Anwar Al Awlaki,  Islamism

Awlaki’s Followers: Azad Ali

On Saturday, it emerged that Major Hasan, the soldier who slaughtered twelve of his brothers in arms while reportedly shouting “Allah Akhbar”, had been a worshiper at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, where two of the 9/11 hijackers were also members of the congregation.

The Imam was the Al Qaeda cleric, Anwar Al Awlaki.

Yesterday, we republished Al Awlaki’s paen Major Hasan in which he applauded this traitor’s actions, and advised:

The American Muslims who condemned his actions have committed treason against the Muslim Ummah and have fallen into hypocrisy.

Today, we discovered that Major Hasan had corresponded with Anwar Al Awlaki.

Anwar Al Awlaki is lionised by the worst jihadists in the world. It is therefore instructive to see who, in the United Kingdom, have the ‘hots’ for this wicked man.

Step forward Azad Ali, still the President of the Civil Service Islamic Society. He is also on the Council of Liberty. Apparently, he also advises the Crown Prosecution ServiceAnd the rest:

Azad Ali is married with 3 children and lives in East London; he has been a community activist for over 20 years. He is a presenter on Muslim Community Radio’s flagship show Easy Talk. Aziz is the former chair of the Muslim Safety Forum and currently leads on the Counter Terrorism work-team for the Forum, working with the Home Office, ACPO and Security Services. Azad is currently the President of the Civil Service Islamic Society and a Board Member of the London CrimeStoppers. He is also a Trustee of the East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre. He chairs the Muslim Council of Britain’s Membership Committee and is a member of its Central Working Committee. He is also the Vice-Chair of Canon Barnet School Board of Governors and Chair of the Saturday Islamic School Board of Governors. He sits on the Strategic Stop & Search Committee and Police Use of Firearms Group with the Met. Azad is also a member of the IPCC’s Community Advisory Group and the Home Office’s Trust and Confidence Community Panel.

Let us remind ourselves of Azad Ali’s enthusiasm for Al Awlaki.

Remember this?

You may take Shaykh Anwar Awlaki as an example. Reading his blogs, one cannot help but feel his frustration at the constant denial of legitimate Islamic principles. Worse is the complete incompetence of some Muslims to distinguish between Jihad and acts of murder.

Awlaki regards Major Hasan’s actions as jihad, and praises them. Azad Ali cannot be surprised. Awlaki’s statement is consistent with his teachings.

Of course, Azad Ali has his disagreements with some things that Al Awlaki says. For example, he thinks that people should participate in elections, while Al Awlaki thinks that one should not. Well of course. Azad Ali has worked UK politics rather well, all things considered.

Nevertheless, he regards Al Awlaki as “one of my favourite speakers and scholars” and goes on to say

I really do love him for the sake of Allah, he has an uncanny way of explaining things to people which is endearing.

You can say that again, brother. Al Awlaki is crystal clear about what jihadists believe.

Incidentally, Azad Ali has been up to his old online tricks again, recently. The Spittoon has a post on our hero’s foray onto the website of his “Easy Talk” radio show, telling his fans:

[W]e have to resist media led policies and initiaives like ‘prevent’ and also ‘orgs’ that have come about to hurry people away from their deen and on the other side help non muslims increase in their hatred of muslims.

But, success is ours if we but remain steadfast and continue our efforts bi iznillah.

Righty ho!

Over the next few days, we’ll be looking at some of the British Islamist organisations and activists who admire, defend, campaign for, broadcast, showcase and otherwise support the jihadist preacher, Anwar Al Awlaki.

The short story is this. It is pretty much all of them.