Egyptian sheik's outburst against Shiites roils Iran

"I do not care and I am not shaken by this stir. I made this statement to answer to the dictates of my conscience and religion and responsibility," he said in a second interview with Al Masry al Youm published Thursday. "I am trying to preempt the threat before it gets worse. If we let Shiites penetrate Sunni societies, the outcome won't be praiseworthy. The presence of Shiites in Iraq and Lebanon is the best evidence of instability."

Qaradawi is a prominent moderate cleric, but he has grown skeptical of Shiite intentions. Two years, ago he suggested that Shiites were using the mystical Sufi order of Islam as a cover to penetrate Sunni society. His most recent volleys undercut efforts by Islamic leaders to ease religious tensions, and raise questions about his motivations. Much of the funding for Qaradawi's Qatar-based media enterprises comes from Sunni nations uneasy over Iran's widening influence in the Persian Gulf.

Abul-Fazel Amoee, an Iranian political scientist, said Qaradawi had become an instrument of anti-Shiite propaganda orchestrated by Sunni royals. He said this parallels the "deep rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the stage of this competition or ideological battle today is the field of Iraq."

Sectarian differences should "not be handled by exchanging outlandish and fanatical statements. I'm talking about both sides -- Qaradawi and the Shiites," said Abdel Moati Bayoumi, a religious scholar and member of Egypt's Islamic Research Academy. He said divisions between Sunnis and Shiites, which began as a fight over succession after the death of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, would weaken Muslim states and serve foreign interests.

Qaradawi's attacks on Shiites received both support and derision in cyberspace, where Islam's internal battles and other dilemmas, such as relations with the West, are increasingly debated. The website for Arabic Radio of Iran was buzzing with posts.

"O, Qaradawi, may God guide you to the right path. Your statements, which don't follow any logic, sow the seeds of sectarianism," wrote Ahmed Noaimi, a Shiite from Bahrain. "Sunnis and we are brothers in Bahrain. I don't know why this war against Shiites; we are Muslims at the end. Why are you making such a statement instead of calling for the unity of both sects? Use your brain, respected sir."

Another respondent, Abu Idris, wrote: "May God protect the respected sheik. He was patient toward what the Shiites have been doing until he felt he had to yell in their faces and draw the attention of their rational people to the danger of what they are doing in the Muslim world."

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jeffrey.fleishman @latimes.com

Noha El-Hennawy of The Times' Cairo Bureau and special correspondent Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran contributed to this report.