Who’s endangering who?

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Yusuf Smith replies to the ludicrous charge by the Barnabas Fund that he has placed Patrick Sookhdeo and his family in danger.

Indigo Jo Blogs, 28 February 2009

The controversy arose from the exchange between Ben White and the Barnabas Fund over White’s critical review of Sookhdeo’s book Global Jihad. In response, the Barnabus Fund accused White of “glorifying” Osama bin Laden and presenting him in a “heroic light”, of accepting “the racist Islamist view that anything said or written by Jews or Israelis, no matter how scholarly, cannot be credible simply because of who they inherently are”, and compared him to “those in Britain in the 1930s that were sympathetic to Hitler and the Nazi party” who “totally ignored Mein Kampf and all other clear Nazi racist and anti-Semitic statements and actions, or else applauded them”.

Interestingly, though not entirely unexpectedly, Harry’s Place sided with Sookhdeo in the dispute.

The real story of government funding

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Bob Pitt

“Given that much of the controversy surrounding the government’s falling out with the MCB has focused on the mistaken presumption that the MCB receives government funding (it has not for several years), we thought wed inject some accuracy and argument into the debate. Daud Abdullah of the MCB, in his Newsnight interview, clarified what public funding the MCB has actually received – none – except project funding….

“More interesting is the comparison to be made in government interaction with those Muslim organisations who have received substantial public funding….

“The British Muslim Forum – whose funds allocation totals £194,200 – supported the government’s planned extension of the detention period without charge to 42 days last year despite widespread opposition amongst British Muslims.

“As for the Quilliam Foundation which received around £1 million according to this investigation in The Times, its legitimacy as an organization has always been non-existent. The organization is widely recognised to be nothing more than a government funded social engineering project designed to depoliticize Muslims.

“Not only does money talk, it would seem that it many cases it only speaks the language of the government.”

ENGAGE, 27 March 2009

Ban on Muslim scholar angers rights activists

Posted on March 27, 2009 by Bob Pitt

tariq-ramadan2 The lines between the Obama and Bush administrations appeared blurred this week after a lawyer for the government argued a ban should be upheld against the entry of Tariq Ramadan, a leading Muslim scholar.

A group of US civil rights organisations is suing on behalf of Mr Ramadan, the Swiss-born grandson of Hasan al Banna, the man who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928. He has been refused a visa several times since 2004 when he was offered a job at the University of Notre Dame, the renowned Roman Catholic institution in Indiana.

David Jones, assistant US attorney, told a federal appeals court it should uphold the ban or else the government would face a “quagmire” with others seeking reversals. “Consular decisions are not subject to litigation,” he said. When Mr Jones was asked what level of the government had considered Mr Ramadan’s case, he said “upwards in the state department”.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argued against a judge’s ruling in 2007 that upheld the ban, said foreign scholars should not be excluded because of their political beliefs. “It’s disappointing to come here today and hear Obama administration lawyers argue the same sweeping executive power arguments,” Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU lawyer, said after Tuesday’s hearing. “There should be a clean break of the Bush administration national security policies.”

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Daud Abdullah replies to Hazel Blears

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Daud-Abdullah “In her misguided and ill-advised attempt to exercise control on the affairs of the largest independent Muslim organisation, the MCB, which has steadfastly and with honesty represented the views of Muslims over the years, Hazel Blears has used my attendance at the Global Anti-Aggression Campaign conference and the signing of a position document as the peg to hang her coat on.

“Her latest claim as stated in a letter on her behalf to our secretary-general and published in the Guardian today is that I signed a document ‘advocating attacks on Jewish communities all around the world’. She had not raised this allegation before yesterday and it is entirely untrue.”

Daud Abdullah at Comment is Free, 26 March 2009

Update: See also letters from Daud Abdullah, and Ken Livingstone and others, in the Guardian, 27 March 2009

MCB rejects Hazel Blears’ baseless accusations

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Bob Pitt

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) terms the new accusations of the Community Secretary Hazel Blears as outrageous.

In a letter published today in the Guardian (Our questions to the MCB leadership, 26 March 2009), she makes the extraordinary claim that Dr Daud Abdullah, the Deputy Secretary-General of the MCB, signed a document in Istanbul that ‘advocates attacks on Jewish communities all around the world’.

“This is an incredible claim which we utterly reject. All of the MCB’s office bearers without exception stand resolutely against all forms of indiscriminate violence. We are completely opposed to all forms of prejudice including Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. We would expect someone in Ms Blears’ position to be working towards increasing understanding and goodwill between communities and to act responsibly and fairly,” said Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.

MCB news release, 26 March 2009

Muslim Council accuses government of undermining independence

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Britain’s largest Muslim body has accused ministers of wanting to “undermine its independence” by demanding one of its leaders be removed from office. The accusation is the strongest public attack yet by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) in its row with the government after ministers broke off relations earlier this month.

Hazel Blears, the communities and local government minister, wrote to the MCB demanding the resignation of Daud Abdullah, its deputy secretary general, after he allegedly called for violence against Israel.

Today the MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala told the Guardian that the government only wanted to deal with Muslim groups who were “stooges” and “spineless”, and vowed the council would resist attempts to interfere in how it was run.

Bunglawala, who is close to the thinking of MCB leaders, told the Guardian: “We intend to resist the attempted government interference in the running of the MCB. The call on the MCB to force the resignation of Daud Abdullah is clearly unacceptable. It can be seen as an attempt to undermine the independence of the MCB.”

The MCB feels it has been increasingly attacked by the government for insisting Britain’s foreign policy is making the country a target for al-Qaida-inspired terrorism, with ministers preferring to talk to less critical groups such as the Quilliam Foundation, set up by the self-confessed former extremist Ed Hussain.

Bunglawala said: “We hope that Ms Blears does not look upon the MCB as being of the same spineless calibre as the Quilliam Foundation … who are widely viewed among British Muslims as being stooges of the government.”

Guardian, 26 March 2009

Blears severs links with MINAB

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Bob Pitt

Minab A second leading Muslim group bankrolled by the taxpayer is poised to have its Government links severed in a bitter row over extremism. The Mosques and Imams National Advisory Body, a central plank of Labour’s anti-extremism strategy, has been dragged into the dispute.

Yesterday, the Mail told how the Muslim Council of Britain’s links with ministers had been suspended over its refusal to condemn Daud Abdullah for signing a declaration which advocated attacks on the Navy if it tried to stop arms intended for Hamas being smuggled into Gaza.

Now it has emerged that Dr Abdullah is also a member of MINAB’s steering group. Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has ruled ministers will have no further contact with MINAB – which has received £174,000 of public money – until action is taken against Dr Abdullah, who is also deputy secretary-general of the MCB.

Mrs Blears’ stance against both the MCB and MINAB, which is supposed to ensure there are moderate voices in Britain’s mosques, is part of a determination in Government to take a tougher position against those who advocate extremist views.

But last night, Paul Goodman, Tory spokesman on communities, said: “It’s deeply worrying that a body set up to promote moderation has been penetrated by a man who doesn’t deny support for attacks on British troops. There must be zero tolerance of attacks on our armed forces.”

Daily Mail, 26 March 2009

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