A fatwa dated November 1, 2008 and signed by Abu Basir Al-Tartusi appeared on his website and declared Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi to be an apostate. Al-Qaradhawi, who heads the International Union for Muslim Scholars and has a weekly programme called "Sharia and Life" on Al-Jazeera TV, has been called "one of the most prominent clerics in the Muslim world."[5] Among Abu Basir Al-Tartusi's criticisms of Al-Qaradhawi was Al-Qaradhawi's attempts to save the Buddha statues in the Bamyan Valley in Afghanistan from being destroyed by the Taliban; a post-9/11 fatwa by Al-Qaradhawi stating there is nothing wrong with Muslims fighting in the United States Armed Forces against those thought to be responsible for terrorism; a statement allegedly "making light of Allah" in which Al-Qaradhawi criticized elections in some Arab countries where the ruler receives "99.99" percent of the vote, saying "if Allah [Himself] were in the running he wouldn't receive such a share" of the vote; Al-Qaradhawi's "support for democracy, in its permissive, infidel meaning"; his negating the principle of Al Wala' Wal Bara' – exclusive allegiance to Allah and Islam, and repudiation of unbelief and unbelievers – by referring to Copts as 'our Christian brothers', urging the use of the term non-Muslims instead of kuffar, which (according to and Al-Tartusi) are in violation of Quranic verses which forbid Muslims to befriend non-Muslims.[6]