His TV programme — Sharia and Life — is broadcast on Al Jazeera and has an estimated audience of 40 million, and he is also the founder of the IslamOnline website.
In 2008, Foreign Policy magazine rated Al Qaradawi at number eight in its list of the top 20 intellectuals worldwide. Born in Egypt, Al Qaradawi was imprisoned by King Farouk in 1949, and was jailed three times during Nasser’s rule. He left for Qatar in 1961, but returned to Egypt shortly after the revolution.