Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Policy Exchange report

I have read the report by the Policy Exchange think tank ( www.policyexchange.org.uk ): "Living apart together - British Muslims and the paradox of multiculturalism".

In many ways it is an excellent report, presenting some much needed data in an authoratitive way. For example, 37 percent of 16 - 24 year olds would prefer to live under Sharia law, compared to 17 percent of 55+ year olds. If this trend continues, and there is no reason to believe that it will not, then we can expect an increase in the intensity of the demands for Sharia law to be introduced in the coming years.

The report also makes a number of very good points. For example, the political support over the years for multi-culturalism has been cited as a serious error. However, in itself, it does not explain why young Muslim men wish to become suicide bombers. We do not see young Hindus or Sikhs blowing themselves up together with innocent civilians, and so the promotion of multi-culturalism in itself does not explain the home-grown Islamic terrorist threat. Furthermore, logically following from this, even if multi-culturalism had not been encouraged, we can therefore also say that there would still be an Islamic terrorist threat. There must be another explanation.

The conflicts in various Islamic states (Afghanistan and Iraq principally) and the Israeli - Palestinian conflict are seen to exacerbate the problem of home-grown Islamic terrorists. However, this cannot be a root cause, since such conflicts have been going on for many years. In addition, we have not seen such an uprising or suicide bombings from other groups, such as Argentinians or those from Sierra Leone etc, where there have also been military actions. There must be another explanation.

Social depravation, poor housing, poor health and bad job prospects are also problems. However, these also affect other groups, such as Hindus and Sikhs, so in themselves they do not explain why we are seeing such a serious terrorist threat from the Muslim community. There is no such threat from other communities. Also, the London bombers had jobs, and were not living in poverty. There must be another explanation.

Not really touched on in the report is the very serious and increasingly numerous and severe attacks by "Asian" gangs, who are happy to murder and rape. The label "Asian" is very unfortunate, as it tars many innocent communities with the same brush. The media are very irresponsible for failing to give a true picture. Predominantly they are Muslim gangs. Why is it mainly Muslims involved, and not Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians etc? There must be another explanation.

Why are Muslim women treated as second-class citizens by their Muslim "brothers"? Why is a woman's testimony worth only half of a man's testimony under Sharia law?

Why are homosexuals treated so appallingly by Muslims?

Why are Jews singled out for especial loathing by Muslims? Why have attacks on individuals increased so much, motivated by anti-Semitism? The Israeli - Palestinian conflict does not justify this. There must be another explanation.

The report by the Policy Exchange is good, so far as it goes. However, it fails to put its finger on the root cause of Islamic terrorism, or anti-Semitism, or the poor treatment of women and homosexuals, or give an explanation for the predominance of Muslim gangs. Read on for the true explanation. It is not "politically correct", but offers the only complete meaning to an otherwise baffling set of observations. If you cannot, or will not understand the root cause of a problem, you have very little probability of resolving it. When you have eliminated all the other possible factors, then what you have remaining must be the true cause of the problem.

The root of the problem is simply stated:

Whilst it is possible for individual (semi-apostate) Muslims to be moderate, unfortunately Islam itself, and more specifically the Quran are very far from being moderate. The Quran teaches violence towards non-Muslims, and especially towards Jews. Tolerance and integration are very distant from its true teachings. Furthermore, the Quran cannot be edited or modified to remove the violent, bloodthirsty and intolerant verses, which are at the heart of the matter.

That is it, in a nutshell. The evidence is to be found within the Quran itself. Here are some quotes.

First and foremost, it is vitally important to understand the concept of "abrogation". This means that the chronologically earlier verses are cancelled out, and superceeded by the chronologically later verses. The earlier verses are generally very tolerant, such as "there shall be no compulsion in religion". Unfortunately, the later verses are very intolerant and bloodthirsty. Furthermore, one single later verse can abrogate numerous earlier verses.

Here is the verse that describes abrogation:

"Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?" Quran 2.106

As an aside: The Bible is also abrogated by the Quran.

Secondly, there is the matter of honesty. Within Judaism and Christianity there is the injunction to be truthful, as one of the ten commandments states:

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." Exodus 20:16

"Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother." Mark 10:19

Unfortunately, Islam is not like this. Indeed, within the Hadiths we see that it is perfectly permissible to tell a lie, particularly to confuse the enemies of Islam:

"Whenever I tell you a narration from Allah's Apostle, by Allah, I would rather fall down from the sky than ascribe a false statement to him, but if I tell you something between me and you (not a Hadith) then it was indeed a trick (i.e., I may say things just to cheat my enemy)." Hadith Volume 9, Book 84, Number 64

Taking these two points together therefore, a Muslim can argue, seemingly convincingly, that Islam is peaceful, by quoting numerous very tolerant verses. What he is dishonestly avoiding to tell you is that most, if not all of such verses have been abrogated. It is vitally important to understand these points.

Note that the Hadiths are a collection of writings. They are the sayings of Mohammed, effectively his biography.


Thirdly, the word "Islam" does not mean "peace". Instead it is derived from the Arabic word "al-silm" meaning "submission" or "surrender". If you are a prisoner, and do not submit and convert to Islam, it is highly likely that you will be beheaded.



The attitude of Islam towards women is appalling, demonstrated by the following quotes.

The intelligence of women is belittled by Mohammed:

'Then he passed by the women and said, "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)." They asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle ?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you.' Hadith 1 6 301


Women are treated as property, and have no say over the usage of their own body:

"Your wives are a tilth for you, so go into your tilth when you like" Quran 2.223


Women slaves (those whom your right hand possesses) can be raped with impunity:

"O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war" Quran 33.50


Integration of Muslims with any other community is impossible:

"Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully; and Allah makes you cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and to Allah is the eventual coming." Quran 3.28

"O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil)." Quran 9.123


There is an especial hatred of Jews:

"Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.' " " Hadith Volume 4, Book 52, Number 176:

"Wherefore for the iniquity of those who are Jews did We disallow to them the good things which had been made lawful for them and for their hindering many (people) from Allah's way. And their taking usury though indeed they were forbidden it and their devouring the property of people falsely, and We have prepared for the unbelievers from among them a painful chastisement." Quran 4.160-161



Anybody who is a non-Muslim is a target:

"O Prophet! urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are a people who do not understand." Quran 8.65


There is a supremacist attitude:

"Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection." Quran 9.29


The punishment for questioning Islam is severe:

"They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper." Quran 4.89


The Quran itself glorifies terrorism. ( Is that not illegal now? )

"When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them." Quran 8.12


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We can clearly see that these bloodthirsty and intolerant verses are as relevant today as when they were written many centuries ago. This is demonstrated by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme "Undercover Mosque", broadcast on the 15th January 2007.

A Dispatches reporter attends mosques run by organisations whose public faces are presented as moderate and finds preachers condemning integration into British society, condemning democracy and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers.

Here are some extracts from the transcript of the programme:

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Abu Usamah: We want the laws of Islam to be practised, we want to do away with the man-made laws

Abu Usamah: No-one loves the kuffaar, no-one loves the kuffaar, not a single person here from the Muslims loves the kuffaar, whether those kuffaar are from the UK or the US. We love the people of Islam and we hate the people of kufr, we hate the kuffaar

Abu Usamah: He’s better than a million George Bushes, Osama Bin Laden, and he’s better than a thousand Tony Blairs, because he’s a Muslim

Abu Usamah: Whoever changes his religion from Islam to anything else – kill him in the Islamic state

Abu Usamah: Verily Allah going to bring a group of people that he loves and they love him, these people will who will be soft and kind to the believers and they will be rough and tough against the kuffaar, they will fight in the cause of Allah

I encourage all of you to be from amongst them, to begin to cultivate ourselves for the time that is fast approaching where the tables are going to turn and the Muslims are going to be in the position of being uppermost in strength, and when that happens, people won’t get killed – unjustly

Grand Mufti: This is not true. Jews and Christians who do not follow the Prophet Mohammed are kuffaar. They will go to hell

In a DVD of a conference at Green Lane Mosque, a preacher called Sheikh Al-Jibali says Muslim children should be kept away from non-Muslims

Abu Usamah: Allah has created the woman, even if she gets a Phd, deficient. Her intellect is incomplete, deficient. She may be suffering from hormones that will make her emotional. It takes two witnesses of a woman to equal the one witness of the man

Abu Usamah: Do you practise homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain

Lord Ahmed recently said he would ask the Lord Chancellor to meet an organisation called the Islamic Shari’ah Council, including its Secretary General, a preacher called Sheikh Suhaib Hasan The meeting would be to discuss the introduction of Islamic divorce laws into the UK constitution

Sh Hasan: The chopping of the hands of the thieves, the flogging of the adulterers and flogging of the drunkards

