Sheikh Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf through the Eyes of a Close Associate
Personal qualities: strong nature, character and charisma of a leader, ambitious, independent position, high theological erudition, significant international authority and especially in the countries of the CIS, a great authority among the believers inside the country and in the region.
Sheikh Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf is generally reserved and complex, with an aspect of a political chameleon who can adapt to changing winds. Outwardly, he looks more like a sultan than an academic-theologian; he has a heavy, attentive, and penetrating gaze reminiscent of the eyes of expert hypnotists or high officials. He knows how to listen and persuade. He is calm (at least outwardly), but in anger he is a dragon who breathes fire.
Sheikh Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf, like most of Uzbekistan’s religious establishment, is startlingly fixated on money. With it in sight, his eyes begin to burn and his usual restraint disappears. He is rancorous and he carries grudges. Nor does he like to be argued with, especially when he knows his position is wrong. Such qualities are well-disguised from public eyes, but manifest themselves after extended contact.
Marha Brill Olcott
