Controversial fatwas are nothing new when it comes to Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi, who is the Egyptian-born Qatari mufti and leading Muslim Brotherhood figure which is recognized as a terror organization in many Arabic and western countries.
However, recent media revelations show that his edicts go far beyond his appalling encouragement of suicide attacks and anti-Semitic statements.
Al-Riyadh, a leading Saudi newspaper has published a series of articles which unearthed Qaradawi’s controversial past. However, they show that his interest went far beyond politics, and into pornographic material.
“Qatar’s Mufti forced his wife watch a sex tape on the night of their marriage,” was the headline of the special report. The facts were gathered based on testimonials of Qaradawi’s Algerian ex-wife, Asma bint Qaddah. Qaradawi married bint Qaddah after his first wife, Esaad Abduljawad, fell ill with Alzheimer’s.
While the revelations show a romantic side of Sheikh Qaradawi — who apparently, once told his wife that thinking of her beauty prohibited him from focusing on his duties as an Imam leading Muslim prayers — they (the revelations) also show a much more disturbing side.
According to the report, Qaradawi forced his wife to watch porn on the night of their marriage. He also refused to have sex unless Bint Qaddah, who was a student of his and decades younger, was blindfolded.
The revelations don’t stop there, Qaradawi also reportedly wanted a threesome with the couple’s housemaid, adding that there is “nothing that prohibits that in Islam.”
It is not clear whether the threesome had happened, while the ex-wife’s disclosures remain unverified in general given that Qaradawi himself neither denied or confirmed them. Arab News couldn’t reach the Qatari cleric for comment.
However, any junior researcher can find plenty of material on Qaradawi’s fascination with sex.
In the below video, recorded by monitoring body MEMRI, Sheikh Qaradawi gives a fatwa that masturbation is allowed for men, but prohibited for women.