This is a cross-post by Edmund Standing
‘I believe in women’s rights. So did Muhammad’. So says ‘Sultana Tafadar, Barrister’ at the ‘Inspired by Muhammad’ campaign website (see my previous article on the claims made by the campaign here).
Curious to find out more about Ms Tafadar, I did a bit of looking around the web. Tafadar, it turns out, wrote a report for the Islamic Human Rights Commission in 2002 entitled ‘The Hidden Victims of September 11: Prisoners of UK Law’ (PDF) and spoke at an IHRC seminar on ’9/11 – The Hidden Victims’. In 2003, Tafadar again appeared at an IHRC event, this time speaking on ‘The Legal Case against Ariel Sharon’.
Anyone who might be wondering how the IHRC defines ‘human rights’ would do well to consult this excellent post at Harry’s Place. A sample:
It is a Khomeinist group that campaigns for Islamists in legal trouble, including convicted terrorists, such as Omar Abdel Rahman, the “blind sheikh”.
He was the spiritual leader of the bombers of the World Trade Center in 1993. According to terrorism investigator Evan Kohlmann, in his sermons he derided Americans as “descendants of apes and pigs who have been feeding from the dining tables of the Zionists, Communists, and colonialists” and called on Muslims to attack the West: “cut the transportation of their countries, tear it apart, destroy their economy, burn their companies, eliminate their interests, sink their ships, shoot down their planes, kill them on the sea, air, or land”.
He was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1995 and sentenced to life in prison. So what does the IHRC do, to this day? It calls (pdf) for his release and asks Muslims to pray for him.
What about Abu Hamza? When he was convicted, IHRC chairman Massoud Shadjareh was not best pleased:
‘This is creating an environment that can only further alienate the Muslim community’.
The IHRC is certainly “alienated”. It refuses to deal with the police, who – shock! horror! – have turned to Israel for insight on dealing with suicide bombers. One policeman even dared to be rude about Hitler fan Yusuf al Qaradawi! The cheek.
As for Tafadar, in 2002 she considered ‘Sheikh Faisal’ one of the ‘Hidden Victims of September 11′, writing:
Sheikh Faisal was arrested on February 18, 2002. He faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment if found guilty of the charge ‘soliciting to murder’ under section four of the Offences Against the Person Act 1891 on the basis that on or before February 18 this year he ‘encouraged others to murder persons unknown’.
He was initially refused bail and was held in custody, but was later released on bail on 21 August 2002 after the prosecution failed to hand over evidence they intended to use to his lawyer. He is currently awaiting trial.
In 2003, Abdullah al-Faisal (AKA Trevor William Forrest, AKA ‘Sheikh Faisal’) was found guilty of three charges of soliciting murder by an Old Bailey jury:
The jury found el-Faisal incited young, impressionable Muslims to kill non-believers, Americans, Hindus and Jews.
El-Faisal argued his words were taken from the Koran, the Muslim holy book, and had been misrepresented.
One tape, Jihad, contained the words: “So you go to India and if you see a Hindu walking down the road you are allowed to kill him and take his money, is that clear?”
He also said it is permissible to use chemical weapons to kill unbelievers.
In a tape called Rules of Jihad – thought to have been made before the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States – el-Faisal told his audience: “You have to learn how to shoot. You have to learn how to fly planes, drive tanks and you have to learn how to load your guns and to use missiles.”
He said: “You are only allowed to use nuclear weapons in that country which is 100% unbelievers.”
On a tape entitled Declaration of War, which had a picture of Osama Bin Laden on the cover and is thought to have been made in 2000, el-Faisal translates one of his speeches calling for a holy war against Americans and Jews to “drive them out of the Holy Land”.
The tape called Them Versus Us says: “There are two religions in the world today – the right one and the wrong one. Islam versus the rest of the world.”
It was also disclosed that controversial cleric Abu Hamza was due to be called as a witness in the case.
Another ‘serious concern’ expressed by Tafadar was ‘political interference in the judiciary’. Commenting on the case of Suleyman Zain ul Abidin – a friend of hate preacher Abu Hamza (as Comrade/Sister Yvonne Ridley acknowledges in this piece at the IHRC site on supposed CIA ‘hit squads’ in London) – Tafadar was particularly worried by the fact that ‘[t]he campaign against Zain ul Abidin was spearheaded by pro-Zionist Andrew Dismore’.
As is so often the case with such characters, Tafadar also has links to the far-left, having conducted an interview for ‘Socialist Lawyer‘, magazine of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers. The Society’s website, unsurprisingly, offers links to, amongst others, the Communist ‘Morning Star’ newspaper, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and the Stop the War Coalition.
I think it’s a shame the ‘Inspired by Muhammad’ campaign’s biography of Tafadar was so sparse. Hopefully this post has done something to redress this injustice.
20 Comments
Sfunny Herndale follows this story with yet another post of angry unintelligible garbage.
International Herald Tribune censored for using word ‘Mosque’
Story here; http://cafepyala.blogspot.com/2010/06/point-blank.html
Censored article is available online; nytimes.com/2010/06/13/opinion/13sethi.html?src=me&ref=opinion
Height of insecurity.
yet another post of angry unintelligible garbage.
Well, that’s normal for him.
Interesting thread, though. That’s a PP specialty: the Grand Panjandrum trolling his own readership.
No suprise to see munafiqoon being angry at and opposed to a positive campaign about Islam or Muslims !
