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Sun, June 16, 2013 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most prominent religious authority in Sunni Islam, lashed out against Iran and Hezbollah and called on Muslims to support the rebels in Syria. His remarks reflect the deepening Sunni-Shi’ite schism and the significant challenges faced by Hezbollah because of its involvement in the Syrian civil war.

Overview

Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi delivers a sermon (May 31, 2013) strongly condemning Iran, Hezbollah, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah (youtube.com)

On May 31, 2013, Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, the most prominent religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world, delivered a sermon in which he lashed out against Iran and Hezbollah. The sermon was delivered at a conference held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in solidarity with the Syrian people. Al-Qaradawi accused Iran and Hezbollah of helping Syria’s Alawite regime in its war against the Syrian people by supplying weapons and dispatching operatives from all across the Shi’ite world. Al-Qaradawi used inflammatory rhetoric to condemn Hezbollah (“the party of Satan”), saying that it sends operatives to Syria “to kill the people of Al-Qusayr” and referring to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (whose name literally means “Allah’s victory”) as “Nasr al-Shaytan”, or “Satan’s victory”. Al-Qaradawi called on Muslim volunteers and Muslim countries to help their brothers in Syria, and added, “I swear that if I could, I would go into battle without hesitation” (see Appendix for the summary of the sermon).

Sheik Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most prominent religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world, was expelled from Egypt and found refuge in Qatar. He operates from there throughout the Arab and Muslim world. After President Hosni Mubarak was ousted, Al-Qaradawi returned to Egypt and delivered a sermon in Al-Tahrir Square in Cairo. Many consider him the supreme religious and ideological authority for the Muslim Brotherhood, although he is not officially its leader. Al-Qaradawi is also the supreme religious authority for Hamas and an enthusiastic supporter of Palestinian terrorism. On May 8, 2013, Al-Qaradawi held a first of its kind visit to the Gaza Strip. While there he made radical statements rejecting any possible recognition or negotiation with Israel, and called on Muslims “to prepare for defending the Al-Aqsa Mosque”.^[1]

Left: Ismail Haniyeh, head of the de-facto Hamas administration, kisses Al-Qaradawi’s hand during the sheik’s visit to the Gaza Strip (ikhwanonline.com, May 10, 2013). Right: Sheik Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi (Palestineinfo, August 15, 2010)

Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s sermon in Qatar was delivered in response to a speech given by Hassan Nasrallah on May 25, 2013, in which he admitted for the first time that Hezbollah was involved in the Syrian civil war.^[2] The sermon was delivered in the midst of the fighting, about one week before the Syrian regime, with the help of several thousand Hezbollah operatives, was able to take over the city of Al-Qusayr — a significant military victory that gave a morale boost to the Syrian government loyalists. That victory, coupled with Iran’s ongoing assistance to the Syrian regime and Hezbollah’s growing embroilment in the Syrian civil war, has further deepened the Sunni-Shi’ite schism in the Arab and Muslim world, as evidenced by Al-Qaradawi’s strong-worded remarks and the calls to wage jihad against Hezbollah and Shi’ite Muslims made by other Sunni clerics. However, even though Al-Qaradawi is a popular and established preacher, his sermon does not carry the authority of a fatwa (religious ruling) and there is doubt whether his sermon will motivate thousands of zealous Sunni volunteers to Syria to wage jihad against the regime.

Al-Qaradawi’s statement is a telling indication of the heavy price Hezbollah has had to pay in the Arab and Muslim world — and in Lebanon itself — for its growing involvement in the Syrian civil war.^[3] Hezbollah’s image in Arab Muslim countries has taken a serious blow — it has been demonized and turned from the spearhead of anti-Israeli resistance into “the Party of Satan”. What’s even more, Hezbollah is increasingly faced with the danger that the Sunni-Shi’ite tensions could spill over to Lebanon itself. The violent clashes in Tripoli and Sidon, the rocket attacks on the Shi’ite areas controlled by Hezbollah in Beirut’s southern suburb and in Baalbek, the demonstration recently held by Hezbollah’s opponents in front of the Iranian embassy in Beirut — all of these clearly indicate that Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon have become bolder, and that the Syrian civil war has started to spill over to Lebanon, intensifying sectarian tensions in that country (even if the lessons of the previous civil war are still deeply etched in the collective consciousness of Lebanon’s various sects and opposing sides and serve as a restraining factor).

