Abdul Haqq Baker comments in the thread on STREET:
As founding director of STREET, I can confirm that the moment I became aware of the postings of Hatham Haddad and Salih Munnajid in particular, I requested that these postings were removed immediately, not because I share their views and did not want them to be made public, but because I have opposed many of their positions for nearly 15 years or more. The member of staff who placed these postings has been approached and told emphatically that if these individuals are his sources of reference then they have no place in STREET’s ethos and objectives. I am confident that the member of staff who was reproached for these postings that are unreflective of STREET’s positions is the only one among my team who holds the two aforementioned personalities as sources of reference. Suffice it to say that such errors will not, hopefully, occur again.
Regarding Abu Usamah, this requires a much longer discussion and I appreciate this may not be the forum for it. Without going into a defence of some of his previously recorded lectures etc. I can confirm the purpose of posting his lecture on extremism was due to the appropriateness of the content as it related to violent extremism and terrorism. He is not, as some have tried to assert, a proponent of extremism however, I acknowledge that some of his statements in the past were misplaced considering the context and environment in which they were made.
The oversight regarding the other postings on this particular website was my error and perhaps due to my focus on STREET’s newer more active one Aboutstreet.com where I have posted a few articles that are more reflective of STREET’s positions. I would invite further comment after visiting this site.
I concur with Cameron’s stance that non-violent extremists should be fought, however, more clarification should be given regarding the characteristics of such entities. Neither I nor STREET consider ourselves non-violent extremists in view of the re integrative nature of our work with our target audience as well as the fact that many of the values held dear to this society are also values we share. We are proud to be both British and Muslim. That said, our belief and practices should not be confused with the cultural practices of some of the more predominant communities in Britain. Neither should it be confused with practices and traditions that are inherently Middle eastern, etc. As British Salafist Muslims we, like many other 2nd / 3rd generation and convert Muslims, have learned to contextualise the practice of our religion within society as British citizens and are comfortable with the duality of our identities. It is unreasonable however to state that we must past an invisible litmus test of subscribing to every value considered by the government as ‘Britishness’ when the same test is not extended to other socially conservative faiths, creeds or cultures.
Mistakes may have been made along the way however to label STREET with extremism of any kind is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Lucy Lips adds
I have highlighted the passage above, where Mr Baker claims that Abu Usamah is not an extremist.
Here are some of his views:
From Undercover Mosque:
Do you practice homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain.
…
They have given them [homosexuals] unprecedented rights, so that your child can be exposed and introduced to lesbians. Now they say “if you discriminate against that, you’re going to jail”. We’ll discriminate, but we’ll discriminate in a way where we don’t get in trouble. The Muslim is a dentist, one of those people come, you want to take a big, big needle and stick it in his gums. [13:30]
More:
“No one loves the kuffaar, not a single person loves the kuffaar. We hate the kuffaar”
Also:
“If I was to turn around and I was to call homosexuals perverted, dirty filthy dogs that should be murdered, that’s my freedom of speech isn’t it?”
“On Muslims who leave the faith he said: “Kill him in the Islamic state…If the Imam wants to crucify him, he should crucify him. The person is put up on the wood and he’s left there to bleed to death for three days.”
“She should start hijab from the age of seven, by the age of ten it becomes an obligation on us to force her to wear hijab and if she doesn’t wear hijab, we hit her.”
On terrorists and lying kuffar:
The theme of today’s lecture is don’t believe in arrests of alleged terrorists without proof as non-Muslims are liars … I don’t believe them because they are kuffaar and lying is part of their religion.
Those kuffaar, they do whatever they want to do. They are liars, they are terrorists themselves. They will come before the people and talk and they are lying, you can’t believe them … These are pathological liars.
…
I don’t agree with those individuals (terrorists). But at the same time they’re closer to me than those criminals of the kufr… He’s better than a million George Bushes Osama bin Laden. He’s better than a thousand Tony Blairs, because he’s a Muslim.
On jihad:
We want to make an official statement here. No way are we in agreement to what took place last year on this day (7/7) in the kuffaar calendar. But in saying that we do not apologise for any aspect of this religion. There is jihad in al-Islam. What’s the most beloved and favourite thing to Allah? Jihad is the way of Allah.
We ask Allah to bring about the means and the ways in which the Muslims will get the power and the honour of repelling the oppression of the kuffaar, where we can go out and perform the jihad. We ask Allah to bring that time so we can be participants in that.
On Christians and Jews as enemies:
It has come to pass that the Christians and the Jews, America, the UK, France, Germany, they have come against the religion of Islam. Why give up your religion and your long legacy of Islam to please someone who is an enemy to you?
On an Islamic state and apostasy:
We want our Islam and its laws to be practised. We want to do away with the man-made laws.”
…
Muslims shouldn’t be satisfied with living in other than the total Islamic State.Whoever changes his religion from al-Islam to anything else kill him in the Islamic State.
If the imam wants to crucify him he should crucify him. The person is put up on the wood and he’s left there to bleed to death for three days.
These are extreme views. Were somebody making these sorts of statements about Muslims, we wouldn’t be defending him.
We’re very happy to hear your defence of him, if you’d like to make it, however.
