Earlier this month Usama Hasan, an imam at the Tawhid mosque in Leyton, East London, defended the theory of evolution at a meeting in the mosque.
A medieval tirade has been his reward.
Meet ”Abu Zubair”, one of the people behind Islamic Awakening. It’s an internet gathering point for extremists. Its most popular forum topic is titled “Politics, Jihad and Current Affairs”.
This is how bad speaking up for evolution is, according to Zubair:
The call to evolution is a call to kufr [disbelief] and apostasy from Islam.
Zubair proceeds to draw on the rulings of Saudi scholars. What’s the solution for someone like Usama Hasan? Death, that’s what:
Ibn al-Uthaymeen in particular, he was asked this question about a teacher who comes into the classroom and teaches evolution. He said that not only this person, who is in a position of a teacher at school, should be expelled, but even outside of school he should be monitored in terms of his activities and his contacts to make sure he is not misguiding others. And he should be stopped by any means necessary even if it means his execution.
Upon that Ibn al-Uthaymeen was asked “do you mean that it is permissible to execute him?”. Ibn al-Uthaymeen says “yes, if there is absolutely no other way of stopping this person except execution, then this person should be executed because he is an apostate and apostates are executed.”
Usama Hasan is also gravely in error on the hijab:
If a person denies the obligation of wearing the hijab, which is to cover the head for women of course, then this person is an apostate. He is no longer a Muslim.
Why Usama Hasan even spoke at an event of the “anti-Muslim” Quilliam Foundation!
He actually gave lectures at the launch of the Quilliam Foundation, which is an anti-Muslim secular organisation that seeks to shape Islam from within and shed Islam of all its political aspects, the sharia in its entirety.
Secularism as well is for apostates. Even capitalism is off limits:
Anybody who attributes themselves to kufr philosophy, such as communism, secularism, capitalism, these people are apostates. They claim to be Muslims but these people are major hypocrites because on the one hand they outwardly claim to be Muslims while they are inwardly kuffars, disbelievers.
Mockery too must be severely punished:
Anybody who mocks Allah or his messenger or anyone or any aspect of religion which is known from the deen [religion], by necessity is a kaffir and a murtad [apostate] and is subject to execution because the prophet said “execute the one who changes his religion”.
You can also read Zubair’s “charges” against Usama Hasan in this pdf file.
Zubair doesn’t want to go to prison. So he adds this “disclaimer”:
The point of quoting this fatwa is not that people or individuals listen to this message and they figure out for themselves what to do. This fatwa is only being quoted for information purposes, because executing people is only the responsibility of the imam who is implementing sharia in a Muslim country and it is not up to individuals to take the law into their own hands and contemplate executing Usama Hasan.
Zubair can issue as many “disclaimers” as he likes. The point is that he is an utterly repugnant man using vicious rhetoric to stoke up hatred and promote ludicrous ignorance.
Even if they cannot or will not press charges for this tirade, the police certainly should keep an eye on him and his followers.
It would be nice to learn that mosques across the country will do their bit by barring him from their premises.
Though he does have an occasional moment of self-awareness, as you will see here:
Lucy Lips adds: I have seen a ‘charge sheet’ that has been distributed against Usama Hasan, which is entitled “Charges of Kufr”. It contain one curious sentence:
“Usama Hasan’s contemptuous attitude towards Masjid al-Tawheed congregation, by considering them descendants of apes, ninjas and clowns…”
Apes and clowns, fair enough. But ninjas? I wouldn’t mess with them. Not if you know what’s good for you.