Sheikh Feiz: The peak, the pinnacle, the crest, the highest point, the pivot, the summit, of Islam, is jihad

We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam. Teach them this, there is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid, put in their soft tender hearts the zeal of jihad and the love of martyrdom

Al Faisal cassette: You have to bomb the Indian businesses, and as for the Jews you kill them physically

The rulings say Muslims in the West must have “an attitude of enmity and hatred of the kaffirs …. all of the kuffaar are the enemies of the Muslims”…

Sh Yasin: This whole delusion of the equality of women is a bunch of foolishness…. There’s no such thing

Dr Mian: King, Queen, House of Commons. If you accept it, you are a part of it. You don’t accept it, you have to dismantle it. So you being a Muslim you have to fix a target, there will be no House of Commons. From that White House to this Black House, we know that we have to dismantle it

Dr Mian: You are in a situation in which you have to live like a state within a state, until you take over. But until this happens, you have to preach, until you become such a force that the people they just submit to you, hands up, until you become strong enough to take over

Never will the Jews and Christians be happy with you until you follow their way, and their system and their way of life. Call the people to avoid and renounce the way of the Jews and the Christians, which is the way of freedom, which is the way of equality, which is the way of democracy

Deputy head: And they’ve got all these people, all these organisations talking about it, let’s be “democratic”. And I disagree with using the word democracy. They should call it according to the Islamic understanding of the word, which is kuffrocracy, kuffrocracy that’s their plan. It’s the hidden, cancerous aim of these people



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What gives Muslims the right to avoid scrutiny? If we are seeking the truth about Islam, then it is quite possible that someone will try to attach the label "Islamophobic" to us. An honest researcher should not be labelled in this way. In other words, do not shoot the messenger. Quoting from the Policy Exchange report:

"An integral aspect of this liberal model is the right to cause offence and criticise other people’s cultures. Today, with increased sensitivities about Islamophobia, many Muslims feel entitled to have their religious views and identity protected. Their attitudes towards women, homosexuality, or politics are seen to be so inalienable that they are out of bounds for criticism." page 89

Nevertheless, I do have the impression that the authors of the report are holding back. They surely know more than they wish to state at this stage. Self-censorship is entirely understandable, if somewhat unhelpful. Nobody wishes to have a fatwa against them, and have to go into hiding, as happened to Salman Rushdie. Nobody wishes to be murdered, as happened to Theo van Gough. Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are already severely curbed due to the pressure from Muslims. We have no hope of tackling the Islamic menace, if we are prevented from debating it.

Two hundred years ago, slavery was abolished due to the efforts of William Wilberforce and other Christians. Today it is estimated that there are five times as many slaves in the world than in the time of Wilberforce. Much of this slavery is in Islamic states. We must do what we can for them, but no less importantly, we must do what we can to free the minds of those who are amongst us from enslavement to the Quran. It is harmful to them, and harmful to the rest of society also.

Churchill understood well the Islamic menace. It is sobering to consider that if suceeding politicians, both Labour and Conservative had understood the truth as he did, then we very probably would have avoided the Islamic menace that is now within our shores.

Blair is either confused or is dishonest:

"The most remarkable thing about reading the Koran – in so far as it can be truly translated from the original Arabic - is to understand how progressive it is. "


Churchill:

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia (rabies) in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries; improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

"A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

"No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step. Were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

You do not need to take my word for it, or even Churchill's. Simply study the Faith Freedom website. It is produced by ex-Muslims:

www.faithfreedom.org

We in Britain must regain our self confidence to do the right thing, even if it is not popular in certain quarters. Appeasement is not an option. It did not work with the Nazis, and it does not work with Islam either.


Humanity needs peace not Islam.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Further points regarding David Cameron's horse meat

This message has been posted onto the "Web Cameron" website:

www.webcameron.org.uk

Please go to that website and add your vote, and hopefully these points will be answered by the man himself.

The hypocrisy of the Labour Government is clear in many ways. For example, Cabinet Ministers are quite happy to send their own children to fee-paying schools, whilst seriously eroding the educational opportunities of bright children from poorer backgrounds.

Now consider the very real harm caused by another form of discrimination promoted by this Labour Government: This is Halal slaughter.

If a non-Muslim were to slaughter an animal by slitting its throat, they would, quite rightly, be arrested and prosecuted for cruelty to animals. That the very same act committed by a Muslim should be legal, is simply bizarre. What a mad state of affairs we have got ourselves into.

The fact that Bristol University is carrying out research on pre-stunning for Halal slaughter would imply that pre-stunning is not currently applied universally.

Mine is not a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Here is a letter in The Daily Telegraph of 25th January 2007, which neatly makes a link between Catholic adoption and ritual slaughter.

Sir,
The Lord Chancellor's position is that there can be no exceptions from a law on the basis of religious beliefs. But there already are. The law requires animals for slaughter to be rendered unconscious, by stunning or other means, before being killed. However, both Jewish and Muslim ritual slaughter is exempt on the grounds of religious requirements.
Sam Levy
London SW11

I suspect that the way this issue will play out is that Catholics will continue to run their adoption service, not for the reason that it is providing a positive benefit, but because this Labour Government will be spooked by the logical next step of banning Halal slaughter. Labour have an unhealthy reliance on the Muslim vote. There have also been a number of abuses of the postal voting system.

British values once encompassed truthfulness, honesty, and decency. Where have they gone? How ironic that this Labour Government are paying lip service to such values, when they themselves clearly fall far short.

A further example of Labour hypocrisy is that they have banned fox hunting, on the grounds of cruelty, whilst turning a blind eye to the avoidable cruelty of Halal slaughter, which affects a far larger number of animals.

Personally I am against fox hunting, even though I lost a pet hen to a fox many years ago. It was my own fault for not checking that they were all secure overnight. One strayed.

Pragmatically, the Conservatives will loose many votes if they make the restoration of fox hunting an election promise. They will also lay themselves open to the charge of hypocrisy, for being concerned for the welfare of horses but not foxes. In any case, the size of the fox population is primarily limited by the available food supply, not by hunting.

We must stop the cruelty to animals however it occurs, even if that is not popular in certain quarters. The abolition of slavery was not universally popular, yet it was the right thing to do.

At this time of Holocaust memorial, we must realise that mans inhumanity to animals is the first step towards mans inhumanity to man.


Humanity needs peace not Islam.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Labour intolerance

At the present time the Labour Government is pointing a finger at the Catholic Church, and shouting "intolerance". Why?

For many years, the Catholic Church has provided a very sucessful adoption service in Britain, placing and supporting a quarter of the total number of children, around 1000 per annum.

The Labour Government has been busy creating a blizzard of new legislation, much of it ill-conceived, with little thought about unintended consequences. The current disaster is a proposed law preventing discrimination. Theoretically this is a good thing, however, there are consequences. The Catholic Church has stated that it will discontinue their adoption service, as their conscience will not permit them to place children with practising homosexuals. Labour compounds their stupidity, by assuming that the Catholic Church is bluffing, but not everyone is motivated by ego and self agrandisement, in the way that certain individuals associted with the Labour party appear to be. Remember the ongoing cash for honours fiasco. It appears that Labour are suffering from snow-blindness of their own creation.

As an aside, Labour have an inability to avoid meddling, where things worked well enough already. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" We only have to think of the current constitutional crisis as an example. Typical Socialists: They make a mess, then blame everyone else for the ensuing chaos. Blame the Scottish Nationalist Party. Blame the English. Blame the Conservatives indeed! Surely the English are discriminated against, as our vote is now worth less than that of the Scottish voters? Strange that only English scoolchildren are being taught "Britishness". It is no wonder that so many are seeking the asylum of the British Isles: The lunatics have been in charge of the asylum for ten years.

Getting back to the main point about intolerance: The Labour Government is strongly critical of the Catholic Church, because of its apparent discrimination, when all that the Church is trying to do is for the best interests of the children.

However, Labour are perfectly happy to permit various forms of very harmful discrimination. Two examples that come to mind, are positive discrimination in the workplace, and Halal slaughter.

Giving someone a job or a promotion primarily due to their gender or ethnicity is very harmful. It is harmful to the more able candidates, who did not get the job. It is harmful to the employer, who has to carry someone who is not as capable. It is harmful for the person who has been promoted, as they may feel stressed up, and struggle to fulfill the role. It is harmful to other employees, who will certainly feel sidelined, and despairing of their own career prospects, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Positive discrimination is very obviously bad all round. Why cannot Labour see this? It is simply common sense.

