Source: Channel News Asia

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/65199/1/.html

On January 7, 2004 Channel News Asia ran an Agence France Presse article that reported, "Leading Muslim cleric Yussef al-Qaradawi has threatened legal action if France adopts a law banning the Islamic headscarf in schools, warning such measures only breed extremism. 'If the law is passed, we will seek to file a legal complaint because this law will be in contradiction with the French constitution,' Qaradawi told AFP in an interview on Tuesday. Qaradawi, an Egyptian who has lived in Qatar for several years and is known across the Arab world for his controversial fatwas or religious rulings, said 'measures like banning the headscarf will feed extremism.' He said the European council for fatwas (religious rulings) and research, which he chairs, has called on France to revise its position on the Islamic headscarf and has decided to send a delegation to Paris, led by Mauritania's former justice minister Abdullah bin Baya."