Heresy is another word for freedom of thought

This is a cross-post of an article by Imaad, who spent many years as an activist with Hizb ut-Tahrir but now campaigns for liberal secular values

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Today David Cameron is back-pedalling wildly over specific details of claims he made yesterday at Prime Minister’s Questions about two independent schools in North London run by the ‘Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation’ (ISF). What initially seemed to be a devastating Tory attack on Labour’s failure to prevent members of the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) from gaining control over the education of British children swiftly turned into a desperate damage-limitation effort by the Tories. Ed Balls very successfully deflected debate away from the overarching issue (that ISF has close links to Hizb ut-Tahrir, received government money in the past and continues to control the education of children attending two schools) and turned it into a discussion of details, such as which fund that money came from, whether inspection reports are available online and on which website the schools’ registration numbers could be found.

The rumour mill has it that the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, and former chairman of the Jamaat-e-Islami front group, Islamic Forum Europe (IFE), Muhammad Abdul Bari, is being considered for ennoblement and a seat in the House of Lords. This from Nick Cohen:

My sources tell me that Brown’s goons hauled civil servants into Downing Street to find out the names of my sources. They failed miserably but they did let slip that the peerage may not be going to Sacranie now I’d blown the whistle but to the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Muhammad Abdul Bari.

What would the reaction from the Muslim community be were this to actually take place? Lucy Lips has it about right:

Were such a step taken, the newspapers would be full of articles about goings on at IFE and the East London Mosque. The Government would look as if it were either foolish, or unconcerned about the very extreme and nasty politics practiced in those institutions.