Taqrib al-Madhahib – Qaradawi's Declaration of Principles Regarding Sunni–Shi‛i Ecumenism

Abstract

This article discusses the Centrist (Wassatiyya) position regarding Sunni–Shi‛a relations, as articulated by the head of this stream, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Because Centrists deem themselves the ideological heirs of Hasan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, analysis of their position is also instructive of the Brotherhood's view on this important issue. The discussion is founded on al-Qaradawi's ‘Principles for Sunni–Shi‛i Dialogue’, which derive historically from the Society for Reconciliation (Jama‛at al-Taqrib) that was active in Egypt during the late 1940s. Centrists hold Shi‛ites to be religious innovators (mubtadi‛un), but not infidels, from which it follows in their view that Sunna and Shi‛a divide over ‘branches of religion’, but not over ‘roots of faith’. In this the Centrists are completely opposed by the Salafi Jihadi ideology, the ideological underpinning of the modern Global Jihad. With the desire to reconcile Sunna and Shi‛a and unite them against a common global enemy, the Centrists must resolve the inevitable sectarian tensions as they crop up, e.g. the Sunni accusation that the Shi‛a seek to actively proselytize the Sunni faithful in Sunni majority countries. In the Centrist view, Sunni–Shi‛i reconciliation and dialogue are of practical necessity as regional politics diverge dangerously into a definite Shi‛a bloc led by Iran, and a clear-cut Sunni bloc led by Saudi Arabia.