groups are in the same category. ISIS stands for the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham. It is said that this young man [Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi] started off as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but he had leadership aspirations. After a few years in jail, he was released and joined these people.
Some young men join them. I know that some non-Arabs from Qatar joined them. [They are told] that they fight the infidels for the sake of Allah, but they accuse Muslims of heresy, and they kill dhimmis who do not deserve to be killed. This is a big problem. We fight this extremism. This extremism brings destruction upon the Muslims.
A group cannot just announce a caliphate. This is not the way to establish a caliphate. A caliphate can be established when several Muslim countries, which are ruled by the shari'a, come together, and form a caliphate. It doesn't have to be like the original Islamic Caliphate. It can take the form of a federation or a confederation. We can form a union like the Europeans, which will develop gradually.
Today, there is even a Chinese union. The number of Chinese according to the latest census is 1.5 billion. There are 1.7 billion Muslims. There are 1.5 billion people in China, and 1.2 billion people in India. Why is it permissible for them and not for the Muslims? The Muslims can have a caliphate, but only when they have just and realistic rulers.
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