Of course, once an employer has taken someone on under these circumstances, they cannot then sack them should the need arise. I have seen this with my own eyes:

Very briefly: One manager in my workplace had clearly been over-promoted, and was clearly not fulfilling his role. However, nobody was ever sacked for incompetence, so that in itself was not surprising. Unfortunately, this individual also had a habit of harassing female staff, who mostly did not appreciate his advances. Several resigned or moved to other departments. After a considerable delay this particular manager was pushed to one side, no doubt retaining a generous salary. What should have happened of course is that the matter should have been tackled much sooner. He should have been given a warning, and if the disruptive behaviour then persisted, he should have been sacked. That such action was not taken was probably due to his ethnic origin. Then the error was compounded by keeping him in a non-job, presumably to avoid the cost of a racial discrimination dispute, which would be costly in terms of lawyers fees and compensation, but also costly in terms of the ensuing negative publicity. It was clearly less costly to continue paying him a salary to do virtually nothing. What a mad state of affairs we have got ourselves into.

Of course, the vast bulk of employers, comprising small businesses, simply cannot afford to pay someone a salary to do nothing. The unintended consequences of Labour's positive discrimination attitude has been the exact reverse of the desired effect. It is a very brave employer who takes on someone who is likely to accuse them of racism at the earliest opportunity. What a mad state of affairs we have got ourselves into.

You may be automatically assuming that I am a racist for pointing out these truths. However, I can state that over the years I have had a number of very good and genuine frendships with people who are of different ethnic origins than myself.

Now consider the very real harm caused by another form of discrimination promoted by this Labour Government: This is Halal slaughter.

If a non-Muslim were to slaughter an animal by slitting its throat, they would, quite rightly, be arrested and prosecuted for cruelty to animals. That the very same act comitted by a Muslim should be legal, is simply bizarre. What a mad state of affairs we have got ourselves into.

Mine is not a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Here is a letter in The Daily Telegraph of 25th January 2007, which neatly makes a link between Catholic adoption and ritual slaughter.

Sir,
The Lord Chancellor's position is that there can be no exceptions from a law on the basis of religious beliefs. But there already are. The law requires animals for slaughter to be rendered unconscious, by stunning or other means, before being killed. However, both Jewish and Muslim ritual slaughter is exempt on the grounds of religious requirements.
Sam Levy
London SW11

I suspect that the way this issue will play out is that Catholics will continue to run their adoption service, not for the reason that it is providing a positive benefit, but because this Labour Government will be spooked by the logical next step of banning Halal slaughter. Labour have an unhealthy reliance on the Muslim vote. There have also been a number of abuses of the postal voting system.

British values once encompassed truthfulness, honesty, and decency. Where have they gone?


Humanity needs peace not Islam.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

David Cameron's horse meat

This message has been posted onto the "Web Cameron" website:

www.webcameron.org.uk

Please go to that website and add your vote, and hopefully these points will be answered by the man himself.


David Cameron has consistently campaigned against the live export of horses for horsemeat.

His concern for the welfare of animals is greatly to be applauded. We in Britain are a nation of animal lovers, and it is encumbent on us all to oppose all cruelty to animals, however it occurs.

Can the Conservatives now turn their attention to the completely avoidable cruelty of ritual slaughter? A quarter of sheep are slaughtered in Britain for Halal meat.

According to the Farm Animal Welfare Council, an animal that is slaughtered by having its throat cut can suffer for up to two minutes.

"Such a drastic cut will inevitably trigger a barrage of sensory information to the brain in a sensible (conscious) animal. We are persuaded that such a massive injury would result in very significant pain and distress in the period before insensibility supervenes."

Bristol University has carried out studies using pre-stunning, which ought to be acceptable to faith communities. There can therefore be no justification for continuing with the current cruel practice.

It is quite correct to be concerned about cruelty to horses. However, cruelty to sheep and cattle should be no less a concern, particularly as it is happening on a much greater scale.



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Washington -- The House overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday (7th September 2006) banning the transport and slaughter of horses for human consumption, which would end a practice critics label inhumane that was first outlawed by California voters in 1998.

Lawmakers of both parties voted 263-146 for the measure, which aims to shut down three foreign-owned plants in the United States that slaughter horses and ship the meat to countries such as France, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Japan, where it is served at upscale restaurants as a delicacy.


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Witney MP David Cameron Slams Minister Over ‘‘Passports for Horses’’

David Cameron, Conservative MP for Witney, today used foreign affairs questions in the House Commons to raise the EU decision that all horses, donkeys and ponies within the European Union must carry passports.

David said:

‘‘This is a complete bureaucratic nonsense. Why on earth should owners of horses, donkeys and ponies suddenly have to carry passports and handle all sorts of extra paperwork?’’

‘‘It is hard to believe that the Government has signed up to this madness from Brussels and I have put down questions to clarify the situation. But by understanding is that the Government support the scheme and are all set to implement it.’’

In his question to the Minister of state for foreign affairs (MP for Rotherham, Dennis MacShane), David said:

‘‘Is the Minister aware that EU Directive 2000/68 requires all horses, donkeys and ponies in the EU to carry passports – at all times? Is he aware that this has come about because of French concerns about equine drugs entering the food chain? Does he agree with me that British horse owners should not be saddled with extra paperwork just to satisfy rather unsatisfactory Gallic eating habits?

David concluded:

‘‘Will the Minister reflect on the fact that while the Government seems prepared to take huge steps to stop horses crossing continents, virtually nothing is being done to deal with the shambolic asylum system.’’

‘‘The proposal for horse passports (the Eu refers to them as either ‘‘Equids’’ or ‘‘Equidae’’) is a classic example of a Euro-farce.

It is unnecessary. While cattle have passports, they do not include any information about drugs. Sheep and Pigs, which are eaten in far greater number, do not have passports at all.

It is illogical. Even after the decision is implemented the French will continue to import horses for eating from countries outside the EU, which do not have a passport system at all.

David concluded:

‘‘Like many such Euro-farces there has been far too little debate and it would seem that there is not a great deal we can do about it. But it is an example of bureaucracy gone mad and I will do what I can to make sure the Government sees sense.’’

‘‘In a week we discover that the asylum system is in disarray, with tens of thousands disappearing every year, we find out where the Government is really getting tough. That’s right. On horse, donkeys, ponies – and their owners. What a farce.’’


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Witney MP calls on Government to continue ban on export of live horses for Horsemeat in Europe. - 01/04/2004


David Cameron, MP for Witney, spoke in a debate in the House of Commons to back the campaign to keep the ban on the export of live horses from the United Kingdom to Europe.

A copy of his speech is attached. At present there are ‘minimum value rules’ which effectively prevent the export of horses from the UK for the meat trade.

The Government is proposing to end these rules by agreeing to a European Directive that would regulate the transport of live horses throughout Europe. While these might improve conditions for horses transported between other EU countries, they could re-start an export trade between the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

David explained:

“I support moves to improve welfare standards for the transport of horses. But the United Kingdom should maintain its current ban on the export of horses. We can do this – but only if the Minister stands up for the United Kingdom and doesn’t give in.”

David continued:

“I strongly opposed the compulsory horse passports which the Government has now introduced. I am very worried that, combined with ending the ban on live exports, the two laws will mean that for some unfortunate horses this is introducing a ‘have passport, will travel’ situation.


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Humanity needs peace not Islam.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

EU: Turkish Accession

House of Lords debate "EU: Turkish Accession" took place on the 22nd January 2007.

Here is an extract from Hansard:


The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, the first Armenian church in this country was founded in Manchester. Will the Minister advise Members of this House where the Government stand in relation to discussions with Turkey over the Armenian genocide, when those discussions were last held and whether the Government have any intention of raising the matter further during the negotiations for Turkey’s entry into the EU?

Lord Triesman: My Lords, I start with the most significant part of the right reverend Prelate’s question. For this Government, recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide is not a condition of Turkey’s membership of the EU. I wish to be straightforward and clear about that. Neither this Government nor previous British Governments have judged that the evidence is sufficiently unequivocal to persuade us that these events should be characterised as genocide under the 1948 UN convention on genocide.


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There are ongoing human rights abuses in Turkey. The Kurdish question, and the future for Cypress remain unresolved. It seems foolish in the extreme to be considering its possible membership of the EU.

Even discussing the potential for EU membership is destabilising Turkey itself.

Turkey is far more useful as a buffer state between the Christian and the Islamic world, than it is as a full member of the EU.

See my blog posting "A Possible Solution for Iraq" for more details.


Humanity needs peace not Islam.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Gordon Brown Inspired

So, Gordon Brown is inspired by Ghandi and by Churchill.


