QARADAWI DENOUNCES BAGHDADI'S CALIPHATE ANNOUNCEMENT

Yusuf Al-Qaradawi (Image: Al Jazeera) — **Yusuf Al-Qaradawi** (Image: Al Jazeera)

Cairo, 8 Ramadan 1435/6 July 2014 (MINA) – Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the prominent Sunni religious leader, denounced Baghdadi’s caliphate announcement as violating Islamic law.

He said in a statement on Saturday that the declaration was “void under sharia”, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“The declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under sharia and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria,” he said.

“We look forward to the coming caliphate.”

Since proclaiming a caliphate, numerous figures from the Sunni community have dismissed the Islamic State’s assertions.

Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a Jordanian Salafist leader, called the group “deviant”, while the pan-Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir rejected the claims as “empty speech without substance”.

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Hizb ut-Tahrir said the Islamic State had no real “authority” in implementing Islamic rule.

Since proclaiming the caliphate, the Islamic State has promised to sweep away with state borders and redraw the map of the Middle East.

The group already dominates territory stretching from Aleppo in Syria to towns close to Baghdad. (T/P09/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)