Photo: At least he's good lookin'

The ever-vigilant Andrew Bostom writes in with the news from MEMRI:

"Prominent Sunni Sheikh Al-Qaradawi, Banned in U.S., Opens Washington D.C. Office of Islamist News Organization, Says It (IslamOnline) Is "The Jihad of Our Era."

Hope and change at hand.

One of Qaradawi's missions is to extend the reach of Islamic blasphemy laws around the world. In a 2006 sermon against the Danish Mohammed cartoons, he said:

The nation must rage in anger. It is told that Imam Al-Shafi' said: 'Whoever was angered and did not rage is a jackass.' We are not a nation of jackasses. We are not jackasses for riding, but lions that roar. We are lions that zealously protect their dens, and avenge affronts to their sanctities. We are not a nation of jackasses. We are a nation that should rage for the sake of Allah, His Prophet, and His book. We are the nation of Muhammad, and we must never accept the degradation of our religion...We must rage, and show our rage to the world.

[...]

The governments must be pressured to demand that the U.N. adopt a clear resolution or law that categorically prohibits affronts to prophets - to the prophets of the Lord and His messengers, to His holy books, and to the religious holy places. This is so that nobody can cause them harm.

This is exactly what is happening. For the fourth straight year, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution prepared by the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference to ban "defamation" of religion--namely, Islam--a blatant violation of the First Amendment. As such, the resolution was opposed by the United States, the nations of  Europe and other countries including Beiize, Israel, Moldova, and Ukraine.**

Now what? Here is what Qaradawi had to say in Qatar last week about Barack Obama coming to presidential power:

"I hope that Obama will be better than his predecessor and adopt a new way of thought in his dealings with Muslims,” Qaradawi said. "He promised to seek a new way with the Muslim world and we hope he would be true to that promise. We are not seeking wars or eager for bloodshed. We ordered to only fight those who fight us,” Dr Qaradawi told a congregation of faithful at the Omar bin al-Khattab Mosque at Khalifa South town. 

“I wonder if Obama will be loyal to his African and Muslim roots or will follow the track of his predecessor. The whole world is expecting him to take the US to a new era,” he added.

**

Just for the record, here's the way the December UN General Assembly vote went:

The draft resolution on combating defamation of religion (document A/63/430/Add.2) was adopted by a recorded vote of 86 in favour to 53 against, with 42 abstentions, as follows:

In favour:  Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

Against:  Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Palau, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.

Abstain:  Argentina, Armenia, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Nauru, Nepal, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Zambia.

Absent:  Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Solomon Islands.