The Evening Standard reports that Uthman Mustafa Kamal, the son of Abu Hamza, has been encouraging ‘mujahids’ to ‘destroy their enemies’ at the An-Noor Mosque in Acton
Farouq Malik, the head of the An-Noor mosque, claimed Mr Kamal was referring to Muslims fighting “occupying forces” in overseas lands, such as Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, he admitted this was not made clear and the sermon could be used by London-based Islamic extremists to foment hatred in the capital.
In another video posted on the mosque’s official YouTube channel, Mr Kamal quotes the Koran as he called on “believers” to “sell the life of this world for the Hereafter (and) fight in the Cause of Allah”.
The audio clip is accompanied with pre-9/11 Jihadist footage from countries including Palestine, Lebanon, Bosnia, Algeria, Eritrea, Kosovo and Iraq.
Dr Usama Hasan of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think-tank, said: “We are extremely concerned at this video. The Qur’anic verses are sacred and accepted by all Muslims as teachings about just war, but this video twists and perverts their meaning by putting a narrow, Jihadist lens on them.
Of course it is possible that there has just been a terrible misunderstanding.
When he was shown the video, Mr Malik admitted it should not have been uploaded and blamed “a person we hire to put our sermons on Youtube” whose “enthusiasm doesn’t allow him to think”. He pledged to take it down immediately.
And Mr Malik is keen to explain away some other awkward moments:
In another video on the internet, Mr Kamal is shown at a demonstration outside the US embassy praying for Aafia Siddiqui, dubbed “Lady al-Qaeda” and once one of the world’s most wanted women before her conviction for attempted murder in the US.
…
On Mr Kamal’s prayer for Ms Siddiqui, Mr Malik said: “What I know is that she is being held and she has not been convicted of anything. That is what I know. There are things that they say she is guilty of that have never been proven. I think she has been made a scapegoat…it is a travesty.”
The article concludes:
Asked if he thought Abu Hamza was misconstrued, Mr Malik replied: “To an extent.” He confirmed all the videos of Mr Kamal were genuine, praised his deep knowledge of the Koran and claimed his speeches had made him a “celebrity” in the local area.
But he denied “100 per cent” that An-Noor mosque was linked to extremism and said the evidence uncovered by the Standard was “not helpful to the community”.
