Qaradawi provokes spat between Qatar and UAE

Islamist cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s opinions on the UAE have again been stirring up trouble between Abu Dhabi and Doha. On 24 January, at a mosque in Doha, Qaradawi delivered a sermon – broadcast by Qatari state media – which criticised the UAE’s support of the new Egyptian government, and said the federation had “always been opposed to Islamic rule”. On 2 February, the UAE summoned Qatari ambassador Faris Al-Nuaimi, giving him a formal protest letter about Qaradawi’s “insolent remarks”. “We have patiently waited for our brothers and neighbours to clearly denounce such insolence and to provide explicit clarification and guarantees that such distortion and instigation will not happen again,” UAE minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash said in a statement.