Outspoken Muslim cleric Yussef al-Qaradawi has rejected claims that he is an extremist, saying Muslims had no right to mistreat gay people, and wife-beating was not desirable, amid protests against his visit to Britain.
Speaking exclusively to the Guardian newspaper, the Egyptian-born, Qatari-based preacher and Muslim Brotherhood figure said that coverage of his comments was "totally inaccurate and unfair".
Muslims had no right to mistreat gay people, and wife-beating was neither "obligatory nor desirable", he told the paper.
It was clear from his lectures and books, he said, that he was against violence and terrorism; however, he stood by the argument he made last week in a conference at City Hall with the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, that suicide bombings by the Palestinians were "a weapon of the weak".
Speaking through an interpreter, Qaradawi said he was upset that his visit had been overshadowed by discussion of controversial topics.
"My opinion is that homosexuality is forbidden in Islam, as in Christianity." But any punishment was a matter for the state, and Muslims were subject to those laws. He added: "Muslims have no right to punish homosexuals or mistreat them as individuals." Qaradawi was also attacked for comments suggesting that wife-beating is permitted as long as no instruments are used and a woman's "face and other sensitive parts" are avoided. But he said the book was scholarship: The book "explained it was not obligatory or desirable.
The Prophet (PBUH) himself discouraged the practice and never did it himself." Qaradawi on a speaking tour and used his address at the Regent's Park Mosque in London on Friday afternoon to urge Muslims to integrate without compromising their religious beliefs.
On Sunday at a rally in Wembley, he reiterated that message. On Monday the mayor hosts a conference at City Hall calling for the right of Muslim women to wear the hijab. Qaradawi is the keynote speaker but has polarised some of those involved.
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