Ghandi:

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"

and

"As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side."

and

"[If] India is divided she will be lost forever. Therefore...if India is to remain undivided, Hindus and Moslems must live together in brotherly love, not in hostile camps organized either for defensive action or retaliation."

and

"[The demand for Pakistan] as put forth by the Moslem League is un-Islamic and I have not hesitated to call it sinful. Islam stands for unity and the brotherhood of mankind, not for disrupting the oneness of the human family. Therefore, those who want to divide India into possibly warring groups are enemies alike of India and Islam. They may cut me into pieces but they cannot make me subscribe to something which I consider to be wrong [...] we must not cease to aspire, in spite of [the] wild talk, to befriend all Moslems and hold them fast as prisoners of our love"





Churchill:

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia (rabies) in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries; improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

"A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

"No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step. Were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."


Humanity needs peace not Islam.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Undercover Mosque Transcript

Here is the transcript of the Channel 4 Dispatches programme.

We should not be surprised by the findings, since the preaching is very much in line with the Quran and Hadiths. However, you may not be aware that this is so, if you have not understood the concept of abrogation.

Given that a quarter of Muslims in Britain are sympathetic towards the London bombers, it would seem probable that they would also be susceptible to this kind of preaching. The comment at the end of the program may well be true:

"Haras Rafiq: The radicalising power of this ideology is extremely dangerous. We are losing our children to extremists
Hakim Murad: I regard what the Saudis are doing in the ghettoes of British Islam as potentially lethal for the future of the community "



----------------------------------------------

PART ONE


Tonight on Dispatches – an ideology of bigotry and intolerance spreading through Britain


with its roots in Saudi Arabia


Sheikh Yasin: We Muslims have been ordered to do brainwashing


- on women’s rights


Abu Usamah: Allah has created the woman deficient


Sh Jibali: If she doesn’t wear hijab, we hit her


- gay rights


Abu Usamah: take that homosexual man and throw him from the mountain


- living in a multicultural society


Dr Mian: You have to live like a state within a state until you take over


- and holy war


Sh Feiz: The peak, the pinnacle, the crest, the summit, of Islam, is jihad



TITLES



A Dispatches investigation has uncovered a fundamentalist message, spreading from the Saudi Arabia religious establishment


through mosques run by major UK organisations


which claim to be dedicated to moderation and to dialogue with other faiths



Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham is a high-profile mosque


- and one we’d heard receives theological guidance from Saudi Arabia



Caption: Undercover filming


Our reporter went undercover last summer, joining thousands of worshippers


He’s staying anonymous



Caption: 12 August 2006


The theme of today’s lecture is – don’t believe in the arrests of alleged terrorists without proof


… as non Muslims are liars


Abu Usamah: I don’t believe them, because they are kuffaar, lying is part of their religion




Kuffaar is an Arabic word, meaning non-believer – an infidel


Abu Usamah: Unlike those kuffaar, they do whatever they want to do


It’s a term our reporter was to hear repeatedly being used in a derogatory way



Abu Usamah: they are liars, they are terrorists themselves, liars, they will come before the people and talk and they are lying, you can’t believe them, these are pathological liars



Shots of Green Lane website


Green Lane Mosque calls itself a “centre for interfaith communication”, welcoming people of all religions



But our reporter filmed there over four months, and found this speaker, Abu Usamah, was their main English-language preacher


He says Christians and Jews are enemies to Muslims


Abu Usamah: It has come to pass that the Christians and the Jews, America, the UK, France, Germany, they have come against the religion of Islam. Why give up your religion and your long legacy of Islam, to please someone who is an enemy to you?



Abu Usamah is an American convert


and a very popular speaker at Green Lane


Abu Usamah (shaking hands with everyone): Hey, my man, how you doing?



He preaches against non-Muslim laws


Abu Usamah: We want the laws of Islam to be practised, we want to do away with the man-made laws


And says British popular culture is a threat


Abu Usamah: The popular culture, if you are a person who gives yourself to that, your mind is going to be controlled by the so-called powers that be, who make these man-made laws



Green Lane’s official website says the mosque is “designed to counter the negative publicity and stereotyping of Islam”


But after a few weeks, our reporter was told by fellow worshippers how to access another, much more difficult-to-find internet chatroom


It’s run by Green Lane Mosque, and broadcasts Abu Usamah’s speeches live to a small band of listeners


He says Muslims should obey British laws and contracts, if they don’t contradict Islam, but he condemns non-believers



Caption: Green Lane internet broadcast


Abu Usamah: No-one loves the kuffaar, no-one loves the kuffaar, not a single person here from the Muslims loves the kuffaar, whether those kuffaar are from the UK or the US. We love the people of Islam and we hate the people of kufr, we hate the kuffaar



Filmed undercover, he says he doesn’t agree with the violent actions of Muslim terrorists - but he prefers them to non-Muslims


Abu Usamah: I don’t agree with those individuals, but at the same time they are closer to me than those criminals of the kufr


Cap: Green Lane internet broadcast


Abu Usamah: He’s better than a million George Bushes, Osama Bin Laden, and he’s better than a thousand Tony Blairs, because he’s a Muslim



The mosque films some of Abu Usamah’s speeches, and they’re sold locally as DVDs


Caption: The Major Sins: Ahlus Sunnah Productions (2005)


In this one, he says even Muslims who don’t follow their strict rules can be ostracised as “kaffirs”


Abu Usamah: If you leave off the prayer out of negligence, then you are a kaffir. If he dies like that you have to bury him with the kuffaar. You can’t marry him



He preaches an ideal Islamic state


Abu Usamah: Muslims shouldn’t satisfied with living in other than the total Islamic state



His vision of the Islamic state includes extreme punishments, as he outlines in this DVD



DVD: The Major Sins: Ahlus Sunnah Productions (2005)


Abu Usamah: Whoever changes his religion from Islam to anything else – kill him in the Islamic state



The religious leader, or imam, can decide the punishments


Internet broadcast


Abu Usamah: If the imam wants to crucify him, he should crucify him. The person is put up on the wood and he is left there to bleed to death for three days



Abu Usamah condemns the Western interpretation of free speech, which means the Prophet can be insulted, but he can be censored


Abu Usamah: If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs, that should be murdered, that’s my freedom of speech isn’t it? But they’ll say no, I’m not tolerant, but they feel that it’s OK to say something about the Prophet?



Our reporter has found these views being regularly preached at the head mosque of a major Muslim organisation


Green Lane Mosque, Birmingham, is the headquarters of the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, a registered charity which runs over 40 mosques and branches as well as Islamic schools


It’s an influential affiliate of the Muslim Council of Britain, which has praised it as “a national body”, “respected for its educational and outreach programmes”



But our reporter secretly filmed Abu Usamah teaching that a “jihad” is coming against the unbelievers


Abu Usamah: Verily Allah going to bring a group of people that he loves and they love him, these people will who will be soft and kind to the believers and they will be rough and tough against the kuffaar, they will fight in the cause of Allah


I encourage all of you to be from amongst them, to begin to cultivate ourselves for the time that is fast approaching where the tables are going to turn and the Muslims are going to be in the position of being uppermost in strength, and when that happens, people won’t get killed – unjustly



After a few weeks, our reporter learns that Green Lane worshippers get regular religious instruction, direct from Saudi Arabia


Live, two-way video links are set up


Projected onto the wall is the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia


Caption: Saudi state television


He’s the country’s top religious leader– now being beamed live to worshippers in Birmingham



They ask questions through an interpreter, and get fatwas – religious rulings (CHK?)



By now, our reporter has become a regular at the mosque


The man who supervises the video links tells him they’ve recorded them


Man: We actually record them onto DVDs.


Reporter: You do?


Man: What we’ll do is, whatever the cost is of the DVDs you just contribute to that and it’s not a problem



And our reporter is given them


Man: These are the masters, whatever you want to do is fine



The DVDs show a Birmingham worshipper, who asks the Grand Mufti for a fatwa about understanding between Muslims and other religions


CAPTION: Saudi Broadcast, June 2006


Question: Some people say we shouldn’t call Christians and Jews kuffaar, and we should establish dialogue and good relations with them. What’s your answer to this?



