Qaradawi Denied UK Medical Visa

CAIRO — Prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has been denied a visa to get medical treatment in Britain.

"The British Embassy in Doha earlier Wednesday sent a fax to Sheikh Qaradawi informing him that his visa application for treatment has been refused," sources close to him told IslamOnline.net.

"The fax said the application contradicts with article 41 without specifying what the article said," they added.

Sheikh Qaradawi, the president of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, had applied for a medical visa almost a year ago.

He was discharged from the Hamad hospital in the Qatari capital Doha on Saturday, November 24, 2007, after recovering from a minor vertebral column crack he endured from a slipped disc.

Because of his illness, Qaradawi, 81, had been absent from several Islamic gatherings, the latest of which was Al-Quds International Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier the same month.

Late August, Qaradawi was hospitalized in Algeria after suffering from a stomach ulcer.

Influential Lobby

The prominent Muslim scholar said the British government was divided on the visa application.

"There were differences within the British government," he told Al-Jazeera news channel late Wednesday over the phone from Cairo.

He said the Home and Foreign Offices were in favor of giving him the visa, adding that some Home Office officials visited him at his home.

"But the there the neo-conservatives, the Zionist lobby and some right-wing media outlets."

Sources close to Sheikh Qaradawi earlier told IOL that figures within the Home and Foreign Offices had worked hard to make the visa application possible.

"But the Zionist lobby placed huge pressures to bloc the visa application and Prime Minister Gordon Brown eventually back that position," they added.

Conservative leader David Cameron has campaigned for denying Sheikh Qaradawi an entry visa.

He accused Brown of dithering over the case, following press reports that he is to be granted permission to come to London for medical treatment.

"It's clear for reasons of our security that we must expel or refuse entry to those who preach hate, pit one faith against another and divide our society," said the Tory leader.

"So I call on the Government to confirm that it will not be giving al-Qaradawi permission to enter this country."

Qaradawi's visit to London in 2004 turned into a political storm when MP Louise Ellman, a member of the Labour Friends of Israel group, urged then Home Secretary David Blunkett to deny the renowned scholar a visa.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) concluded that there was no legal ground to prosecute prominent Al-Qaradawi during his London visit.

Misconceptions

The prominent Muslim scholar accused some parties within the UK of propagating misconceptions about him.

"I'm not a hardliner as they claim. I have condemned the attacks in New York and Washington. I also denounced the attacks in Madrid and London itself," he told Al-Jazeera.

"I preach a culture of tolerance and peace not war or violence."

"Islam not only prohibits attacking non-Muslims who do not launch attacks against Muslims, but it also urges Muslims to treat those non-Muslims with due respect and kindness, especially non-Muslims who live alongside Muslims within the Muslim territories," he had said.

Qaradawi is known for his moderate views and considered to be one of the most influential scholars in the Muslim world.

He is also the chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and a trustee of the Oxford University Center for Islamic Studies.

He has published dozens of books, chiefly The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has described Qaradawi as a "leading progressive Muslim" and likened him to reformist Pope John XXIII.

He praised the sheikh's staunch support to democracy and efforts to bridge the gap between Islam and the West.