Qaradawi delivers Al-Azhar's Friday sermon

Following decades in exile, Qatar-based Islamic preacher Youssef Qaradawi condemns Israeli killing of Palestinians during his first sermon at Egypt's Al-Azhar Internationally renowned Egyptian Islamic preacher Youssef Qaradawi led Friday's prayer at Al-Azhar for the first time. "Tens of years I have been preaching in the most prestigious mosques of the world, and it is my first time to give a sermon at Al-Azhar," said Qaradawi who is known to be the spiritual leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. During the sermon Qaradawi praised the role of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi and the influential Arabian Peninsula state of Qatar for condemning and calling for action against the ongoing attacks in Gaza strip since Wednesday. Qaradawi also strongly denounced the Israeli attack on Gaza. "The people [of Gaza] do not deserve to be killed, what did they do to be killed? Israel is the liar that has been lying all through history," added Qaradawi. He further condemned Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad violent acts against the Syrian people. Qaradawi, who acts as President of the World Union of Muslim Scholars, lives in Qatar, having being exiled in the1960s by former President Gamal Abdel Nasser. He returned to Egypt in the wake of the 25 January revolution and gave a speech in Tahrir Square after the toppling down of the then president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak. From Ahramonline