His answer is uncompromising


Grand Mufti: This is not true. Jews and Christians who do not follow the Prophet Mohammed are kuffaar. They will go to hell


He says Muslims can’t help non-believers


Grand Mufti: Anyone who helps or defends an apostate, or a pagan, or an atheist, or anyone who attacks Islam, will be cursed



Green Lane Mosque is spreading a brand of Islam originating in Saudi Arabia – often known as Wahhabism


It’s an hardline theology, opposed by many British Muslims


Academic Dr Irfan Al Alawi investigates Wahhabism


He keeps his face hidden in interviews because of the dangers of his work


ASTON: Dr Irfan Al Alawi

Islamic Heritage Foundation


Dr Irfan Al Alawi: Wahhabis believe that you cannot show tolerance to other religions, so the religion of Islam has to rule the world. Green Lane in Birmingham, that mosque is one of the extreme Wahhabi centres in the UK



Caption: Saudi TV


Wahhabism is opposed to the traditional, tolerant beliefs of classical Islam, according to leading Muslim academic Abdal Hakim Murad


CAPTION: Abdal Hakim Murad

University of Cambridge


Hakim Murad: Its principle is totalitarian, it’s highly judgemental, it has no track record of dealing with other sorts of Islam or with unbelievers with any kind of respect. If you are outside the small circle of the true believers you are going to hell and therefore you should be treated with contempt



Non-believers are called “kaffirs” or “kuffaar”


It’s a term they use as an insult, according to moderate British Muslims like Dr Taj Hargey


ASTON: Dr Taj Hargey

Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford


Dr Taj Hargey: The word kaffir is a very pejorative, negative, disparaging term. When you call someone a kaffir, they are not worthy to be associated with. This kind of intolerance is something that gives rise to extremists



Many children were present at the Green Lane lectures our reporter filmed, where intolerance and bigotry were openly preached



In a DVD of a conference at Green Lane Mosque, a preacher called Sheikh Al-Jibali says Muslim children should be kept away from non-Muslims


Caption: Preparing to Stand Before Allah: Ahlus Sunnah Productions (2004)


Sheikh Al Jibali: What is sad to see is that many parents they send children to the kuffaar schools, they allow them to mix with the kuffaar, so that the lifestyle and beliefs of the kuffaar become deep rooted in the hearts of the kids



In a fatwa given in the video links, the Grand Mufti says children should be hit if they don’t pray


Saudi Broadcast, May 2006


Grand Mufti: Tell your children to pray when they are seven, and hit them when they are ten



The Ahl-e-Hadith’s website directs readers to literature which says “Islam confers equal rights upon all”, regardless of sex


But in a crackly internet broadcast, Abu Usamah says women are “deficient”


Green Lane Internet broadcast


Abu Usamah: Allah has created the woman, even if she gets a Phd, deficient. Her intellect is incomplete, deficient. She may be suffering from hormones that will make her emotional. It takes two witnesses of a woman to equal the one witness of the man



Saudi-based clerics in the video links preach male supremacy


Caption: Saudi broadcast May 2006


Sheikh: Khunayn: Men are in charge of women. Wherever he goes she should follow him and she shouldn’t be allowed leave the house without his permission



Sheikh Al Jibali says the hijab must be enforced on young girls, if necessary with violence


Caption: Preparing to Stand Before Allah: Ahlus Sunnah Productions (2004)


Al Jibali:. By the age of ten, it becomes an obligation on us to force her to wear hijab, and if she doesn’t wear hijab, we hit her



Our reporter secretly filmed this preacher, Dr Bilal Philips, giving religious rulings at Green Lane


In a speech in the mosque, which was also broadcast in its internet chatroom, he claims marrying off a girl before puberty is permissible


He claims the Prophet Mohammed married a nine year old girl, so it’s permissible now


Dr Bilal Philips: The Prophet Mohammed practically outlined the rules regarding marriage prior to puberty, with his practice he clarified what is permissible and that is why we shouldn’t have any issues about an older man marrying a younger woman, which is looked down upon by this society today, but we know that Prophet Mohammed practised it, it wasn’t abuse or exploitation, it was marriage



RIGHT TO REPLY LIKELY FROM DR PHILIPS



Abu Usamah quotes what he says are the words of a companion of the Prophet, on the Islamic punishment for homosexuality


Abu Usamah: Do you practise homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain


And in a DVD, he attacks the idea of gay rights


DVD: Preparing to Stand Before Allah: Ahlus Sunnah Productions (2004)


Abu Usamah: They have given them unprecedented rights, so that your child can be exposed and introduced to lesbians. Now they say, if you discriminate against them, you are going to jail



He says Muslims should discriminate


Abu Usamah: We’ll discriminate, but we’ll discriminate in a way where we don’t get in trouble. The Muslim is a dentist and one of those people comes I’m going to take a big needle and stick it in his gum



Then he says it’s a joke, as it might get the mosque in trouble


Abu Usamah: They’ll take this and get us all in trouble



On the anniversary of the 7th of July bombings, a speech by Abu Usamah was broadcast in the Green Lane chatroom, condemning terrorism


Green Lane Internet Broadcast


Abu Usamah: We want to make an official statement here, no way are we in agreement to what took place last year on this day in the kuffaar calendar



But he does believe in jihad


Abu Usamah: But in saying that, we do not apologise for any aspect of this religion, there is jihad in Islam. What’s most beloved and favourite thing to Allah? Jihad in the Way of Allah



He says the real jihad will come when the senior Islamic clerics declare it – and prays it will come soon



Abu Usamah: We ask Allah to bring about the means and the ways in which the Muslims will get the power and the honour of repelling the oppression of the kuffaar, where we can go out and perform the jihad. We ask Allah to bring that time, so we can be participants in that



Abu Usamah he told us: “Islam allows for any Muslim to peacefully coexist here in the UK with non-Muslims even though the UK is not an Islamic society


He said he had made it clear that it is a religious duty on all Muslims to obey UK law and the carrying out of Islamic law could only be done in an actual Islamic state


He said: “Homosexuality is an abomination against Allah and all mankind and I will never condone it. Even though this is the case, I do not believe in disobeying the law when it comes to the way people deal with homosexuals.”



A hardline message, influenced by Saudi Arabian clerics, is preached at Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham


An imam from the mosque has helped advise the government


Abdul Hadi sat on a government taskforce on extremism, set up after the 7th of July bombings



He was part of its working group on combating extremism in mosques and imams


DVD: Preparing to Stand Before Allah: Ahlus Sunnah Productions (2004)


Yet this DVD shows he took part in a Green Lane conference in which other speakers urged Muslims to discriminate against homosexuals and hit girls who don’t wear the hijab


He seemed to have no worries at the extremism of the message


Abdul Hadi: It is very hard to conclude such a beautiful programme, but we have to



The head of the working group on mosques and imams was Lord Nazir Ahmed, Britain’s first Muslim peer



He’s previously praised Green Lane Mosque


In an interview with BBC radio in 2003, he named it as his favourite spiritual place in the country


Cap: Favourite Spiritual Places July 2003



Lord Ahmed: Number 20, Green Lane, Birmingham, is my favourite spiritual place



He said he’d worshipped there


Lord Ahmed: This is the most amazing place. When I walk into the mosque, I feel I am entering the biggest palace on earth



Lord Ahmed recently said he would ask the Lord Chancellor to meet an organisation called the Islamic Shari’ah Council, including its Secretary General, a preacher called Sheikh Suhaib Hasan


The meeting would be to discuss the introduction of Islamic divorce laws into the UK constitution



Undercover filming at Green Lane


Our reporter filmed Sheikh Hasan speaking at Green Lane


He’s a senior imam at a major mosque in East London, and a former President of the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith



In a speech downloaded from his mosque website, he proclaims the supremacy of Muslims in encounters with the non-believers


Masjid Al Tawhid internet broadcast


NO SUBTITLES


Sh Hasan: And Allah made the words of the kuffaar dung/down and the words of the believers supreme


(footnote for the press – HE SAYS IT IS DOWN, NOT DUNG)



In speeches on other Islamic websites, he predicts the coming of an Islamic state


Suhaib Hasan: True Understanding of the Khilaafah


Sh Hasan: Allah has decreed this thing, that I am going to be dominant, the dominance of course is a political dominance



The Islamic state he predicts will have a single, lifelong ruler with no opposition parties or elections and it will bring in a strict version of Islamic law


Sh Hasan: The chopping of the hands of the thieves, the flogging of the adulterers and flogging of the drunkards



Then this state will launch jihad


Sh Hasan: Then jihad against the non-Muslims, against those people who are the oppressors



Sheikh Hasan told us that the word “kuffaar” was “not a racist or discriminatory term when heard in its Quranic sense”


He said he’d stated many times that the re-establishment of a “single Islamic state”, would be peaceful


He said he had often praised the British welfare state, its judicial, health and education systems


He said: “I have never promoted any form of extremism, whether religious or otherwise”



Lord Ahmed told us that Green Lane Mosque was one of many mosques he visited


He said: “It would be ludicrous to suggest that by visiting an institution I become responsible for, or aware of, every word spoken at that establishment


He said he had asked for the meeting with the Lord Chancellor on behalf of all Muslims, and said he was not aware of all the views held by Sheikh Hasan



Next, we investigate claims that radicalism, linked to the Saudi religious establishment has spread across the country


…. even reaching into Britain’s biggest and most mainstream mosque




PART TWO


A Dispatches reporter investigated one of Britain’s biggest and most mainstream mosques


Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham


uncovering a fundamentalist ideology emanating from the Saudi religious establishment



He found it promoting male supremacy


Abu Usamah: Allah has created the woman deficient


Green Lane preacher: If she doesn’t wear hijab, we hit her


Condemning non-Muslims


Abu Usamah: We hate the kuffaar, we do not give obedience to the kuffaar



and predicting a future jihad


Abu Usamah: The tables are going to turn, and the Muslims are going to be in a position of being uppermost in strength



Now he was to discover how preachers trained in Saudi Arabia are spreading the same message around the country



Last summer, a two-week Islamic Studies course was arranged at the mosque, and our reporter was accepted onto it


It was to be taught by clerics, flown specially from the University of Medinah, in Saudi Arabia


But then it was cancelled at short notice



Our reporter went to their office to find out more


The preacher Abu Usamah tells him what the aim of the course was


Abu Usamah: From what I know is, people were going to come and teach the course from Saudi Arabia. Part of the programme was, the students who did good like the first three or top five students, would get a scholarship to go. That was part of the conditions they had agreed with the Professors who are coming, because the Professors are from the university


Reporter: Of Medinah?


