The following are excerpts from a statement by Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, which aired on Qatar TV on January 7, 2010, and a response by PA Minister of Religious Endowments Mahmoud Al-Habbash, which aired on PA TV on January 12, 2010.

Qatar TV, January 7, 2010

Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: I have called upon the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and several objective dignitaries, to investigate this issue. If it is proven that [Mahmoud Abbas] incited Israel to strike Gaza, he deserves not merely to be executed, but to be stoned to death. That is what I said, and I do not think anybody can refute this – not even Mahmoud Abbas himself.

Can he possibly deny that someone who betrays his people, and calls upon his enemy to strike at his own people with air raids and bombs... Execution is not enough for someone who calls for this. He should be stoned to death, just like the man who guided Abraha to Mecca, in order to destroy Kaaba.

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PA TV, January 12, 2010

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: The Prophet Muhammad said: "Cursing a Muslim constitutes moral depravity, and fighting a Muslim constitutes heresy." When a person dares to curse a Muslim, he engages in moral depravity. This is not my own personal judgment, but the exact words of the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad.

According to this reliable hadith, the cursing of a Muslim constitutes moral depravity. When any Muslim dares to curse another Muslim, this amounts to moral depravity – all the more so when it is done by a scholar, who is considered by some to be a source of authority in Islamic law. He dares to curse, to slander, to make unfounded accusations, and to sanction the killing, execution, and stoning of people. He uses black incitement against a Muslim. This is the height of moral depravity.

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Those who called for the stoning of President [Abbas] – and this is foolish and distasteful – are required by Islamic law to retract their words and apologize. I personally have demanded and continue to demand, an apology – in the name of the PA and in the name of every Palestinian, from Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, in particular. This is an Islamic, religious, and moral requirement. He must apologize for what he said against the president and the Palestinian people.

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[Qaradhawi and other] Islamic scholars who went to Afghanistan in 2003 in order to save the Buddah statues – we did not hear a single one of them issue a condemnation, and none of them seethed with anger, when the house of Allah – the Ibn Taymiyyah Mosque – was destroyed in Rafah, with the people in it. People were killed inside the mosque. We did not hear anybody speak up.

This peculiar selectivity is based solely on partisan interests, not the interests of the Islamic nation. What is consistent with the party's [agenda], we accept, and what runs counter to it, we reject, even if it pertains to the core of the Islamic faith, and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.