Muslim Brotherhood-tied Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi recently shared his view on the Middle East situation with the "Voice of Russia," stating, "The era of dynasty rule in the Arab world is over. We see it in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Their regimes are now in the past."
Leading cleric Ali al-Sallabi in Libya is calling for "moderate Islam" in the post-Moammar Gadhafi era, explaining: "Islam is not just about punishments, cutting hands and beheading with swords" – making the spiked punchbowl not just about the "cyanide."
When Qaradawi was asked about the Muslim Brotherhood being blacklisted by Russia, he responded: "The party is not a terrorist one. Why can't people get it that Muslims are moderate in their majority. I have always condemned violence, especially under Islamic mottos. Violence is unacceptable. Islam is a tolerant and peaceful religion. We are calling for peace as this is what God wants."
Welcome to the peaceful era of Islam where leopards shed their spots. Perhaps I can help find them hidden in Qaradawi's books "Al-Si'a" (Inclusion) and "Muruna" (Flexibility) so the West can get equipped to handle this arising enemy.
Muruna is a term that needs to be remembered by Westerners. It literally means "flexibility" and is the Sunni model for "taqyyia and kitman," which sanctions deception and lying by the Shia. Its revival was initiated as far back as December 1989 in the U.S. during the annual conference of the Association of Muslim Youth Forums by one of Qaradawi's allies, Mohammed Hamadi, one of the leading rebels in Libya who participated heavily in the Arab Spring and is the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Mauritania. In what they termed "The Priorities of The Islamic Movement in The Next Three Decades," commencing from 1990 to 2020, they hope to attain what they described as "the goals of the Islamic Movement," which include the whole shebang: "organized popular work to return to Islam in order to lead society, all of society … to bring back the caliphate … to announce Jihad either by arms or by pen or by heart. …"
To accomplish the movement's plan, Qaradawi is confronted with quandaries such as, how can this upcoming Shariah advance in an era where secularism exists with its forbidden banking and usury? Can Shariah sanction sins and evils needed to advance the movement's plans when these are prohibited? For that he introduces "The Doctrine of Balance," which is a litany of confusing schizophrenic and double-minded ideas on how to "forgive evils" in order to "acquire interests" necessary to reach the goals. The solution? "to balance between good and evil, and if the good and evil conflict with each other we make priority as to when we put ahead evil for the sake of an interest, and determine when an evil deed is forgiven for the sake of an interest."
Westerners should not wonder as to how Qaradawi sanctioned the marriage of Huma Abedin to the kingpin of sexting, former Rep. Anthony Weiner. Such a marriage in Shariah is considered an anathema punishable by death. But this sanctioning stems from this new "flexible" doctrine in this new era of Islam in which even marriage of a Muslim girl is permissible since the goal is to win a congressman and eavesdrop on Hillary Clinton. Its all Halal-Kosher, that is, for the time being.
Even love, peace and forgiveness with the enemy is now sanctioned and are not under the Law of Abrogation: "abrogation are different levels, we have the first, the second and the third, that is a verse [commandment] has a purpose, then when the purpose is finished, such as in being weak and few in number, to have peace and forgiveness with the enemy, then [it] is abrogated by the commands of war. This is not abrogation, but under the section of forgotten verses, as Allah said 'we made forgotten,' what is forgotten here is the order to fight, until the Muslims are strong; while they are weak the ruling is to be patient" (Ibid, pp. 80, Al-Itqan, II, pp. 21 by Al-Halabi).
Muruna, if adapted in Judeo-Christian ethics can cross any rabbi's eyes and is not Qaradawi's concept alone: "When evil and harm conflict as necessities demand, we must then choose the least of the two evils or harms. This is what the experts in jurisprudence decided … if interests and harms conflict or benefits conflict with harms, what is then to be decided is to review each benefit and each harm and its consequences, so the minor harms/evils are forgiven for the sake of the greater long-term benefit. The harm/evil is also accepted even if it is great."
What was forbidden by Shariah, like interest banking to making alliances with infidels, Qaradawi made "temporarily" Kosher: "Is it permissible, then, to have alliances with powers that are non-Muslim? Can Muslims work in banks that practice usury? … For the young Muslims they should not leave their jobs in banks and insurance agencies despite that their work is evil since their experience in these agencies would gain experience for what would benefit the Muslim commerce … whoever examines the issues in light of the Doctrine of Balance would find that entry into these arenas is not some project only, but a preference and a duty."
Infiltrate and conquer is the new motto of Islam and not "condemn violence especially under Islamic mottos," as Qaradawi stated. Qaradawi even takes offense when the West compartmentalizes Islam into "radical" and "moderate":
"One of the reviled expressions used by secularists and modernists is the expression 'political Islam,' which is alien to our Islamic society without a doubt. ... The reason for this application is a master plan by the enemies of Islam to fragment it into different divisions … they manufactured 'Islams,' plural, several different Islams, which they desire to accomplish. Sometimes they even divide Islam by regions: there is the Asian variety of Islam. Then we have the African Islam. And sometimes, according to the ages: There is the Prophet's era of Islam, and Rashidi Islam, Umayyad Islam, Abbasid Islam, Ottoman Islam and modern Islam. And sometimes, according to race: There is Arab Islam, Indian Islam, Turkish Islam and the Islam of the Malaysian ... and so and so forth. And sometimes, according to the doctrine: There is Sunni Islam and Shiite Islam. They even divide the Sunni into divisions and the Shia into divisions. They even added new divisions; there is revolutionary Islam, reactionary Islam, radical Islam, classical Islam, right-wing Islam, leftist Islam, orthodox Islam, modern Islam and, finally, political Islam, and spiritual Islam and theological Islam."
Qaradawi admonishes the West and corrects this view: "We do not know why they invent such divisions that are rejected in Islam. The truth is that these divisions are all unacceptable in the eyes of a Muslim. There is only one Islam, which has no partners which recognizes no other; it is the first Islam, the Islam of the Quran and Sunnah."
Perhaps it's time that the West agrees with Qaradawi: Indeed it is one Islam – flexible Islam.
Walid Shoebat, a former Muslim terrorist, is the author of "God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible" and "For God or for Tyranny: When Nations Deny God's Natural Law."