Fakhruddin Al-Qari answers the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s report Evangelising Hate: Islamic Education and Research Academy.
Yearly Archives: 2014
Three-week public inquiry into West Ham ‘mega-mosque’ to launch
A public inquiry into Newham Council’s rejection of plans for a mega-mosque in West Ham will open at the ExCeL exhibition centre.
The inquiry into the controversial mega-mosque at the Abbey Mills site is expected to last three weeks and is due to start on June 3. It will give Communities Secretary Eric Pickles the final say on plans by Anjuman-E-Islahul-Muslimeen Trust to develop what has been described as a mega-mosque at the Abbey Mills Riverine Centre, situated at the end of Canning Road.
Newham councillors voted unanimously to reject plans for a 9,000 capacity building for Muslim worshippers in December 2012. The Riverine Trust appealed against the decision which will now be examined in the public inquiry of the Planning Inspectorate.
A recommendation by the Planning Inspectorate will be followed by a decision by Mr Pickles.
Racism on the rise in Britain
The proportion of Britons who admit to being racially prejudiced has risen since the start of the millennium, raising concerns that growing hostility to immigrants and widespread Islamophobia are setting community relations back 20 years.
New data from NatCen’s authoritative British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, obtained by the Guardian, shows that after years of increasing tolerance, the percentage of people who describe themselves as prejudiced against those of other races has risen overall since 2001.
UKIP suspends Councillor Dave Small
A UKIP councillor has been suspended from the party just four days after being elected for posting homophobic and racist comments online.
Dave Small won the Church Hill seat for the party on Redditch Borough Council on Friday (May 23) but minutes later it merged postings had been made on his Facebook page containing a series of derogatory and offensive terms, including one on June 3 last year in which musician Sir Elton John and sports presenter Clare Balding OBE are branded perverts.
“I refuse to call them gays, as what has gay to do with Perverts like Elton John and Clair [sic] Balding who get their jollies in such disgusting ways. to sum up, they should not allowed to be married, they should go back to the closet,” it said.
A previous post in February last year also states the best place for gay people is in the closet.
Another note on the wall under the headline ‘Muslims and the threat they pose to our way of life’ states: “Fact, we had most eradicated T.B from this country, then with the migration for Muslim country’s its near epidemic proportions. But mustn’t say anything, it might be considered racist.”
Second Dudley mosque appeal allowed amid political motivation allegations
Dudley Muslim Association (DMA) can once again take its case to the Court of Appeal after a decision by one of the country’s most senior judges.
Dudley Council launched a legal bid to reclaim land, in Hall Street, which had been earmarked for the site of a new multi-million pound mosque. The DMA had lost its initial appeal after its defence against the move was struck out at a hearing earlier this year at London’s High Court. But now the association has been granted the chance to mount a second appeal after Judge Sir Stephen Sedley ruled there is an ‘arguable’ case that Dudley Council may have committed an ‘abuse of power’ over its dealings with the association.
The case will be heard by a panel of three judges at the Court of Appeal in London at a date to be confirmed later this year. If the appeal is successful, the matter will then go to trial.
In a ruling in February, High Court Deputy Judge David Halpern QC upheld the decision to throw out plans for the new mosque. He said while the association may have been able to resist the council’s claim, it had failed to serve a ‘credible’ defence during the proceedings. But at court last week, Sir Stephen Sedley disagreed, finding the association had successfully pleaded in its defence that there was a so-called ‘legitimate expectation’ that the council would extend a deadline for the development.
Speaking in court last week, Sir Stephen Sedley said: “The association missed the deadline for completion of the mosque because the MBC [Dudley Council], which had set the deadline, had in practice made it untenable by a succession of steps it took in relation to planning consent.”
Presbyterian moderator slams Pastor’s Islam comments
The moderator of the Presbyterian Church has criticised remarks made by Pastor James McConnell who described Islam as “heathen” and “satanic” in a sermon. Pastor McConnell, of north Belfast’s Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle Church, made the comments last Sunday.
