DOHA: Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi declared in a religious edict, Fatwa, urging Egyptians to support ousted President Mohamed Morsi and complete withdrawal of military from political scene.
Egyptian-born Youssef al-Qaradawi, one of the most prominent Sunni clerics in the Middle East, said in the fatwa posted on his website that the military’s intervention to depose Morsi on Wednesday was against democracy and the constitution.
“Doctor al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa on the necessity to support the elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, and to retain the constitution… and calling on al-Sisi and those with him to withdraw to preserve legitimacy and democracy,” the posting said.
He urged “all parties and political groups in Egypt to support correctness and restore President Morsi to his legitimate post”.
“Sharia (Islamic law) imposes on all believers allegiance to the elected president, to carry out his orders and conform to his directives.”
“Morsi must remain president, and nobody can claim the right to remove him in the name of the people”, Qaradawi added.
“I call on all Egyptians, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, Muslim and Christian, liberal and Islamist to join ranks to protect the gains of the revolution” the Islamic cleric said.
He said many scholars from Cairo’s al-Azhar Islamic university, Egypt’s pre-eminent Muslim institution, agreed with him.
Morsi was elected last summer, a year after long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular revolt with the aid of the military. The Muslim Brotherhood was banned in Egypt during Mubarak’s rule.
At least 43 people were killed on Friday when supporters of Morsi protested across the country at Wednesday’s coup and the subsequent detention of Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
Qaradawi, chairman of the International Federation of Muslim Scholars, has been a vociferous supporter of the revolutions that roiled Arab countries in 2011. Last month he called for a holy war in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad.
Qaradawi, 86, is regular commentator on Al-Jazeera satellite television and has backed the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria.
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