Dr Yusuf Al Qaradawi

DOHA • Prominent Islamic cleric Dr Yusuf Al Qaradawi has said that Muslims accepting the nationality of non-Islamic countries in times of war is against the teachings and tenets of Islam.

"It's a betrayal of Allah and His Prophet (PBUH)," the scholar said of a Muslim accepting the citizenship of a hostile non-Muslim country in times of war. His comments were carried by a local Arabic daily in a special Ramadan supplement yesterday.

Muslim clerics in Tunisia had issued an edict (fatwa) during the invasion of their country by the French forbidding Muslims from accepting French nationality, he said. Anyone defying the edict was considered a non-Muslim.

Islamic edicts of this kind are an effective means of resisting invasions by colonisers and a strong weapon in waging jihad, the cleric said. But Muslims need to travel and settle down in countries other than their own.

This way they get an opportunity to become nationals of other countries and get political rights, which ensure their empowerment.

Things are changing now due to globalisation and modern outlook on life. But there was a time when scholars like Hassan Al Banna (the Egyptian scholar who is considered the founder of the Akhwan Al Muslemeen or Muslim Brotherhood movement) were quite strict when it came to issuing fatwa on issues like migration of Muslims and their accepting the nationality of non-Muslim countries, said Al Qaradawi.

Muftis (those authorised to issue edicts) change with time and circumstances and as they become more mature and richer in experience, their outlook on issues changes.

"Even I have issued edicts in the past some which I have changed later, as times have changed and I became more experienced," said the cleric. One of the edicts is about Muslims not being permitted to seek housing loans from interest-based banks and financial institutions.

"But I amended the fatwa later, allowing Muslims living as minorities in countries where there were no Shariah-compliant banks and financial institutions, to seek housing loans on interest from conventional sources," he said.

The famed Islamic scholar, Mustafa Al Zarqa, had already issued such a fatwa, but Al Qaradawi said he didn't agree with him. "I changed my mind later and thought what he had said was right."

The scholar said it was up to the mufti concerned to permit marriage through the Internet or the phone.