A poster carried by Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon, with the Hezbollah logo changed from Hezbollah (Party of Allah) to Hezb al-Shaytan (Party of Satan), in the spirit of Al-Qaradawi’s sermon. Hezbollah’s motto, “The Party of Allah are the victors”, was changed to “The Party of Satan are the losers” (molotovnews.com).

Al-Qaradawi’s attack on Iran and Hezbollah can also make things difficult for the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Hamas, which tries not to upset the status quo and maintain a delicate balance in its relationship with Iran. While Hamas is aligned with the policy of the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement that strongly supports the rebellion against the Syrian regime, we also believe that Hamas would like to continue receiving military support from Iran, which formerly played a major role in the military buildup in the Gaza Strip (mainly by providing advanced weaponry). So far Hamas has not directly commented on Al-Qaradawi’s sermon (who mentioned Bashar Asad’s efforts to bring Hamas over to his side). However, Hamas spokesman Salah al-Bardawil echoed Al-Qaradawi’s strong condemnation of Iran and Hezbollah. In an interview to the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Al-Bardawil said that Hezbollah made a “serious mistake” by becoming involved in the Syrian crisis, that support for Hezbollah was dwindling and that the organization was in a state of “total collapse”. Al-Bardawil added that Iran and Hezbollah’s support for the “resistance” did not “absolve them from the responsibility for the events in Syria and the deadly mistakes made there” (Al-Sharq al-Awsat, June 10, 2013).

Al-Qaradawi’s remarks are part of a pattern of escalating Sunni rhetoric — from politicians, clerics, and the media — towards Shi’ite Muslims. More than just a response to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria, that escalation can be considered part of a broader, region-wide conflict between the Shi’ites and the Sunnis that is also manifested in several other arenas: Iraq, where the death toll in bombings between Shi’ites and Sunnis has climbed to its highest in years; Lebanon, where conflicts and clashes take place in Tripoli, Sidon, and Beirut; and the Persian Gulf, where Iran is vying with Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states for control over Bahrain and Yemen.

Appendix I

Summary of Sheik al-Qaradawi’s sermon and the main reactions it received

The following is the summary of the sermon delivered by Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi in Qatar on May 31, 2013. The sermon was prompted by Hassan Nasrallah’s speech about one week prior to that (May 25, 2013) and the growing tensions between Sunnis and Shi’ites in the Arab/Muslim world in light of Hezbollah’s increasing involvement in the Syrian civil war, which could be seen in the campaign for Al-Qusayr.

Al-Qaradawi began by discussing Syria’s modern political history and listed the failures of the Syrian authorities over the years. He said that Hafez al-Asad came to power (in 1970) thanks to the support of his community, the Nusayris (a derogatory term used to refer to the Alawites), who were said by Ibn Taymiyyah to be “greater infidels than the Jews and the Christians”. He went on to say, “we now see them [the Alawites] killing the Syrian people the way one would kill cats, mice, and cockroaches (i.e., indiscriminate killing). Killing thousands and tens of thousands [of people] makes no difference to them [i.e., to the Alawites].” According to Al-Qaradawi, “Hafez al-Asad and his son Bashar have been forced upon the [Islamic] nation for fifty years”. On top of that, they “haven’t fired a single shot at the Israeli army [since 1973] and they still call themselves ‘men of the resistance’. What kind of resistance is that?!”

