Yusuf Al-Qaradawi: International Union of Muslim Scholars chief dies in Qatar aged 96

Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, has died, his official Twitter account announce on Monday.

Al-Qaradawi, who passed away in Qatar, turned 96 earlier this month and was a well-known religious figure. He was seen as the spiritual leader of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

"His Eminence Imam Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who gave his life to explaining the rulings of Islam and defending his Ummah [Muslim community], has passed to the mercy of Allah," read a tweet from his official account.

"We ask Allah to raise him to the highest ranks [of heaven], and to join him with the prophets, the truthful ones, the martyrs and the righteous. Those are good companions.

"[We ask Allah] to make it that the sickness and suffering which befell him raises his rank [in heaven]. O Allah, amen."

The Twitter post, which attached a picture of Al-Qaradawi, did not say what caused his death.

He had been living in exile in Qatar following the Egyptian military's overthrow of a Muslim Brotherhood-led government in 2013.

Al-Qaradawi was later tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in Egypt.

He had previously put himself into exile in Qatar from 1961 to 2011.

For many years while living in exile, he had a popular talk show on pan-Arab network Al Jazeera and often weighed in on controversial political topics.

انتقل إلى رحمة الله سماحة الإمام يوسف القرضاوي الذي وهب حياته مبينا لأحكام الإسلام، ومدافعا عن أمته.. نسأل الله أن يرفع درجاته في عليين، وأن يلحقه بالنبيين والصديقين والشهداء والصالحين.. وحسن أولئك رفيقا. وأن يجعل ما أصابه من مرض وأذى رفعا لدرجاته.. اللهم آمين pic.twitter.com/euoUztZeMQ

— يوسف القرضاوي (@alqaradawy) September 26, 2022

He spoke out in favour of the Palestinian intifada in 2000.

When the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions broke out, Qaradawi also spoke out in favour of the protesters who took to the streets against long-time autocrats such as Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi.

In 2001, he said he had "advised our brothers of the Taliban movement to reconsider their decision" to destroy Afghanistan's ancient Bamiyan Buddha statues.

However, the extremist Islamist movement blew the statues up after a dispute with the international community about aid, saying it considered them "idolatrous".

Agencies contributed to this report.