Egyptians express their joy on the anniversary of the January 25 revolution (Reuters)

The Egyptian preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi who is also the President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) expressed his regret again over the years he spent trying to reconcile Sunnis and Shiites. He launched a sharp attack on Shitte religious authorities and praised Saudi Arabian scholars who realised the true nature of Lebanese Hezbollah’s secretary general early on. He added that the Saudi Arabian scholars were more mature than him with regards to their stance on Shiites.

Al-Qaradawi also commented on the deep crisis faced by the Muslim Brotherhood and called on its leaders to hold comprehensive elections at home and abroad to overcome their current crisis.

Al-Qaradawi reposted a clip of himself filmed during a conference to help the Syrian people which was held in Qatar. The clip showed Al-Qaradawi addressing a group of Sunni scholars and religious leaders whilst saying that the idea of rapprochement between sects has worked in favour of the Shiites and that the Sunnis have not benefited from it at all. He added that “after this long period of time I do not see the benefit of rapprochement between Sunnis and Shiites. The Sunnis lose and the Shiites gain.”

In what appears as the most important acknowledgement of the depth of the split in the Muslim Brotherhood’s ranks in Egypt, Al-Qaradawi called the group to hold comprehensive elections in Egypt and abroad to overcome the current crisis facing the Muslim Brotherhood. He also called on the conflicting parties to stop bickering until elections are held. However, former members of the group played down the importance of Al-Qaradawi’s initiative and told Asharq Al-Awsat that the group’s crisis has exceeded its regulatory limits and argued that the announcement of the initiative itself is a sign of failure.