“That [Alawite] ethnicity,” Al-Qaradawi said, “has taken over all things in the country — intelligence, weapons, aviation, battleships [and so forth].” He accused Syria’s Alawite regime of suppressing all the other ethnic groups — the Kurds, the Sunnis, and the Christians. He said that, in the wake of the Arab Spring, when the Syrian people started demanding freedom, “the Syrian army refused and started killing people [indiscriminately], even though they have no weapons and they are just demanding their freedom.” He went on to add, “Bashar al-Asad is neither a ‘Bashar’ [bringer of good tidings] nor an ‘Asad’ [lion]—he is a brute who is fighting against his own people.”

Al-Qaradawi noted that Bashar al-Asad had asked him for his support, and that he had also asked Khaled Mash’al, the “jihadist brother”, to respond (negatively) to Al-Qaradawi’s remarks. However, Mash’al refused, according to Al-Qaradawi, saying that he could not respond to a cleric of his standing. Since then, Khaled Mash’al has fallen out of favor with Bashar al-Asad, who “started taking more vigorous action against the Palestinians and all the people [of Syria].” Al-Qaradawi noted that Bashar al-Asad “is killing people all day long and won’t go to bed before committing a murder. Each day [he kills] dozens, hundreds of people the way he sees fit, with military weapons, with MiG planes, with warships, tanks, missiles, and all kinds of weapons.”

Al-Qaradawi strongly condemned Russia for arming the Bashar al-Asad regime and being hostile to Muslims. “The weapons [used by Asad to attack his people] come from Russia,” Al-Qaradawi said. “Russia, which has [always] been against Muslims. Everyone should know that the Russians are the Muslims’ enemies. The Russians have been fighting Muslims since the first day [that the rebellion began] by sending weapons [to the Asad regime] and providing it with a constant supply of all kinds of weapons.”

Al-Qaradawi then turned his sights on Iran and Hezbollah. “In addition [to weapons from Russia],” Al-Qaradawi said, “they [the Asad regime] also receive weapons from Iran.” He further added that “people and officers from Iran are directing the fighting that is now [being waged] in Syria, in addition to people from Lebanon [i.e., Hezbollah operatives].” He stressed that “those who come from Lebanon call themselves Hezbollah [Party of Allah], but in fact they are the Party of Satan [Al-Qaradawi originally said hezb al-taghut, meaning the party of Taghut, the devil who turns believers away from Islam, or the chief false deity]. They come [to Syria] to kill Muslims, to kill the people of Al-Qusayr, and not just them — many thousands of Syrians in the [country’s] north, south, east, and west.” He referred to Nasrallah (whose name literally means “Victory of Allah”) as Nasr al-Shaytan (“Victory of Satan”). He further added, “they [Hezbollah members] claim that they are killing the ‘enemies of the resistance’, but what resistance is that?! What you are doing is not resistance against Israel, but against freedom-seeking Muslims. The Syrian people have risen — every man, woman, youth, and child from all sects and regions — [and demanded freedom] from Asad, that savage, traitorous, murdering wrongdoer who has blood on his hands, may Allah take him like the lowliest criminal.”

Al-Qaradawi went on to say that the Syrian people will necessarily prevail over the oppressive and arrogant ruler and those who assist him, including “Hassan Victory of Satan” (Hassan Nasr al-Shaytan) and the “Party of Satan” (Hezb al- Taghut, as he referred to Hezbollah), who is [indiscriminately] killing Muslims in Al-Qusayr, including women, children, and the elderly. They will not find shelter. The people of Syria only have small arms that they have gathered here and there, but the tens of thousands of operatives who have come to Syria from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and various Shi’ite countries are there to fight against the Sunnis, the Christians, the Kurds, and all those who will not side with them.

“I do not blame the Shi’ites at all,” Al-Qaradawi added, “some of them are respectable people, including my friends in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon who oppose the brutal violence [in Syria].” He noted once again that those who support Hezbollah should know that they are not Allah’s party, that they have been overrun by Satan and the memory of Allah has been erased from their minds, and that they are the Party of Satan. “Indeed, the Party of Satan will [ultimately] lose,” he said. “Allah is stronger than they are and his glory is greater.”

