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February 14, 2007



The dialogue was of great importance no doubt, nevertheless, I believe Qaradawi failed to understand that importance.

As I watched the dialogue Qaradawi seemed to be forgetting the fact that millions of Muslims are watching, and started talking about minor details, if it wasn't for the wisdom and patience of Rafsanjani, I'm guessing the dialogue would've turned into a clash.

Qaradawi weirdly focused on that Sunni Muslims in general don't hate the Shiites, and that the majority of Sunni scholars today don't consider the Shiites disbeliever, the way he put it left me wondering if Qaradawi is actually living amongst Sunni Arabs or not, or whether he is aware of the vast anti-Shiite wave nowadays amongst Sunnis, or whether he realizes how the majority of Sunni Muslims in gulf countries think of Shiites. He surprisingly started mentioning some names of Shiite scholars and their extreme opinions on Sunnis, I thought that showed a lot of immaturity in Qaradawi's opinions, he could've saved a lot of time by actually focusing on finding a common ground instead of talking about unity in one sentence and starting a debate in the other! I watched about 90% of the dialogue and that's how I felt.

In my opinion we should have a constant and regular dialogues between important Shiite and Sunni figures, and the bigger they were the better.

O Tantawi

I agree in general with Omar about Quaradawy. I live in Egypt and I am a sunni, Yet I wonder why does Quaradawy insist that Shiites must stop trying to convert Sunni's into Shiites, as if this was another religion, it is again the talk of politics and power who controls what country, who has the majority. I disagree with a lot of Shiites beleives but it is none of my business if someone chooses to follow their path. Beleif is a highly personel choice and if sunnis are as such without really undrestanding why they are sunnis and what is it that is not convincing about any other branch or Islamic sect so they are not really sunnis just some blind group of followers. The Dialogue between Shiites and Sunnis is really important because Muslims finally get to discuss Islam, religion should not be seen as an identity, rather it is a way of life. Please If you get to meet him, Quradawy I mean, ask him about the right to choose for a muslim. As long as he/she does not choose another religion why can't he/ she be a Hanfy, Malky, shiite or whatever?

No Preference

In a different forum, O Tanrawi, I would ask why a Sunni can't choose not only to be a Shiite, but a Christian or Buddhist.

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