Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi and Tariq Ramadan, two leaders of the global Muslim Brotherhood, have been named by Foreign Policy Magazine as among the world’s top 100 intellectuals. Qaradawi is often referred to here as the most important leader of the global Brotherhood. He is well known for his weekly television show on Al-Jazeera and is also the head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research although he resides in Qatar. Following the death of the Egyptian Brotherhood Supreme Guide in 2004, Qaradawi was reported to have turned down an offer to take his place saying he did not wish to limit his affiliation to any one organization in the Islamic movement. Qaradawi is also the head of a worldwide collection of charities known as the Union of Good which has helped to raise money for Hamas since the beginning of the 2nd “Intifada” against Israel. He is sometime referred to as the “spiritual leader” of Hamas. Tariq Ramadan, on the other hand, is perhaps best described as an independent power center within the global Brotherhood with sufficient stature as the son of Said Ramadan, and the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood to challenge positions taken by important Brotherhood leaders. His statements and writings have been extensively analyzed and he has been accused by critics of promoting anti-Semitism and fundamentalism, albeit by subtle means. On the other hand, his supporters promote him as as example of an Islamic reformer who is in the forefront of developing a “Euro Islam.” Another individual of interest on the list is Amr Khaled, a popular Islamic “tele-preacher” sometimes thought to be a rival to Youssef Qaradawi. From the shortlist of 100 candidates, readers of the magazine will vote for the world’s top five public intellectuals. The voting ends on May 15. The magazine will publish a list of the top 20 public intellectuals, based on the readers’ votes, in its July/August issue.
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