The head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group, called upon fellow Islamists and Arabs to declare holy war against Israel “for the sake of Palestine.”
Dr. Ali Al-Qaradaghi – the Secretary General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars – called on the Islamic and Arab peoples to rise up in all parts of the world for the sake of Palestine and Jerusalem since it is the central issue of the nation, and therefore pressure must be placed on the governments and institutions to carry out their duty towards stopping the Zionist terrorism that is occurring in the land of Palestine, stressing that the peoples are more powerful than they imagine and that they are capable of making the difference if they were to act to support the Umma’s just causes.
Al-Qaradaghi also declared that the Union stands with the popular outburst in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and condemns the crimes against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and cautions the Zionist settlers who are raping the land from targeting Palestinians, and the Umma will not idly refrain forever from aiding their brethren that are being murdered by Zionist hands, which also usurps their lands and money.
IUMS was founded by Egyptian cleric Yusuf Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader described by National Review’s Andrew McCarthy as “The most influential Sunni Islamist in the world.”
In 2003, Qaradawi issued a fatwa (religious declaration) that called for the killing of US soldiers in Iraq. He wrote:
Those killed fighting the American forces are martyrs given their good intentions since they consider these invading troops an enemy within their territories but without their will... Although they are seen by some as being wrong, those defending against attempts to control Islamic countries have the intention of Jihad and bear a spirit of the defense of their homeland.
In June 2013, Bin Bayyah, the Vice President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, met with members of the White House National Security Council. According to Bayyah, it was not his organization but the Obama administration that had initially reached out and sought a meeting. "We asked for this meeting to learn from you, and we need to be looking for new mechanisms to communicate with you and the Association of Muslim Scholars,” Gayle Smith, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of the National Security Council, reportedly said about IUMS.
On July 4th, Qaradawi & Qaradaghi issued a joint statement calling for the destruction of Israel.
The Union Condemns the International Silence Regarding the Murder and Burning of the Palestinian Youth and Martyr, Mohammad Hussein Abu Khdeir.The International Union of Muslim Scholars issued a report condemning the international silence towards the murder, and burning of the Palestinian youth and martyr, Mohammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, and stresses the right of the Palestinians to launch an intifada/rise up, and resist the Occupation through all possible means, and condemns the bloodthirsty Zionist instigation against the Palestinians, and calls on the Umma to defend Palestine: as a cause, and people, and holy places. Here is the text of the declaration:
Praise be to Allah, and prayers and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions and those loyal to him (etc.)
The International Union for Muslim Scholars has followed with sorrow the incident of the murder and burning of the Palestinian youth and martyr Mohammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, at the hands of criminal Zionist settlers on occupied Palestinian land, amidst Islamic, Arabic, Regional and International silence, both official and popular, which points to a general lack of human conscience, and exposes supporting the Zionist Occupier against the Palestinian masters of the land!
Therefore the International Union of Muslim Scholars, regarding this matters, states and emphasizes the following:
1. The IUMS emphasizes and stresses the complete right of the Palestinian people to defend its occupied land, and to resist the occupier through all possible and available means, without exception, per the rules of Islamic Law, and the rules and principles of international law.
2. The Union condemns the international silence towards the occurrence of the murder and burning of the Palestinian youth and martyr Mohammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, who was kidnapped by Zionist settler murderers, who killed him in cold blood and then burned his body, in the shadow of official Zionist intisgation, and the letting loose of bloodthirsty calls against the Palestinians, and which all indicates a large danger towards the Palestinian cause; and it requires the rejection of these racist aggressions towards Arabs and Muslims, and responding to it at all levels.
3. The International Union considers what the Zionist Occupation authority carries out in the Palestinian land: Extreme demonstrative steps; satisfying the bloodthirsty demands from a murderous occupier.
4. The International Union of Muslim Scholars calls on the Islamic and Arabic Umma: peoples and governments, to the Palestinian People, and to back the Palestinian Cause and the Palestinian People and their just rights, and the Palestinian holy sites that have fallen prey to the brutal occupier, and considers them completely responsible and accountable before Almighty Allah.“O you who believe, if you support Allah, He will make you victorious and make your foothold firm.” Surat Mohammad, Verse 7.