On Sept. 26, 2022, Yusuf al Qaradawi died at age 96 in Qatar. The spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qaradawi was the most well-known Muslim cleric in the West, infamous for his calls to murder Americans, Israelis, and others during the height of the Global War on Terror. Once called “the most popular and authoritative” Sunni cleric in the world, Qaradawi’s death attracted little attention, at least as compared to his influence on world events. That reaction, perhaps even more than the death itself, is an important pronouncement: The post-9/11 era is over.

(IAN NICHOLSON/AP)

Born in Egypt in 1926, Qaradawi became affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood at age 14 after listening to a speech by the group’s founder, Hassan al Banna. The Brotherhood, noted the late scholar Barry Rubin, was “the first modern Islamist group” and one that would become “by far the most successful Islamist group in the world.” Fiercely anti-Western and antisemitic, the movement’s ideology has served as a wellspring for jihadis of various stripes, sects, and nationalities. Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, the two leaders of al Qaeda at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, were among many inspired by the Brotherhood’s call for Islamist rule.