His name is Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He's the sharia-loving, jihad-peddling, 86-year-old "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood. He's called for the killing of American troops in Iraq and the elimination of the state of Israel and the Jewish people in general.
Qaradwi is the Islamist equivalent of a televangelist, reaching tens of millions of Muslims throughout the Middle East via his blockbuster Al Jazeera show,Sharia and Life (wouldn't Sharia and Death be more fitting?).
And, oh, he's also one of the driving intellectual/ideological forces behind the Islamist Winter (formerly known in liberal circles as the Arab Spring). Here's more, from FT.com.
The piece, predictably, includes moderate-sounding quotes from Qaradawi preaching co-existence, a tried-and-true Muslim Brotherhood smokescreen tactic that has snookered countless Westerners. Indeed, this bit at the end is the key and most telling nugget:
Although he sees no perfect model of an Islamic state today, he is impressed by Turkey, citing it as an example of a peaceful comeback for Islam in an entrenched secular state. “It’s excellent,” he says of the Turkish government led by the AK party.
“Our brothers the Turks … were able to serve their country and produce an economic and social renaissance … they have won over secularism calmly.” Turkey is the model of moderation, he adds, “and it’s a model that Arab countries can benefit from”.
For anyone who's paid attention to Turkey's gradual drift into anti-Western, Jew-baiting Islamism under Erdogan the past decade, that's reason to be very worried.