Founded in 2004 by Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, the International Union Of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) is considered a highly respected religious authority in the Muslim Sunni world. According to its official website:
“IUMS is purely an Islamic Union, is composed of Muslim scholars, works to serve the Islamic issues, derives from Islam its approach, and is guided by it throughout all of its steps; It is to represents all Muslims of all sects and denominations… it represents all of the Muslims in the entire Islamic world, as well as all of the Muslim minorities and Islamic groups outside of the Muslim world.”
IUMS’ Board of Trustees constitutes of senior Muslim scholars from many countries, including Canadian Jasser Auda.
On April 1, 2019, the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) issued a statement urging Imams to preach armed jihad against Israel to save Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Here are excerpts from IUMS statement (translated from Arabic By MEMRI):
“Creating the link between Al-Aqsa mosque and the Kaaba makes Muslims feel responsibility for Al-Aqsa and for its importance for them as the place of the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey [from Mecca to Jerusalem], and as the first direction of prayer. Their responsibility toward it is to liberate it from the oppressors [or] to help it by all possible means…
“The fourth message is: Worshipping Allah and waging jihad for His sake are the path to liberating the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque… When the Prophet Muhammad spoke of the battle to liberate Al-Aqsa from the hands of the Jews, he explained that the battle cry is ‘Worship Allah the Almighty,’ since according to the Muslim’s collection [of the most important Sunni hadiths], the Sahih Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad said: ‘Resurrection Day will come only when the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, and if a Jew hided behind a rock or a tree, the rock or tree will say: Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him…’ This explains clearly that the path to liberating Al-Aqsa Mosque begins with the actual worship of Allah, submission to Him alone, and obedience to His precepts…
“It is clear as day that the Jews have no fear of negotiating or dialogue, but they quake with fear in the face of the young people who have been raised on the principles of [the Islamic] faith and on the precepts of the Quran. Proof of this is the young Palestinian mujahideen, who have made the Jews taste fear and have shaken their entity [i.e. Israel] with their heroic jihadi operations. They carried a gun in one hand, and a Quran in the other…”
On a Friday sermon delivered on December 23, 2016, at Dar Al-Arkam Mosque in Montreal, Canada, Jordanian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Bin Musa Aal Nasr said:
“What is the disease of the Jews? It is that they believed in only part of the Scripture, while rejecting another part. As Allah said, disparaging them: “Do you believe in part of the Scripture and reject another part? And what is the reward of those among you who do so, except disgrace in this world?” Allah ordained disgrace for them in this world: “On the Day of Resurrection they will be consigned to the most severe torment. Allah is not ignorant of what you do.” And what is said about the Jews is also said about all those who imitate the Jews… If you worship Allah, you can rest assured that Allah will fulfill His promise and will support you. On Judgment Day, when the Muslims defeat the most vicious of creatures – the human demons – the stones and the trees will say: “Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him!” – except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.”
In response to a media report about the content of the sermon, the president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, Salam Elmenyawi, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC):
“I do not understand how this person was invited to come and give a sermon and spread this hatred in Montreal against any community… to use the themes of the Prophet to spread hatred is actually something that is disrespectful towards the Prophet himself… these people, not only do they show hatred towards non-Muslims, they even show hatred to us Muslims.”