Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, which aired on Qatar TV on March 18, 2011.
To view the clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2873.htm.
Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: "Several people have been asking a question: 'You have been talking about the Tunisian revolution, about the Egyptian revolution, about the Libyan revolution, and about the Yemeni revolution, but there is one revolution that you did not talk about.' I asked them: 'What revolution?' They said: 'The Bahrain revolution. Why didn't you talk about it?' I said to them: 'To be honest, the Bahrain revolution is different from the other revolutions, because it is a sectarian revolution.
"The other four revolutions are revolutions of the peoples, against their oppressive rulers. [...]
"The Bahraini revolution is a sectarian revolution. That is the problem – it is the Shi'ites against the Sunnis. What can I say when I am already accused of being anti-Shi'ite? I am not anti-Shi'ite. I am against fanaticism, against sectarianism, and against dividing people according to their religious denomination.
"Therefore, the Bahraini revolution is not like other revolutions. All the Shi'ites are against all the Sunnis. This is a Shi'ite sectarian revolution. When the Sunnis saw what was happening, 450,000 people gathered at the Al-Fateh Mosque, and said: We too have demands. [..]
"[The Shi'ites] were not as peaceful as I had thought. They attacked many Sunnis, and took over mosques that do not belong to them. They used weapons, like the [pro-government] thugs in Yemen, in Egypt, and elsewhere, against many oppressed Sunnis." [...]
