Yusuf al-Qardhawi’s View on Religious Extremism

Abstract

Indonesia is a country with complex religious diversity issues. This is evidenced by the persistence of inter-religious conflicts caused by religious extremism. From within Muslims, this problem has become a discussion of scholars. Therefore, this study analyses Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi's concept of religious extremism to map the scattered extremist groups and avoid mistakes in assessing a group. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi stated that extremism is an excessive attitude toward religion that can destroy religious communities because it causes error. In this study, the researcher used a philosophical approach, and the method used was a descriptive-analytical method to analyze Yusuf Al-Qaradawi's thoughts regarding the problem of extremism in his work "Al-Shahwah Al-Islāmiyyah Baina Al-Juḥud wa Al-Tatharruf. The results of this study found that according to Al-Qaradawi, extremism has several factors and characteristics. In this case, Al-Qaradawi also put forward the concept of "Wasathiyyah" in Islam to overcome the extremism problem, which proves the essence of Islamic teachings that bring peace and respect differences between people.