By Houriya | Published:
December 3, 2009
In today’s Jewish Chronicle, Martin Bright reveals Inayat Bunglawala’s sectarian attitude towards those who disagree with his interpretation of Islam.
Bright writes:
Inayat Bunglawala of the MCB defended his attacks on British Muslims for Secular Democracy because leading members of the organisation opposed the wearing of the hijab and believed drinking was permitted in Islam. The chair of the organisation is Independent columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
The row broke out over a demonstration to oppose the Islam4UK march by al-Muhajiroun, which was due to call for the introduction of an Islamic state and sharia law in Britain. The march was cancelled at the last moment on October 31.
Mr Bunglawala, who regularly appears in the British media as the representative of the MCB, was vocal in his condemnation of Islam4UK march. He even established a new organisation, Muslims4UK, to oppose the extremists. His actions were praised at the time by Ed Husain of the anti-extremist Quilliam Foundation.
By Effendi | Published:
November 18, 2009
What can we say about Inayat Bungalwala? He’s the man for all seasons; he’s all things to all men; the good time had by all. For John Denham, he represents the Muslim figurehead this government needs to represent its rehashed Prevent initiative. For the Trots, such as George Galloway and Bob Pitt, he is a fine example of a “moderate Muslim” - anti-Israel, anti-secular, conservative, communalist, but mostly anti-Israel.
And he is Ed Husain’s new best friend, according to whom, Bunglawala…
“has risked much among entrenched, dinosaur Muslim “leaders” by publicly supporting gay rights, freedom of speech for Salman Rushdie and Geert Wilders, and challenging conventional narratives on creationism.”
But in spite of Bunglawala’s so-called metamorphosis from hidebound Islamist to easy-mannered liberal, he has issued this astonishing statement on Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood:
By Faisal | Published:
November 17, 2009
A shortened version of this article has been published on Comment is Free
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It is now clear US Army Major Nidal Hasan had a series of connections to the Islamist cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki . For those of us who have studied, with increasing concern, the extreme teachings of this cleric, this tragedy is the inevitable consequence of un-checked Islamist radicalisation. This situation has been made all the more distressing by the apparent lack of concern shown by the US Intelligence and Military authorities in taking Awlaki’s influence seriously.
Even before Major Nidal had fired a single bullet in Fort Hood, the US authorities knew about his increasingly vocal radicalisation and that he had attended the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Virgina at the time Awlaki was its head Imam. Nidal had also been the subject of an FBI investigation after it was discovered that he made communication with Awlaki by email. There was certainly no lack of overt clues.
Posted in Islamism | Also tagged al-Qaeda, Anas al-Tikriti, Anwar al-Awlaki, Azad Ali, Cageprisoners, Cordoba Foundation, East London Mosque, Islamic Forum Europe, Moazzem Begg, Muslim Association of Britain, Osama Saeed |
This Saturday, amid massive tabloid hype, al-Muhajiroun (AM) were supposed to be marching through central London calling for their vision of Shari’ah to be imposed in the UK. Under the name Islam4UK (a name they’ve admitted is simply associated with a website front-group for AM), al-Macaroon managed to grab headlines with their mocked up images of Buckingham Palace converted into a mosque and the fountains of Trafalgar Square converted to be used for ritual ablutions prior to prayer. This provoked a number of Muslim groups into organising counter-protests in Piccadilly Circus.
Then AM abandoned their plan to march in central London and instead held a rally in Walthamstow. Predictably, the Express covered this protest and incendiary comments made at it by AM’s current leader Anjem Choudary (referred to by the article’s author, James Fielding as a “Sheikh” despite the fact that Anjem doesn’t even know basic Arabic) but omitted to mention any counter protests.
Here at the Spittoon we have tended to give Inayat Bunglawala a bit of a hard time. But we also give credit where credit is due. In that spirit, he certainly deserves credit that, on the back of a panel discussion about religious freedom and sexuality in Dublin (in which he participated with Peter Tatchell), he has just written a spirited defence of gay rights.