Abu Usamah: Yes



The most devout worshippers at Green Lane are being offered scholarships to Saudi religious universities


Abu Usamah: It’s for people like you



The aim is to train new preachers, according to Dr Irfan Al Alawi, who keeps his face hidden in interviews


Dr Al Alawi: Medinah University is a very hardcore Wahhabi institution. Over the years they have been giving bursaries to students from United Kingdom and throughout the world to recruit students to be brainwashed, then they are trained to go abroad and teach their poison and inject it into others



Medinah graduates are now spreading the word in mosques up and down the UK


Like Dr Bilal Philips, who says marrying girls before they reach puberty is permissible


.…. Sheikh Suhaib Hasan, who preaches a future Muslim supremacy


……. and Abu Usamah himself


Hakim Murad: This is one of the most important items I think on the Saudi radical agenda, to push out the more hospitable types of religious leadership and replace them with firebrands, trained and programmed in the major Saudi universities



Our reporter finds that Saudi-trained preachers are being promoted in DVDs and CDs throughout the UK


He found typical examples being sold in the car park at Green Lane Mosque



Children are buying them


And the stalls are manned by local kids


Reporter: Salamu aleikum brother



Reporter: Thank you brother



He buys a DVD of Sheikh Feiz, another Medinah-trained preacher



Reporter: Thank-you brother


- in which he preaches jihad



Cap: Death Series: Islam Productions


Sheikh Feiz: The peak, the pinnacle, the crest, the highest point, the pivot, the summit, of Islam, is jihad



He criticises Muslim parents who don’t want their children to learn this


Sh Feiz: Today, many parents, they prevent their children from attending lessons, why? They fear they might create or place in their hearts, the love, just a bit of love, of sacrificing their lives for Allah.


We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam. Teach them this, there is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid, put in their soft tender hearts the zeal of jihad and the love of martyrdom



The Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, who run Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham told us it was “committed to promoting interfaith dialogue and political harmony in our society”


Scholars from many different backgrounds spoke at its mosque, and we had quoted many out of context


It had not known what each speaker would say beforehand and did not necessarily agree with everything that may have been said


It said the word kuffaar was a neutral term, and said:


“We reject the assertion …. that we are influenced by and teach an extreme version of Islam…We accept the rule of law and we treat our non-Muslim neighbours with respect.”


It said Islamic punishments are an effective deterrent in Islamic societies



The most notorious convert to preach in Britain was Sheikh Al Faisal, who studied Islam at Riyadh University



He circulated his own tapes, urging followers to kill and to plant bombs, and was jailed for inciting racial hatred


Al Faisal cassette: You have to bomb the Indian businesses, and as for the Jews you kill them physically



In an interview with the BBC, Al Faisal claimed that he learned his anti-Semitic views from his university training in Saudi Arabia


El Faisal: I learned at University that the Holocaust was orchestrated in order that the Jews will establish a homeland in Arab territories



The war to convert is waged on the internet


This website says it’s run by an Islamic charity, which is based in Saudi Arabia


It directs readers to a fatwa website, which says it’s supervised by a Saudi scholar


Readers can email in questions and get religious rulings



The rulings say Muslims in the West must have “an attitude of enmity and hatred of the kaffirs …. all of the kuffaar are the enemies of the Muslims”…


Jihad –“ pursuing the kaafirs in their lands…. and fighting them if they do not … submit to the rule of Islam” – is a “communal obligation” on Muslims


…. “men are superior to women and are better than women” and husbands can hit their wives – though only lightly


……. it recommends “prodding with the fist”



DVDs, books and the internet are all ways that the message is spread, according to Saudi expert Mai Yamani


Caption: Mai Yamani

Saudi analyst


Mai Yamani: Since the 1980s, there has been an increase in the export of Wahhabi teachings to the Muslim world, from Kosovo to Jakarta, and to the United States and Great Britain, supercharged with oil money


They sent in money for teachers, for schools, they printed books, they educated imams, so it is like a wave of teachings hitting at the shores of Western countries



Islamic bookshops in Britain are offered free literature


Hakim Murad: A number of bookshops known to me have actually gone out of business because they have been undercut by the more fundamentalist literature being supplied for free by Saudi Arabia




Dr Taj Hargey set up the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford to promote an Islam of tolerance and peaceful co-existence


He’s opposed to Saudi influence over British Muslim life


Dr Hargey: The Saudi funding of British Muslim institutions come from a variety of official, semi-official and private sources, in addition to government funding through the Ministry of Religious Affairs and other government agencies.



Money from Saudi has even reached the most famous mosque in Europe


London Central Mosque, better known as Regent’s Park Mosque, is the most recognisable symbol of moderate, mainstream Muslim life in Britain


It says it acts on behalf of the whole Muslim community in dealing with the government



The Saudi monarchy gave two million pounds to help build it, and in the 1990s, they built its educational and administrative wing



Wajid Shamsul Hasan was a trustee of the mosque in the 1990s, in his capacity as the Pakistan High Commissioner to Britain


He had concerns about the direction the mosque was taking


Aston: Wajid Shamsul Hasan

Trustee 1994-1996


Wajid: The Islam that I personally would like to follow is liberal Islam. This is a centre where 5,000 people once in a week gather, it should be a cradle for the promotion of liberal Islam, but unfortunately, because of the predominant Saudi influence and Saudi money that comes in, it is supportive of Wahhabism



Caption: Undercover filming


The mosque’s official bookshop is run by a company called Darussalam


It’s a British company, but it’s linked to Darussalam Publications - a global publishing house, whose head office is in Saudi Arabia



Our reporter visited – and bought another video of Sheikh Feiz, the Saudi-trained preacher – condemning the non-believer


Caption: Signs of the Hour: Islam Productions


Feiz: Kaffir, the worst word that can ever be written, a sign of infidelity, disbelief, filth, a sign of dirt



He calls Jews “pigs” who will be killed when the end of the world comes


Feiz: This creature will say Oh Muslim behind me is the Jew come and kill him. They will be (snorting), all of them, every single one of them



Regular interfaith meetings with other religions take place at this mosque


Yet in a DVD bought from its bookshop, a British-based convert called Sheikh Khalid Yasin, who studied Arabic in Saudi Arabia, condemns the teachings of other religions


Cap: Changing the World Through Da’wah: IBC Ltd/1Islam Productions


Yasin: We don't need to go to the Christians or the Jews debating with them about the filth which they believe. We Muslims have been ordered to do brainwashing because the kuffaar they are doing brain defiling. You are watching the kaffir TV and your wife is watching it right now and your children are watching it and they are being polluted and they are being penetrated and they are being infected, so that you come out of the house and your children come out of the house as Muslims and come back as kaffirs



Cap: London Central Mosque website


In this DVD from the mosque bookshop, he preaches against the equality of women


Cap: Some Advice to the Muslim Women: 1 Islam Productions


Sh Yasin: This whole delusion of the equality of women is a bunch of foolishness…. There’s no such thing



In this DVD, he claims AIDS is a Western and Christian plot


Cap: Jihad or Terrorism?: Ahlussunnah wal Jama’ah


Yasin: Missionaries from the World Health Organisation and Christian groups went into Africa and inoculated people for diphtheria, malaria, yellow fever and they put in the medicine the AIDS virus, which is a conspiracy



The mosque bookshop sells speeches by the Green Lane Mosque preacher, Abu Usamah


In this one, he says Muslims and non-Muslims cannot coexist


Cap: Natural Disasters: WISE Islamic Centre


Abu Usamah: The fire of the Muslim and the non-Muslim, they cannot co-exist, one of them is going to impact the other. The non-Muslims have the authority, and they have the power, their lifestyle is going to impact upon the Muslims. Because the good and the bad, they do not co-exist



And they sell audio CDs of Murtaza Khan, a preacher who speaks in many UK mosques


He’s also an Islamic Studies teacher at Al Noor Muslim Primary School in Essex


In this CD from the mosque, he claims the Koran condemns Jews and Christians


CD: Time to Return to the Quran: Knowledge Books and Audio


Murtaza Khan: Those whom the wrath of Allah is upon, is the Jews, is the Christians



And he criticises Muslims who follow their ways


Murtaza Khan: We have become Jews in our clothing, Jews in our eating, Jews in everything that we do, and the other half is Christian in everything we do. Muslims are following one of these accursed nations. And people are still not waking up to understand the fact that these people are enemies towards us



He says Muslims should become doctors, so women don’t have to go to non-Muslim doctors


Murtaza Khan: We should have a sense of shame. For how long have we seen our mothers, our sisters, and our daughters have to go and uncover themselves before these filthy non-Muslim doctors?