Later in the sermon Al-Qaradawi called on Muslim volunteers from all across the globe to help their brothers in Syria, because it makes no sense, he said, to abandon the Muslims in Syria while thousands of people are going there (from Iran and Hezbollah) to fight them. He added, “I swear that if I could, I would go into battle without hesitation.” He called on “all those who are able to fight, who have combat knowledge and battlefield experience to go and fight.” Al-Qaradawi called on Muslim countries to help the people of Syria and mentioned Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. “We are not waiting for the West because they are in no hurry and it could take them two years. That is why time is of the essence, because the killing is still going on intensively,” he stated.

Al-Qaradawi noted that the secretary general of Iran’s Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, which aims to ease Shi’ite-Sunni tensions, had asked him to continue his work for rapprochement between the various schools of thought. Al-Qaradawi said that he had in fact worked for years to bring the Islamic schools of thought closer to each other and even attended conferences held for that purpose in Morocco, Syria, Bahrain, and Qatar. He had come to the conclusion, however, that this was not conducive to rapprochement because the Iranians benefited from such activity and the Sunnis did not. The Iranians, according to Al-Qaradawi, create gathering places^[4] (in Sunni areas) to promote Shi’ite faith, while the Sunnis do not (i.e., they do not attempt to promote Sunni faith among Shi’ites). He went on to say that the Iranians invade Sunni countries, which is particularly evident in all African countries, where Iranians invest Iranian funds to spread the Shi’ite faith. The Sunnis avoid talking about the tensions between Shi’ites and Sunnis (so as not to provoke them), but the Iranians invade Sunni countries and spread the Shi’ite faith in Africa. Al-Qaradawi further added that since the American invasion to Iraq, Iraqi Shi’ites have been persecuting the Sunnis under PM Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Qaradawi concluded his sermon with the following: “Allah, help us against the infidels; Allah, take Bashar al-Asad [from this world]; Allah, take the Party of Satan [Hezbollah]; Allah, take the oppressors; Allah, deal them a heavy blow.”

Al-Qaradawi and Bashar al-Asad in better days, when Al-Qaradawi worked for Shi’ite-Sunni rapprochement (all4syria.info).

Reactions to Al-Qaradawi’s sermon

Saudi Arabia

Abdul-Aziz Aal ash-Shaikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, praised Al-Qaradawi for the stance that he took. “We call on all politicians and clerics,” he said, “to take practical measures against that party [i.e., Hezbollah], which is fed by sectarianism and those behind it [i.e., Iran], to deter its aggression. It is now clear beyond all doubt that the party is an [Iranian] agent that shall not receive the attention or patronage of any believer (alarabiya.net).

Abdullah bin Muni’, a high-ranking Saudi sheik, thanked Al-Qaradawi for his remarks. He noted that Al-Qaradawi’s attack on Iran and Hezbollah for their involvement in the internal affairs of other countries did not constitute an attack on the attempts at rapprochement between Shi’ites and Sunnis (el-balad, June 8, 2013).

Iran

To the best of our knowledge, Iran has not reacted to Al-Qaradawi’s sermon so far. We believe that this is because Iran wanted to avoid fanning the flames too much and possibly because the presidential elections were forthcoming in Iran.

Lebanon

Hezbollah has remained silent so far. Ibrahim Moussa, Hezbollah’s PR chief, refused to comment on Al-Qaradawi’s sermon (el-balad, June 8, 2013).