In Muslim communities the issue of homosexuality is very rarely discussed in a candid manner and is all too often wished away as if it is an affliction that involves other groups, not them. Not far from the surface, however, are reports of gay Muslim men being pressurised into rushed marriages by parents desperate to avoid any social stigma. The woman’s family is never told the truth about her husband’s sexuality, of course, with the result that another soul has to endure unhappiness due to the initial failure to face up to the issue. It is a highly dishonest and unethical approach.
Bob Pitt of Islamophobia Watch and Inayat Bunglawala of iEngage are two peas in a pod. But where Bob is obsessed with defending Islamists, Bungle’s obsession is the Quilliam Foundation.
Progress Online carries details of a fringe meeting to be organised by the Quilliam Foundation at the Labour Party conference next month on ‘How should the Left engage with British Muslims’.
The speaker line up includes: Rt Hon John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government; Ed Husain, Co-director, Quilliam Foundation; Martin Bright, Tahir Abbas, Birkbeck, University of London.
The choice of Martin Bright (pictured) is a very notable one. Martin Bright is, of course, an enthusiastic supporter of the Quilliam Foundation.
ENGAGE readers will be aware that Bright also happens to be the notorious author of the very ill-informed, highly offensive and deeply mischievous 2001 New Statesman cover story ‘The Great Koran Con Trick’. Bright’s arguments were openly ridiculed and debunked by the very scholars – including his own former SOAS tutor, Professor Gerald Hawting – whose work he drew upon to support his crude hatchet job on the Qur’an.
This morning I turned on my computer and was immediately confronted by a bizarre article from Bob Pitt of Islamophobia Watch. Quilliam accuses anti-BNP protestors of ‘thuggery and hooliganism’ is an amateurish bit of slime aimed at Lucy James (who has kindly written one guest post for the Spittoon in the past) for comments she made about anti-fascist protesters in a piece for Progress Magazine.
She wrote,
Last weekend the BNP’s annual shindig ‘Red, White and Blue’ took place in a small town in Derbyshire. Reports said that the number of attendees was only marginally more than the number of anti-fascist protesters who congregated outside the gate. Unfortunately, these anti-BNP protesters soon became violent – leading to a total of 19 protesters being arrested. Although it is good to see ordinary people protesting against the BNP, such protests become ineffective when they descend into thuggery and hooliganism. Just a week earlier, for example, violent clashes erupted between the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism in Birmingham, leading to bottles, sticks and banners thrown, and brought police in riot gear onto the streets.
The Muslim Council of Britain likes to present itself as the voice of British Muslims. If you tuned in to Kenan Malik’s excellent programme on Radio 4 this morning, Are All Muslims the Same? then you will have heard MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala boasting that organisations like the MCB have never been out of step with what “the silent majority” of British Muslims are saying.
Quite apart from this making no sense at all (How does he know what the silent majority are saying if they are silent?), it is a portentous claim. If the MCB know what all Muslims are thinking then, as discussed yesterday, it makes sense for the government to treat them as gatekeepers to British Muslims. Bunglawala clearly knows better than British Muslims themselves, only six percent of whom actually believe the MCB represents them.
Now it might look like I’ve got something of an obsession these days, but Inayat Bunglawala has really lost the plot.
His Saudi-backed iEngage slime machine is accusing Ghaffar Hussain, of the Quilliam Foundation, of wanting to ban the burqa. Unfortunately for Bungle, this is not true. Have a look at Quilliam’s website – it’s very clear – “Quilliam Opposes Burkha Ban.” Poor Inayat, he’s bungled it all up. It’s easy to understand why – early versions of the Express story misquoted Mr Hussain, an error which they have now corrected.
Ghaffar Hussain, of the anti-extremist think-tank Quilliam, said that while not in favour of an outright ban, there was nothing on religious grounds that justified women having to wear burkhas.
The think tank said that people should be allowed to wear what they wanted.