Speaking yesterday on Sunday Sequence this week, Rev Dr Rob Craig said the comments were unacceptable. “They are not consistent with the Gospel of Christ and the love of God,” he said. “I would be deeply offended if someone were to brand either all Presbyterians or all Christians with some extreme act by someone who claimed to do it in the name of Christ. I want to treat my neighbour as I would want to be treated myself.”
Police have said they are investigating Pastor McConnell’s comments. He told his congregation “a new evil had arisen” and “there are cells of Muslims right throughout Britain”.
Daily Record profiles Jim Dowson of Britain First
A Scots extremist is the man behind the sickening invasion of mosques across the country. Jim Dowson, former second-in-command of the neo-Nazi British National Party, now heads the Britain First Defence Force.
Britain First claimed to be carrying out a “Christian crusade” when their activists barged into what they called mega- mosques in Glasgow and Cumbernauld. They confronted the imam of the mosque in Cumbernauld before handing out British Army-issue Bibles and leaflets about so-called Muslim grooming gangs.
Dowson, originally from Airdrie but now living in Belfast, has links to loyalist paramilitary heavies and is an anti-abortion militant. He was one of six candidates standing in the European Parliament elections in Scotland for Britain First.
Iceland: Progressive Party in hot water over anti-mosque comments
Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörnsdóttir, first on the Progressive Party’s list in Reykjavík for Saturday’s municipal elections, voiced her opposition to the proposed mosque in Reykjavík on Friday. Reykjavík City Council has already allocated a lot for the mosque and construction is set to begin this year.
Sveinbjörg told visir.is that her opinion was not based on prejudice but on experience, having lived in Saudi Arabia for one year. She said that it was important for people to abide by the customs in a country in which they move to.
‘I am a British citizen – not a second-class citizen’
“I am a Muslim, an African and a Somali. And should the security services be reading this: I am a British citizen. Please treat me like one.”
Jamal Osman recounts his appalling treatment at the hands of the British security services.
Reports and comment from Islamophobia Watch 19‑25 May
Reports and comment from Islamophobia Watch 19-25 May 2014
- Brisbane: Christian college rejects student teachers who wore hijab 25 May 2014
- New UKIP councillor thinks Muslims bring disease 24 May 2014
- Tower Hamlets rejects Islamophobic witch-hunt, re-elects Lutfur Rahman 24 May 2014
- Finsbury Park mosque today 24 May 2014
- The religious zealot who hands Bibles to Muslims 24 May 2014
- Jews Against Islamophobia hold protest against 9/11 museum film 23 May 2014
- Britain First stage intimidatory march in Brick Lane 23 May 2014
- New York Times publishes Islamophobic ad by anti-Islam group 22 May 2014
- European election upset for Wilders 22 May 2014
- Evangelical Christian minister backs James McConnell, says Islam promotes killing of non-Muslims 22 May 2014
- Queensland rejects anti-niqab bill 22 May 2014
- Meet Gerard Batten, the UKIP MEP scare-mongering about Islam, immigrants and Bilderberg 21 May 2014
- Belfast pastor James McConnell denounces Islam as the devil’s doctrine 21 May 2014
- Luton school head says he will challenge ‘half-baked’ Ofsted report 21 May 2014
- EDL rally in Birmingham: Sixteen men admit violent disorder 21 May 2014
- Man arrested over Trowbridge mosque arson threat 21 May 2014
- Michael Gove calls for further schools investigations after Trojan Horse affair 21 May 2014
- ‘Race hate’ arsonists burn down Birmingham community centre 21 May 2014
- English Defence League set to march in Stevenage 20 May 2014
- MCB calls on authorities to safeguard mosques against far-right ‘invasion’ 20 May 2014
- Montreal police arrest man during arson attack on Muslim community centre 20 May 2014
- Britain First ‘invasion’ FAIL 19 May 2014
- Bishop refuses to take action over vicar’s ‘creeping Islamisation’ article, says he ‘would not wish to discourage’ such views 19 May 2014
- Lord Carey wonders whether there is ‘something fundamentally wrong with Islam at its core’ 19 May 2014