IUMS slams Saudi’s Al-Arabiya TV over fabricated photograph of Sheikh Qaradawi

The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has slammed Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya and Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath news channels after they published fabricating news about IUMS co-founder, Dr. Yousef Al-Qaradawi.

The news channels had broadcast a photograph of Al-Qaradawi alongside two men, claiming one of them was Sri Lanka suicide bomber, Zahran Hashim. The two channels claimed that Al-Qaradawi met Hashim in his office.

In a statement, the union denied that either of the men in the picture was Hashim and described the report as a “media crime”.

The statement said the photograph dates back to 2016, explaining that the persons who appear in the photograph alongside Al-Qaradawi are Dr. Salman Al Husaini Al Nadwi, the well known Indian scholar and professor in the Islamic sciences, and Dr. Adel Al-Harazi, a researcher in Sciences of Sunnah.

The union said the two channels have fabricated the news “in a desperate attempt to put prominent scientific figures under the spotlight, adding that Al-Qaradawi has spent his life defending moderation and rejecting extremism and subversive ideas.”

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