The Postmodern Reconstitution of an Islamic Memory: Theory and Practice in the Case of Yusuf al-Qaradawi's Virtual Umma

Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s rise to prominence began in 1961, when he was invited to teach at Qatar’s newly established College for Higher Education. At that time Qaradawi, born in 1926, was a little-known religious scholar at al-Azhar and a member of the Muslim Brothers, then effectively suppressed. The tiny Gulf emirate was a safe haven for the intellectually promising young Islamist, who had just published his book on al-Halal wa’l-Haram fi al-Islam (The Legal and the Prohibited in Islam), a guide on religious law directed to Muslims living in the West. ¹