At 96 years old, the former head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi passed away on Monday according to his official Twitter account.

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

Sheikh Al-Qaradawi was a senior Muslim scholar mostly known for being a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Born in Egypt in 1926, Al-Qardawi pursued religious Islamic study and left for Qatar in the 1960s where he was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Shariah at Qatar University and was later granted citizenship in the country.

Following the 2011 events in Egypt that led to overthrowing of long-sitting President Hosni Mubarak, Al-Qaradawi went back to the country and supported the previously banned Muslim Brotherhood political party, Freedom and Justice Party, that went on to win the parliamentary elections that saw the appointment of late President Mohammed Morsi as the President of Egypt. However, the senior cleric had to leave again back to Qatar after Morsi was overthrown by current President Abed Fatah El-Sisi.

During his lifetime, Al-Qaradawi published over 120 books and was widely known for his popular TV program on Al-Jazeera in Qatar called "Shariah and Life."