Haitham Al Haddad Will Not Appear At LSE ISOC

This is the news from the London School of Economics:

UJS and LSE Jewish Society today welcomed the cancellation of tomorrow’s event featuring Haitham Al Haddad at LSE.

Al Haddad is reported to have made inflammatory remarks branding Jews “the enemies of God, and the descendants of apes and pigs”, quoting the notorious antisemitic forgery the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and citing the declaration that “Jews and Christians to be kuffur, and the necessity of hating them, and avoiding them”. It is also said that he has justified capital punishment for apostates and stated that “Muslims should rule the entire planet with this Islamic law”.

Following representations from the Jewish Society and discussions with the Islamic Society, who were due to host, this event has been cancelled by LSE Students’ Union.

“There’s something deeply flawed in the LSE’s procedures on speaker events when someone like Al Haddad is approved without due consideration.” said Jay Stoll, President of LSE Jewish Society. “We are thankful to LSE Students’ Union for their strong stance against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”

Just two weeks ago, LSE Students’ Union passed strong policies to reaffirm its commitment to fighting antisemitism and Islamophobia.

“This move shows that these policies work. We’d like to see other campuses follow the example LSE Students’ Union are setting in tackling racism and discrimination.” said Dan Sheldon, UJS Campaigns Director. “As ever, it is our firm belief that freedom of speech within our univerisities is vital, but not at the expense of student welfare. We should have no truck with those who seek to spread hate on our campuses”.

Haitham Al Haddad is one of the worst hate preachers on the British Islamist circuit. Rather than reprint, again, this obnoxious man’s record, simply a look through the Harry’s Place archive. I would not be at all surprised if he turned out to be the next Anwar Al Awlaki.

In fact, Al Haddad and Awlaki used to appear at the same meetings, back in the day. Here they both are at City University ISOC in 2009:

There is a good argument that Haitham Al Haddad’s views contravenes the new LSE union policy on Islamophobia:

To define Islamophobia as “a form of racism expressed through the hatred or fear of Islam, Muslims, or Islamic culture, and the stereotyping, demonisation or harassment of Muslims, including but not limited to portraying Muslims as barbarians or terrorists, or attacking the Qur’an as a manual of hatred”

Haddad is a man who believes that Islam should be “in power”, supports violent “jihad”, and heads a Sharia “court” that advises women who have been raped as children that if they don’t have sex with their husband on demand, the “angels will curse” them. Moreover, women are not equal to men, and it is an act of kuffar to doubt the wisdom of hand lopping.

Al Haddad has been hosted by a range of University ISOCs and other Islamist institutions over the last few years. His appearance at a particular institution is a sign that it is both political extreme and supportive of Al Haddad’s peculiar blend of racism and misogyny and homophobia.

First of all, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) held a gala dinner at which Al Haddad was the guest of honour. The event was held – where else – at the East London Mosque/London Muslim Centre in December.

Haitham Al Haddad is also a popular speaker at the East London Mosque/London Muslim Centre, and at its satellite, the equally extreme and obnoxious Lewisham Islamic Centre. You will see he is speaking at the ELM/LMC in March, where his co-speaker is Abdul Qayyum, the Imam of the East London Mosque:

If the ELM/LMC were serious about opposing hatred and bigotry, they’d cancel this event. But, of course, they’re not: so they won’t.

Over the last six years, they’ve had £2.8 million in grants, £221,000 for “community cohesion” work and a further £28,500 for “preventing violent extremism”.

FOSIS loves Haitham Al Haddad. That is because FOSIS is an extremist organisation which pushes hatred into British universities. Here is a recent FOSIS event, held last week, (also see this screenshot):

FOSIS London invites you to a series of circles of knowledge exclusively for the leaders of London Islamic Societies to be delivered by Sheikh Haitham Al-Haddad. The first halaqa will inshaAllah be held on Thursday 2nd Feb 2012 at 5pm. There will be a sisters only Q&A session with Sheikh Haitham straight after the main halaqah.

If the FOSIS serious about opposing hatred and bigotry, they’d cancel all events with Al Haddad. But, of course, they’re not: so they won’t.

Which other ISOCs have hosted Haitham Al Haddad in recent years?

Well, of course there is UCL ISOC: which used to be run by the Al Qaeda terrorist, and undiebomber, Abdulmutallab. Al Haddad was invited by UCL ISOC to speak at their annual conference on 6 September 2009. He had previously been invited to UCL on 2 November 2007. Indeed, Abdulmutallab himself produced an “autobiography” which cited Al Haddad’s influence:

Sabeel Retreat Course- Minhaj-ul-Istidhlal.

This course was a 3 day intensive program organised by the Muslim Research and Development Foundation headed by Sheikh Haitham Al Haddad. The MRDF committee includes students from Madinah. University and Professional from a variety of backgrounds.

The course Manhaj Al Istidhlal was the ﬁrst 3 day intensive retreat organised by MRDF and alhamdulillah I was one of the pioneering students. The course is actually in 3 parts and the 2 parts are to come in the near future. We studied the sources of Knowledge in Islam. We looked at the Quran, Sunnah, Ijma and Qiyaas. The course also included sessions on build many team building and media skills sessions. The other two parts of the course will look at the understanding and implementation of the sources. Alhamdulillah, I passed the course with a Distinction.”

Of course he did.

But of course, UCL Provost Malcolm Grant sees no problem at all. Rather than focus on the promotion of hatred at his university, he says that extremism is ‘made-up‘. As far as this clueless man is concerned, “What induced [Abdulmutallab’s] behaviour remains a mystery“.

This is why his university’s ISOC continues to host Al Haddad. So, in October 2010, Al Haddad was back at UCL ISOC, where his co-speaker was Tariq Ramadan:

And they still love him. Here’s a UCU ISOC post from last month, entitled The Top Five Qualities of Inspirational People:

1. Have Conviction in Your Cause
One of the first notable traits of inspiring figures I’ve been surrounded by over the past couple of years is that these people have true conviction in their cause …

I could name many figures here that I’ve been fortunate to meet and work with, including Sr Nai’ma Roberts who is an author and acclaimed editor, or the likes of Sarah Joseph. Others include our profound scholars, many of whom UCL get the blessing of often hosting, such as Sh. Haitham Al Haddad, Sh. Muhammad Al Shareef amongst many others you’ve probably Youtubed at some point this week! What is clear about these people is their conviction in their cause. Ultimately working for the Sake of Allah (swt) and this Ummah can have no better reward and requires a renewal of our conviction in whatever we do every day of our life.

Incidentally, the other hate preacher cited, Muhammad Alshareef, is the man who declared: “alhamdulillah I’m homophobic“.

Which other ISOCs love Haitham Al Haddad? How about this event, inevitably also at the ELM/LMC last year:

The ISOCs involved were: Queen Mary, City, Hertfordshire, Kingston and UEL.

Here are a few more:

Haddad has been to Brunel ISOC on a number of occasions. Here he is addressing “Misconceptions About Islam“.

UEL ISOC hosted an Al Haddad event last year entitled ‘Literally Life Changing Course: Productive Lives‘. They have hosted him on many other occasions, including at their Annual Dinner last year.

City ISOC has also invited Al Haddad to speak many times. Here he is at City ISOC’s Annual Dinner last year. Would you be surprised to hear that it took place at the ELM/LMC?