he Muslim world.”
A progressive figure moving in the correct direction? What exactly is progressive about Al-Qaradawi? His views on the acceptability of wife-beating? On suicide bombers and Jews?
At IslamOnline, they’re taking it a stage further (via lgf):
London Mayor Ken Livingstone Tuesday, January 11, called on British media to apologize for sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi over the hostile campaign that sought to blemish his reputation during his visit to London in July.
Speaking at a press conference, Livingstone further urged those who took for granted false reports circulated by the Israeli intelligence services Mossad to admit that they were plainly wrong, Al-Jazeera satellite channel said.
He further revealed that he would submit a report to the Press Complaint Commission to keep it posted on the problems of the British media, which often promulgate stereotypes about Islam and its respected leaders.
“When you get a progressive figure who is moving that religion in the correct direction you engage and you develop it,” the BBC News Online quoted Livingstone as saying.
He said engaging with Qaradawi would help enhance relations between the West and Islam.
“Here is the force that we need to engage with if we are to actually get a dialogue between the west and the Muslim world.”
Livingstone further revealed at his press conference that the campaign against Qaradawi was driven by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), who is led by a former Israeli intelligence officer, Al-Jazeera added.
He urged the institute to offer an apology for Al-Qaradawi, criticizing it for depending on unauthentic reports released by the Mossad.
The Mayor said that the institute was exploited by Mossad and the extremist right-wing in Britain to propagate untrue allegations about Islam and Muslim figures.
Hmm. Ken is digging himself in deeper here, but he’s surely not so foolish as to talk of “false reports circulated by the Israeli intelligence services Mossad”, as IslamOnline suggest.
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