Two Lebanese sheiks, one a Hezbollah supporter and the other an opponent, commented on the sermon:

1. Pro-Iranian Lebanese cleric Afif al-Nabulsi criticized Al-Qaradawi’s remarks and accused him of incitement. “We would have hoped that he would call for jihad in Palestine and ask for anyone who can to go to Palestine to eliminate Israel, liberate Jerusalem, and protect the oppressed Palestinian people,” he said during one of his lectures. He further added that “any call for jihad in Syria is a deception” since “Israel and America want to see Muslim and Sunni-Shi’ite infighting. The Shi’ites and the Sunnis must come together to fight America and Israel” (almanar.com.lb).
2. Top Lebanese Shi’ite cleric Ali al-Amin, a Hezbollah opponent, called on Al-Qaradawi to hold a conference of Muslim scholars to study the events taking place in Arab and Islamic countries, saying that he would gladly accept an invitation to participate in such a conference. He added that Al-Qaradawi’s mistake wasn’t working for a rapprochement between Shi’ites and Sunnis — it was treating Iran as “the exclusive representative of Shi’ites [in the world] through Hezbollah.” He stressed that moderate Shi’ites have been opposed to Iran and Hezbollah’s actions in Syria from the very beginning, and that “they have let it be known that their hearts are with the oppressed [Syrian] people” (elbalad.com, June 8, 2013).

Jordan

Muhammad al-Shalabi (aka Abu Sayyaf), a top Salafi-jihadist cleric in Jordan, issued an open call to Sunnis in Syria and Lebanon to fight Hezbollah and target its leaders and bases, explaining that “it is a duty [to carry out] jihad [against] any attacker, especially when the attack includes killing and spreading the Shi’a by force.” He called on senior Sunni clerics to announce that “Iran’s gang” must be fought, and explained that it constituted self-defense since Hezbollah was the one that had invaded Sunni villages in Syria. According to him, he has solid information that many Shi’ites from Pakistan, Bahrain, and other Gulf states are fighting alongside Hezbollah and the Syrian regime. “However, Jabhat Al-Nusra [a prominent Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist organization in Syria] will fight them with all its might,” he said (MEMRI citing Al-Hayat, June 3, 2013).

Appendix II

Cartoons from the Arab world vilifying Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah

Left: Hezbollah’s weapon of “resistance” targets the people of Syria and has Hezbollah drown in a river of Syrian blood (Al-Ra’i, Jordan, May 28, 2013). Right: Iran uses Hezbollah in Syria instead of working against Israel (Ad-Dustour, Jordan, May 27, 2013).

Left: Nasrallah’s headdress soaked with the blood of those killed in Syria (facebook.com). Right: Hassan Nasrallah in the trash can (Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, May 26, 2013).

Left: Ali Khamenei, Bashar Asad, and Hassan Nasrallah depicted as Satan’s incarnates (arabsnews.net, May 28, 2013). Right: Hassan Nasrallah says that nothing is going on in Homs and that the media is lying, while the background shows a lion with a bloody face (watantoday.net, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2013)

Left: A poster carried by Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon, with the Hezbollah logo changed from Hezbollah (Party of Allah) to Hezb al-Shaytan (Party of Satan), in the spirit of Al-Qaradawi’s sermon. The motto “The Party of Allah are the victors” was changed to “The Party of Satan are the losers” (molotovnews.com). Right: Hassan Nasrallah as Satan (balladnews.com).

Notes:

[1] For more details on Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, see the February 28, 2011 article: “Portrait of Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Abdallah al-Qaradawi: A “Moderate” Islamist?”.

[2] Following Hassan Nasrallah’s speech, Sunni clerics, including Al-Qaradawi, started calling for jihad (holy war) against Hezbollah and Shi’ite Muslims in general. For details, see MEMRI report issued on June 6, 2013 (975): “Following Nasrallah’s Statements On Syria Fighting, Calls Emerge For Sunnis To Wage Jihad Against Hizbullah, Shiites”, by H. Varulkar, L. Barkan, and R. Green. See also Appendix I of the present Information Bulletin for details on reactions to Al-Qaradawi’s sermon.

[3] For more information on Hezbollah’s growing involvement in the Syrian civil war, see the June 17, 2013 study: “Hezbollah Involvement in the Syrian Civil War”.

[4] Such a place is called a Husseiniya, after Hussein bin Ali, who was killed in 680 A.D. in the Battle of Karbala and became a role model for Shi’ites.