Murtaza Khan told us: “My discourses have never been delivered with the intent to malign any individual/group or race. They are delivered to inspire Muslims to better themselves and then to play a positive role for their own and wider community in Britain.”



Al Noor Muslim Primary School told us: “We can confirm that Mr M. Khan is employed as a teacher at Al-Noor Primary School and can also categorically state that the alleged remarks .. do not reflect the views of this educational establishment. No extreme or discriminatory views are expressed or taught at our school by any of our teachers”



Darussalam International Publications Ltd, which runs the mosque bookshop, told us it sells a wide range of material and did not necessarily agree with it


It said it was “totally unfair” to blame them for the views expressed in the lectures



The current director general of Regents Park Mosque, Dr Al Dubayan, is from Saudi Arabia



A recent employment tribunal concerning a sex discrimination complaint at the mosque revealed that they had no jurisdiction over Dr Al Dubayan, because he’s actually a serving Saudi diplomat



Dr Hargey: It’s scandalous. The director general of this mosque is a Saudi diplomat, he leads the largest and most prestigious mosque in this country.



Dr Al Dubayan told us his diplomatic status had been extended to him as a courtesy by the Saudi Arabian government following his appointment


He said the mosque bookshop was run independently and he was seriously concerned to hear that inappropriate materials may be on offer


The materials had been removed immediately until it was ascertained whether they were “damaging to the principles of tolerance, multiculturalism and equal rights.”


He said: “It is simply not true that the London Central Mosque has become dominated by the influence of Saudi Arabia and its religious teachings”



The Saudi government says it’s cracked down on clerics who preach extremism


It says it does everything it can to “confront and combat extremism”


It’s a major ally of Britain


Caption: May 2006


Jack Straw: We proclaim our shared attachment to civilisation and to the basic human values, of respect, of dialogue and freedom



Haras Rafiq heads the Sufi Muslim Council, which promotes a tolerant Islam and is opposed to the spread of radical teachings


Haras Rafiq: A lot of these institutions that are set up by and funded by Wahhabis and their offshoots, are teaching Muslims youngsters to be isolationist, are teaching Muslim youngsters to be segregationalist, are teaching Muslim youngsters that America and Britain are against them and therefore they need to get up against them and fight against them or struggle against them


Hakim Murad: Some Wahhabis believe that this is how the West is to be brought down, by spreading Wahhabism in the heart of the West’s cities.



Next, we find radicalism, openly preached at a major mosque


run by an organisation praised by Tony Blair for its support for multiculturalism and interfaith





PART THREE


A Dispatches reporter has uncovered a message of bigotry and intolerance


spreading through Britain from the Saudi religious establishment


Sheikh Feiz: We want to have children and offer them as soldiers, put in their soft, tender hearts, the zeal of jihad



Now he was to find more radical speakers, preaching in a mosque run by a major organisation


praised by Tony Blair for its interfaith work



While filming undercover, our reporter met this preacher - Dr Ijaz Mian



He’s a travelling speaker, who talks at different organisations in Britain


Our reporter filmed his talk at a mosque run by the Ahl-e-Hadith organisation in Derby


It’s the same organisation that runs Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham, which our reporter found promoting extreme teachings




Dr Mian praises the Saudi religious police, saying they can imprison people for not praying


Dr Mian: They send the police, and they say, well, if you don’t come for prayer, close your shop, we will arrest you But if you don’t, then we have to bring the punishment on you, you will be killed, and nobody will pray on you



Dr Mian is yet another UK preacher who was taught in Saudi Arabia


He spent six years studying Islam at Ibn Saud University in Riyadh



He wants to see religious police operating on the street


Dr Mian: They would make sure that every person prays to Allah, five times. Every woman will be covered properly, hijab, otherwise the police will just collect them



He has a radical plan for this country


Muslims shouldn’t accept British democracy


Dr Mian: King, Queen, House of Commons. If you accept it, you are a part of it. You don’t accept it, you have to dismantle it. So you being a Muslim you have to fix a target, there will be no House of Commons. From that White House to this Black House, we know that we have to dismantle it



Muslims must grow in strength then take over


Dr Mian: You are in a situation in which you have to live like a state within a state, until you take over. But until this happens, you have to preach, until you become such a force that the people they just submit to you, hands up, until you become strong enough to take over



It’s an extreme vision – that Muslims will one day take over Britain and bring about an Islamic state with sharia law



Dr Mian invites our reporter to visit Birmingham, where he’s based


Dr Mian: We can come to you, you can come to us



He takes him up on the offer and a few weeks later they meet in Birmingham


Dr Mian takes him to Sparkbrook Islamic Centre, where he wants to arrange a talk



The centre is run by the UK Islamic Mission a major organisation dedicated to interfaith work



This is their annual conference last year in Birmingham


It runs over 45 mosques and branches in Britain and has 6,000 children in its part-time Islamic schools


The Prime Minister has said the UKIM “is extremely valued by the government”, particularly for its “multi-faith and multicultural activities



Caption: UKIM website


Yet despite his radical views, Dr Mian has worked with the UKIM and given talks at its events


At their annual conference, he was a guest on stage



Today, he’s making a presentation to the UKIM committee at the Sparkbrook Islamic Centre



He suggests that the committee invites a small group of non-Muslims to the mosque and tries to convert them


Dr Mian: Every kaffir has a right to Islam



He says Muslims cannot accept non-Muslim rule


Dr Mian: You cannot accept the rule of the kaffir. We have to rule ourselves and we have to rule the others



Although his radical beliefs are obvious, the UKIM committee is happy to go ahead with his talk


UKIM man: If we invite people, would you be available to speak to them?


Dr Mian: Of course, this is my full time duty


UKIM Man: We will organise it



The UKIM hosts regular interfaith events at this mosque


Yet when our reporter joined the worshippers at Sparkbrook for a Friday sermon – he heard the UKIM imam preaching against non-Muslims



Preacher: God, help us win the fight against the kuffaar, in every field, in every department of life. We beg you to help us fight against the enemies of our religion. Help us fight the kuffaar



The UKIM runs dawah, or missionary centres, which spread the word


Our reporter visits one of them, at Alum Rock Islamic Centre, in Birmingham, to see what kind of materials they circulate



Reporter: Is the dawah centre open upstairs?


Dawah man: Yes, what do you want?


Reporter: I’m looking for some books


Man: yes, yes



He’s given some free leaflets


Man: Yes this one. If you start with these, these are easy to understand, for everybody who doesn’t know anything about Islam



They’re by a Pakistani religious leader called Sayyid Mawdudi


He He wwas the founder of a fundamentalist political party in Pakistan called Jamaat-Islami


The UKIM literature outlines his radical message



Pamphlet: “Islam is a revolutionary ideology which seeks to alter the social order of the entire world”


Muslims form an “International Revolutionary Party”


The pamphlets contain some of the ideas that Dr Mian preaches …..


that Muslims must work towards doing away with all non-Islamic governments, and set up an Islamic state



The party Mawdudi founded, the Jamaat Islami, has links to the Saudi religious establishment



Although it stands in Pakistani elections, its aim is to set up an Islamic state run by sharia law


Protesters: Long Live sharia constitution!



The man who runs the missionary centre in Birmingham says the UKIM is an independent organisation, with its own objectives


… but he says they follow the same ideology as the Jamaat Islami


Man: ideologically we are affiliated to Jamaat Islami


Reporter: It’s the same ideology?


