Tag Archives: Muslim Council of Britain

Seasonal Messages – MCB Style

By Abdul Hamid al Manchesteri | Published: January 2, 2010

An MCB statement from last month contained a heart-warming interfaith message to members of other religions:

This year, the month of Muharram falls close to both Christmas and Hanukkah, and at this time, we extend our warmest wishes to the Christian and Jewish communities. As a revered Prophet for Muslims, we also remember that Isa (as) or Jesus dedicated his life to serving his community, and spreading the message of peace and freedom. In Hanukkah we are again inspired towards sacrifice in the face of oppression.

The month of Muharram is one that holds a rich and powerful history for Muslims, and the Muslim Council of Britain marks this month as one that should inspire us towards the search for truth and justice and sacrifice in the way of the communities that we are part of.

Two weeks later, they are advertising the following Event:

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Posted in Interfaith, Islamism | Tagged | 8 Comments

Lord Ahmed, the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of Islam Group and the Cordoba Foundation

By Effendi | Published: October 27, 2009

Tonight, the All Party Parliamentary Group Friends of Islam (FOI) is hosting a discussion at the House of Lords about Preventing Violent Extremism with Arun Kundnani (of the Institute for Race Relations), Bob Lambert and Dr Abdul Bari of the Muslim Council of Britain, an organisation that is currently in the doghouse after its deputy director-general signed a declaration “advocating attacks on the Royal Navy if it tries to stop arms for Hamas being smuggled into Gaza” and “in support of Hamas and military action”. Those invited initially thought this was simply an event hosted by Lord Ahmed and FOI, a group he founded in 2001 and of which he is currently an advisor. Interestingly, according to her Facebook page, Yvonne Ridley, who quite likes Hamas, was a founder member.

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Posted in Islamism, UK Politics | Also tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Fun With Numbers (and the Muslim Council of Britain)

By Yossarian | Published: August 13, 2009

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.

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Posted in Islamism, PVE, UK Politics | Also tagged | 14 Comments

Mainstreaming Extremism

By Faisal | Published: July 3, 2009

Abdullah Hasan writes his views on how the government can tackle Islamic extremism on the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE) blog:

The ways the government can eradicate extremism is by acknowledging that their foreign policy and their draconian laws against Muslims play an immense part in radicalising Muslims. They need to work with mainstream Muslim organisations such as MCB, IFE, MAB etc. These organisations are working at the grassroots level and have the support of many Muslims. They need to be provided more resources and room to carry out their work. They also need to allow the existing mainstream Imams in Britain to do their job effectively by providing them resources and platforms to preach a balanced Islam.

Hasan’s views are not particulalry novel or unique or even mildly groundbreaking. His statement is important, however, because Hasan is himself a textbook Islamist and here he is articulating an Islamist’s view of the political lay of the land. His explanation of how “extremism” can be eliminated, if deconstructed, amounts to:

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Posted in Anti Fascism, Islamism | Also tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

She forced her daughters to marry, so she was jailed for three years

By Houriya | Published: May 24, 2009

Last Thursday a 39-year-old mother was sentenced to three years in jail for forcing her two teenage daughters to marry their first cousins in Pakistan in July 2007. This is the first case where someone has actually been convicted of a forced marriage – and it is about time.

The 14 and 15-year-old girls thought they were visiting Pakistan on holiday. Instead, they were married off in a joint ceremony. The mother married her children off in order to ‘defend’ the family’s honour within Muslim and Pakistani communities, as her eldest daughter supposedly had an affair with an older man, got pregnant and then had an abortion. When the same daughter got married, the mother told her that if she did not consummate the marriage, she would ‘tie her to the bed, blindfold her and strip her’, and then watch to make sure her daughter had sex with her new husband.

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Posted in Crime, Human Rights, Sharia | Also tagged , , , | 6 Comments

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