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Yanomami jungle clinic A return to the roots of Rüdiger Nehberg's commitment: a hospital for the Yanomami to mark the association's 25th anniversary.
Learn moreSheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi deceased
On Monday, the most respected contemporary scholar in the Islamic world died: Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. We remember him with great gratitude with his groundbreaking fatwa for an intact future for the girls of today and future generations.
At TARGET's "International Conference of Islamic Scholars" at Al-Azhar in Cairo on November 22 and 23, 2006, he discussed the sensitive issue of female genital mutilation and Islam's position on this custom with top international Islamic scholars and medical scientists at Azhar in Cairo.
He wrote the most important fatwa (Islamic legal opinion) as a result of TARGET's many years of involvement: " (...) Based on the above statement, we hold that female circumcision now practiced without any justifiable reason is an illicit even Islamically forbidden act. It is to be considered a "modification of Allah's creation", which is a work of the devil forbidden by Allah. There is no permission from God in this regard (...)", Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
In the video he appeals: "We appeal to all Muslims all over the world, fear Allah and do not have your little daughters circumcised. The little girls cannot yet decide for themselves. Their parents, their brothers, their sisters and their relatives decide over them in carrying out an act that is the work of the devil," Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi said.
His fatwa was and is groundbreaking for the protection of girls through the power of religion, TARGET's staunch approach to ending female genital mutilation.
In 2009, he personally handed over the fatwa in short form to TARGET founder Rüdiger Nehberg for use in our work. In 2012, he then spoke it into our camera in order to reach even more people.
To the YouTube video "Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi for an end to female genital mutilation"
 Rüdiger Nehberg und Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.jpg)
(from left) Rüdiger Nehberg and Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi