Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Investigation of preaching hate in a prestigious mosque in London, by Iba Bouramine
This report is the result of Undercover Mosque aired in 2007 on Channel 4 which showed preachers calling for jihad and the killing of infidels. You can watch here (version subtitled in french): London - preach hatred in mosques. Since the reporting of 2007, nothing has changed in Regent Park, despite promises to rage against extremism.
In an Orwellian reversal, instead pursuing fanatics shown in the report of 2007, the police and the prosecutor's office turned ... against the broadcaster and the authors of the report, accusing them of selective editing, distortions and undermine social cohesion. A complaint was also filed with the supervisory body of British broadcasters. The complaints were all rejected, Channel 4 and then continued the police and the prosecutor's office for defamation. They were sentenced to pay damages and provide important public apology.
For statistics on the number of Muslims who share these extremist views, see: Great Britain - Poll: Pour 1 / 3 of Muslim students, to kill in the name of religion is justified, and a survey by the BBC. According to the latest survey, 37% of young British Muslims want to live under the Shariah and 36% are in favor of the death penalty in cases of apostasy. These surveys highlight the innocence of journalist Sarah Hassan who, like many others, want us to believe that only an infinitesimal proportion of Muslims have extreme views.
The Wahhabi (Salafi) of Islam filmed in London by Sarah Hassan is also taught in Quebec and across Canada. Follow the links at the bottom of the page.
We recommend you also the last article in the Canadian of Pakistani origin Tahir Aslam Gora: Canada needs a law to counter the Islamist ideology of hate Translation: Preachers of separatism at work inside Britain's mosques, by Sarah Hassan, Telegraph, August 31, 2008
Some preachers preach segregation in British mosques
The main Muslim organizations of Great Britain say they are fighting against extremism. Sara Hassan witnessed, in one of our most respected mosques, sermons by radical women who advocate segregation. It reflects the shocking results of his investigation.
From the balcony overlooking the magnificent main hall of the Regent Park mosque in London, considered the largest mosque in Britain, I secretly filming a woman who preaches.
How should we treat Muslim who converts to another religion? "We kill," she says, "kill, kill, kill. You must kill him, do you understand?"
"Adulterers," she says, "must be stoned to death." "As for homosexuals and women who like men ... the punishment is death, kill them, throw them the most high".
These punishments, she says, should be applied in a future Islamic state. "I am not telling you begin to kill people," she says. "There should be a Muslim leader when the Muslim army will be strong, when Islam is strong enough."
A young student group interrupts. The punishment must also include stoning to death of homosexuals after they were thrown from a high place.
I do not ever expect to hear this kind of instruction in the mosque in Regent Park, which is meant to promote interfaith dialogue and moderation. It was established there are more than 60 years to represent British Muslims with the government. Several of those who listened to the sermon were teenage British or, what is even more worrying, young children. My investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches east following the issuance Undercover Mosque aired last year. It was an investigation into allegations that intolerant and fundamentalist teachings have spread in the mosques of Great Britain by the Saudi religious establishment with close ties to the government of Saudi Arabia.
In response to the report, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has denied spread intolerance. The mosque in Regent Park, meanwhile, urged all mosques to "vigilance" and to monitor what is taught in their premises.
Earlier this year, wearing the Islamic jilbaab, I returned to the mosque in Regent Park to see what is taught. As a woman, I had to go to the main section of women where I found a circle preaching every Saturday and Sunday, eight hours in a row, any woman who has just pray.
The mosque is dedicated to promoting moderation and integration. But although the circle does not preach terrorism and does not encourage Muslims to violate the laws of England, it teaches Muslims to "stay away" and not to mingle with unbelievers. "Islam stands on the sidelines of unbelief and unbelievers, people who do not believe."
The friendship with non-Muslims is discouraged because "loyalty is reserved for Muslims only, not the koufars (unbelievers).
A woman who maintained friendly ties with a non-Muslim was severely criticized: "The true Islam teaches that you must love those who love Allah and hate those who hate Allah."
A preacher goes so far as to say that Muslims should not live in Britain: "It is not suitable for Muslims to reside in the country of evil, the country koufars, the country of unbelievers".
Another, Um Saleem, said that Muslims should not acquire British citizenship because their loyalty is reserved for Allah.
"Some conditions may lead you to unbelief. Take British citizenship, whether you like it or not, for these people, you sell your religion is something very serious, it is not permitted to devote another allegiance to Allah. "
Their teaching shocked me. This was not Islam that myself and many other Muslims in the United Kingdom have learned in our youth, nor the version practiced by most Muslims.
I was surprised the number of young British women who seem to find this version of the religion attractive. One girl told me that when she attended the circle for the first time she wore jeans and had many friends non-Muslims. Now she loves only those that surround it, "other sisters of the circle," and does in relation to non-Muslims as an attempt to convert them. Most of the sisters had the idea to live in separate communities, a concept alien to me and several other Muslims that I know.
The mosque in Regent Park has an important interfaith service that receives the visit of government officials, representatives of other religions and thousands of British schoolchildren each year.
I watched the reunion of an interfaith group called the mosque by the circle of women for a civilized exchange. But without the presence of the interfaith group, the preacher attacked other faiths and the very idea of an inter-religious dialogue.
A preacher said about the prayer of Christians in a church: "What these people are there, these things are so odious, what they say with their language is so vile and disgusting is an abomination." As for the notion of live and let-live interreligious: "This is untrue. Cela ne fonctionne pas. It does not work. This concept is a lie, a falsehood, and this is a farce."
Like many other women in the circle, I quickly been invited to private meetings in houses around London to "learn more" about Islam, at least their version of Islam. Um Saleem also attended some of these sessions. Here, women are given strict instructions on how to live. They said that British Muslim women can not travel without a male guardian, they should not mingle with men and must remain fully covered at all times.
A woman in the audience asked about the strict rule preventing him from travelling without being escorted by a mahram or a male member of the family. She asked: "Sister, if me and my husband can not travel together, what do I do if I want to make the trip?" She said she could not travel by itself.
She asked again: "So what do I do?"
"You go with your husband," said Um Saleem.
There were also restrictions on education and employment. A woman who works for the NHS (editor's note: a public hospital) was told that she should leave her job because it involves mixing with men and can not bear the holding Islamic complete.
"You know that working in an environment that is not Islamic to kouffars you away from religion and harden your heart. I be lying if I told you that this is allowed, "said Um Saleem.
Um Saleem also criticized Muslim women who are part of society, a view that is contrary to the objectives of the Regent Park Mosque.
"You see Muslim women in all areas of daily life in this country. I see Muslim and it breaks my heart to see them work in banks, wearing short sleeves, tight scarves, makeup, exposing them to kouffars permanently and even speaking their language," she said.
The Director General of the mosque in Regent Park is Dr. Ahmed Al Dubayan, a Saudi diplomat. He denied that his mosque Dispatches promotes a Saudi version of the religion, often called Wahhabism. In fact, imams in the main hall are Egyptians, and their sermons on Friday that I heard were moderate and tolerant.
But the preachers that I heard in the women's section puisaient their theology directly from Saudi Arabia. One of them returning from a study tour of three years in Saudi Arabia, and other preachers offered me almost exclusively books, sermons, fatwas online sites and scholars of the religious establishment of Saudi Arabia and their followers.
Faced with what these women preachers, Dr Al Dubayan emphasized that these views do not reflect those of the Regent Park mosque, and that Um Saleem was not a teacher allowed. "The ICC (London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, commonly known as the Regent Park Mosque) promotes understanding among religions and cultures," he said. "It does not support or tolerate extremist views, racial hatred, violence or intolerance."
He said he did not know one of the preachers that we filmed. Another, Um Saleem, had asked to be allowed a teacher at the mosque, but his request was rejected because it did not provide written references on his teaching and views. Before I communicate with Dr. Dubayan, neither he nor the mosque were aware of these lessons.
Um Saleem told me later that his comments that Muslims could not accept British citizenship were "erroneous" and it is excused. Regarding Muslims who can not live in a non-Muslim, she agreed that the language used was "inappropriate". She continued: "Although it is recommended that a Muslim migrates to a Muslim country, it is not mandatory."
She added: We do not blindly follow the government or religious. We criticize other religions, like other religions criticize Islam… we encourage integration into society.
She nevertheless maintained its other assertions, saying that the rules prohibiting women to travel alone and work if it comes into conflict with religious requirements are "totally justified by Islamic texts."
"You can see these requirements as "extreme restrictions", she said. "But we see as our way of life and liberation of the soul."
The library official of the mosque has also attracted the attention of Dispatches last year when our reporters have discovered DVD fundamentalist and intolerant.
Dr Al Dubayan had said they would be removed, but I found the same books fundamentalist preachers still openly displayed and sold. DVDs teach that the unbelievers are people "bad, evil, malicious… who do things the most vile and evil" that men are responsible for women and that they should control them.
One speaker said about Jews: "Their time will come, as it will for all other evil." Another preaches, this time by Sheikh Khalid Yasin who learned Arabic in Saudi Arabia, welcomed the deterrent effect of the Shariah: "So people can see people without hands, people can see heads roll in the street, hands and feet opposed amputees, people crucified or flogged in public, and what they see acts as a deterrent because they say "I do not want this to me."
Sheikh Yasin said that his remarks should be considered in context. He said he does not promote political Saudi government or its religious rhetoric, and said that several governments and states impose the death penalty. "The sermon was aimed at reforming the Muslim population, Muslim society and the Muslim world… for auction by the Islamic sovereign state when it is established."
The company that runs the bookstore, Darussalam International Publications, is a British company with ties to Saudi Arabia. Darussalam International Publications told me that the bookstore sells a wide variety of books with which "they are not necessarily agree."
They said: "We try to present a variety of opinions… in the products we sell… in order to spread peace, respect, tolerance and understanding."
Dr Al Dubayan reiterated that the library was managed by an independent company. "Although we have no control over the bookstore, we met with the leaders after running your story. We made it clear that it was not acceptable that the custody of library books containing extremist views. We have received assurances… that all the books in question had been withdrawn."
Respondents to the report explained that this ideology has spread across Britain by the Saudi religious establishment. A Muslim leader said:
"Petrodollars from Saudi Arabia have fundamentally distorted growth and development of the Muslim community in Britain", while a British imam accused of dévoyer Islam, "to use and abuse of this great religion that is mine."
I share the indignation of the Imam on how a monotheistic religion peaceful so close to Christianity and Judaism in its core beliefs was diverted. To hear a call to murder a person's sexuality or his conversion to another religion in what is supposed to be a place of prayer is really shocking.
The imam went on to say: "The underlying objective here is to create a permanent division between British society and the young Muslims living in Britain."
As explained by Professor Anthony Glees who heads the Centre for Studies on intelligence and security of Brunel University: "To think, as I believe that our government thinks that it makes sense in terms of ideological court the Saudi government, is a folly of the first magnitude. We will pay the price for years to come."
The name of the reporter was changed. Dispatches: Undercover Mosque - The Return will be broadcast Monday on Channel 4 at 8PM.
Labels: Iba Bouramine
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