No, we’re simply opposed to a “positive” campaign about Islam by people affiliated to the IHRC, an organisation which supports the denial of democracy and the torture and murder of Iranian people.
“I believe in women’s rights – so did Ayatollah Khomeini”
I believe in shagging 9 wives, 14 concubines, a large assortment of slave girls and women’s rights – so did Muhammed.
My name is Mustafa Kamal. I come from Saudi Arabia. I wear a nightie and I have a big beard. I am very religious. I believe in owning a 4 X 4 land cruiser, a Blackberry Storm, an I-tablet, an LG plasma 3D 48″ TV and running an IT consultancy… and so did Muhammad… erm…
I believe in chasing my Companion’s wives and then having it off with them in the shade of the 3rd date palm by the Khawraj oasis on Thursday nights when they’re playing cards at Umar’s gaff and…oh yeah…women’s rights – and so did Muhammed.
i actually thought it was quite a reasonable discussion by recent PP standards. they’re not really picking up on the ihrc angle.
b’shalom
bananabrain
i actually thought it was quite a reasonable discussion by recent PP standards.
The stuff below the line is indeed quite reasonable by PP standards. And one fellow, having made the grievous newbie mistake of showing the GP up (pointing out that he has confused the Qur’an with the Bible), is well on his way to being banned. The usual fun.
they’re not really picking up on the ihrc angle.
And now they certainly won’t, having picked up the Quilliam angle instead.
I believe in throwing acid in the faces of pretty girls who won’t wear a niqab, I believe in stoning to death people who look lascivious… and of, course, I believe in women’s rights – and so does that other al-Shabaab bloke with the AK47 standing over there.
Sunny Bunglawala is almost indistinguishable from Inayat Hundal nowadays.
He’s wilfully obtuse about the political situation in Iran and its ramifications, so I suspect the IHRC reference will just fly over his head. His analysis on the ‘Inspired for Muhammed’ issue will be limited to settling his long standing personal spats and continuing his noxious blog wars ad nauseum.
oh, my mistake, it appears that my getting involved in the discussion has rather opened the floodgates of angry irrelevancies.
b’shalom
bananabrain
oh, my mistake, it appears that my getting involved in the discussion has rather opened the floodgates of angry irrelevancies.
The selection of Tafadar, btw, was very likely not random. In the sense that she was already known to the EIF people. Look at the campaign home page and at the EIF People page. Recognize anyone? (IOW, there was no selection process: they used people they already knew.)
It’s all “whataboutery, whataboutery, whataboutery” at Hundal Central these days. The discussion is to do with the elided bits of Tafadar’s biography.Bringing in Douglas Murray as a talking point is simply a means to obfuscate the discussion and stop real discussion of Tafadar’s links with the IHRC and other Islamist nasties.
What’s more, when Sunny and his horde do show some interest in the views of IHRC, they big it up as some sort of fluffy group and ignore the fact that it is packed to the gills with serious Islamists all heavily funded and directed by the clerical fascist regime presently in charge in Iran.
This entire campaign is rebuked here. With evidence from the actions of Muhammad himself.
http://www.wikiislam.com/wiki/Inspired_by_Muhammad
Hi All,
This is so strange as this exact same blog is on another site called sodahead and a blonde lady who is pro-Israeli called Chaya claims to be the author…is this the same person?!
The argument i’m afraid is flawed. Firstly if you’re going to analyse the type of NGO like the IHRC then why not do your own research and summarise your findings? The quote regarding IHRC being a Khomeinist organisation contradicts itself by then going on to state it supports people claimed to involved in the World Trade attacks.
If they were to be true Khomeinists then that ideaology would be in direct conflict with those involved in the World Trade attacks as they hated Khomeini for the fact he was of the Shia branch of Islam.
Further to this, Reprieve a more well known NGO than the IHRC campaigns for all those in Guantanmo, legally represents inmates and is against the death penalty for all people. Why are the IHRC being targeted and not other more high profile NGO’s?
I believe the IHRC is a not very well funded organisation but I have been impressed in recent years how it has begun to start campaigning against states in a bid to improve human rights for all, including those who have been accused of terrorist activities. It is important as an NGO that human rights FOR ALL are campaigned for. Not just Iranian’s who have their own agenda no matter how appealing this would be!
Then your weak arguments regarding the well repected barrister Ms Tafadar are just plain silly. In the UK their regulations in place to regulate all lawyers (all drafted by non Muslims many years ago). These are in place for all lawyers to follow and a breach will have serious consequences.
What this means is that a lawyer cannot refuse to represent a client just simply because they do not like or agree with that person. It is not a Muslim conspiracy!! But simply in the UK it is a system of access for justice for all.
Just like I work with Muslim lawyers who represent Iranian’s who are anti Islamic states, homosexuals, including those fleeing their country of origin due to their sexuality, the list could go on. They do a sterling job as we like to say!
I love the campaign and it comes as no surprise that an extremely educated Muslim lady like Ms Tafadar does believe in equal rights in Islam as she believes the Prophet Mohammad did. This is why she chooses to practice the religion and advocate on its behalf. The majority of Muslim’s who are educated, law abiding citizens, contributors to society believe the same thing.
She looks absolutely stunning in this campaign picture. I’m blown away by how amazing and strong she looks. Fantastic!!!
This is all a ploy to stop the message of islam spreading…….and not to mention the author trying to dig insults and accusation on Sultana Tafadar. Oh and people can you stop throwing insults on islam or the prophet muhammed(pbuh)…its just digusting at the amount of disrespect some of you have for other peoples religions