Man: Yeah you can say that, it’s the same ideology



He claims the UKIM shares the same ideology with other fundamentalist organisations, like Hamas in Palestine, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt



Bookshop man: Some are in Pakistan, some are in Egypt, wherever they are their ideology is the same, so you can say our ideology is the same with them



Our reporter finds the UKIM accepts money from Saudi sheikhs



Every week at its Sparkbrook mosque, a list of donors is read out


Speaker: Saudi Arabian Professor Sheikh



Caption: August 2006


Our reporter attended a day of talks, arranged at the UKIM’s Sparkbrook mosque


When we contacted the UKIM, they said they had hired their centre out to another organisation, who arranged this event



In public, the UKIM has told Muslims they can participate in British democracy, and it invited politicians to its annual conference last summer in Birmingham


Rob Marris, Labour MP: I’m here as a friend of Islam and as a Labour politician



But in the day of talks in their mosque, invited preachers condemned democracy


Speaker: Today we find ourselves bearing the brunt of a pervasive attack against Islam, trying to win the hearts and minds of Muslims over to become advocates and supporters of a democratic system


Never will the Jews and Christians be happy with you until you follow their way, and their system and their way of life. Call the people to avoid and renounce the way of the Jews and the Christians, which is the way of freedom, which is the way of equality, which is the way of democracy



The next speaker is introduced as the deputy headmaster of Darul Uloom Islamic High School, a single faith secondary school in Birmingham


The government has urged single faith schools to promote “tolerance … inclusion … and understanding between different sections of society”



Deputy head: They talk about integration, there is an overt as well as a covert plan, a programme, they talk about you need to integrate, if you don’t you are a freak, you’re strange, there’s something wrong with you, like if you have something against homosexuality, they’ve got a name to call you now, you’re a homophobic man there is something wrong with you, not with this gay – sorry homosexual. Which part of this society are we supposed to take and adopt as our life, which one?



His criticism of Western society even extended to democracy itself


Deputy head: And they’ve got all these people, all these organisations talking about it, let’s be “democratic”. And I disagree with using the word democracy. They should call it according to the Islamic understanding of the word, which is kuffrocracy, kuffrocracy that’s their plan. It’s the hidden, cancerous aim of these people



Darul Uloom School told us that the deputy headmaster had left the school after this speech was made and said his views and opinions did not represent those of the school


It said: “We` promote the view that students should integrate and become good and upright citizens of this country”



The UKIM works with the police and invited officers to its annual conference


Police officer: I take huge comfort from the really positive messages from the Muslim community



But in the event which they allowed at their Sparkbrook mosque, another invited speaker said Muslims can’t join the police


Speaker: Is it correct, is it viable, to join the police? How can you be implementing the laws of kufr? It means a rejection of the concept of democracy, rejecting the entirety of the system



He mentions a Muslim who joined the British Army and was killed fighting the Taliban last summer


Speaker: There was an individual who was killed in Afghanistan recently - what was his name? His name was a Muslim name you know what they’d written in a tabloid newspaper? Hero of Islam!


A hero of Islam who went into the Muslim Afghanistan to kill Muslims. Why? Because they are implementing Islam



Then, he praises the Taliban fighters who killed him


The hero of Islam is the one who separated his head from his shoulders.



((((((IN LIEU OF THEIR STATEMENT TO COME, taken from the Oberver RTR and our letter)))))


The UKIM told us its Sparkbrook hall had been available for hire and said: “Some of the organisations that hired it allowed some speakers with views that are not our own. No more external groups will be allowed to hire our community hall at Sparkbrook”


It said the UK Islamic Mission has no organic links with Jamaa’t-e-Islami in Pakistan or any other Islamic party or society overseas


It said the UKIM believed in “genuine plurality, multiculturalism, universal human rights, cultural diversity



Dr Mian told us that he did not advocate that Islam would be forced upon anyone, and said we had not quoted his many speeches condemning terrorism and the killing of innocent people



Our investigation has uncovered religious bigotry and intolerance spreading from the Saudi religious establishment through major, mainstream British organisations



Haras Rafiq: The radicalising power of this ideology is extremely dangerous. We are losing our children to extremists


Hakim Murad: I regard what the Saudis are doing in the ghettoes of British Islam as potentially lethal for the future of the community

-----------

Humanity needs peace not Islam.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Undercover Mosque

This programme was broadcast on Channel 4 on 15th January 2007

The description here is copied from the Channel 4 website.

A Dispatches reporter attends mosques run by organisations whose public faces are presented as moderate and finds preachers condemning integration into British society, condemning democracy and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers.

Prime Minister Tony Blair recently described tolerance as 'what makes Britain Britain' but in this extensive investigation Dispatches reveals how a message of hatred and segregation is being spread throughout the UK and examines how it is influenced by the religious establishment of Saudi Arabia.

Dispatches has investigated a number of mosques run by high profile national organisations that claim to be dedicated to moderation and dialogue with other faiths. But an undercover reporter joined worshippers to find a message of religious bigotry and extremism being preached.

He captures chilling sermons in which Saudi-trained preachers proclaim the supremacy of Islam, preach hatred for non-Muslims and for Muslims who do not follow their extreme beliefs - and predict a coming jihad. "An army of Muslims will arise," announces one preacher. Another preacher said British Muslims must "dismantle" British democracy - they must "live like a state within a state" until they are "strong enough to take over."

The investigation reveals Saudi Arabian universities are recruiting young Western Muslims to train them in their extreme theology, then sending them back to the West to spread the word. And the Dispatches reporter discovers that British Muslims can ask for fatwas, religious rulings, direct from the top religious leader in Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mufti.

Saudi-trained preachers are also promoted in DVDs and books on sale at religious centres and sermons broadcast on websites. These publications and webcasts disseminate beliefs about women such as: "Allah has created the woman deficient, her intellect is incomplete", and girls: "By the age of 10 if she doesn't wear hijab, we hit her," and there's an extreme hostility towards homosexuals.

The investigation reveals that the influence of Saudi Arabian Islam, Wahabism, extends beyond the walls of some mosques to influential organisations that advise the British government on inter-community relations and prevention of terrorism.

The Dispatches reporter attends talks at mosques run by key organisations whose public faces are presented as moderate and mainstream - and finds preachers condemning the idea of integration into British society, condemning British democracy as un-Islamic and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers.

Undercover Mosque features interviews with moderate British Muslim figures who are speaking out against the influence of Saudi Arabia's extreme brand of Islam, which is seeking to overturn Islamic traditions of diversity and peaceful co-existence: "We are losing our children to extremists," says Haras Rafiq of the Sufi Muslim Council. Dr Al Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Foundation also warns: "If this continues, you will have extremist mosques in every corner of the UK. You will not have moderate Muslims walking on our streets anymore."


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None of these revelations should come as any surprise. What is surprising is that anybody should be surprised by these findings.

The statement about the deficiency of women's intelligence is simply in line with the Hadiths, which are sacred texts, and are effectively Mohammed's biography:

'Then he passed by the women and said, "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)." They asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle ?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you.' Hadith 1 6 301

Women are treated badly, but this is also entirely in line with the teachings of the Quran and the Hadiths.

Under Sharia law, a woman's testimony is valued at only half of a man's testimony.

In the case of a rape, where there are no witnesses, a woman will usually find that her life becomes unbearable if she reports it.

If she brings her complaint to a Sharia court, it is highly likely that she will be convicted of adultery, and the man, her rapist, will receive only a very light penalty, if at all.

The penalty for adultery is extreme: Either a severe beating, or even stoning to death. One way that a woman can avoid this, is to marry the man. He then has complete authority to rape her whenever he feels like it. Here is a quote from the Quran:

"Your wives are a tilth for you, so go into your tilth when you like" Quran 2.223

In addition, a woman prisoner or slave ("those whom your right hand possesses") can be raped repeatedly without any penalty at all:

"O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war" Quran 33.50


The persecution of homosexuals is also entirely within the teachings of the Quran and the Hadiths.

What various politicians still delude themselves with is the idea that Islam is inherently peaceful, but that "radical" elements are in some way not true Muslims. Unfortunately, the truth is uncomfortable: It is the "radical" Muslims who are following the Quran and the Hadiths more accurately than their "moderate" brothers.

Nevertheless, whether "radical" or "moderate", Muslims wish to see Britain become an Islamic state.


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Well done Channel 4 for making this programme.
However, we should not be surprised by the findings, since the preaching is very much in line with the Quran and Hadiths.
Channel 4 may like to consider producing a programme that seeks to answer the following questions:
What exactly is a "moderate" Muslim? How do they choose which verses in the Quran to ignore? On what authority do they ignore any verses? How can the moderate Muslims have any moral authority over those who follow the Quran more accurately? How can we have any hope therefore that the moderate voices will prevail?

Humanity needs peace not Islam.

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