This is cross post by Mohammed Razzaq – a research assistant at Quilliam
A recent video plea by imams earlier this week to free the captive British aid worker, Alan Henning, is welcome, but we have to be wary that our vigour to condemn ISIS, does not help legitimise other extremists that hold views which are an antithesis to a Liberal Secular society.
Three UK based imams launched a video appeal on YouTube denouncing threats made by ISIS promising aid worker Alan Henning would be killed next.
The video appeal, which featured Haitham al-Haddad, a judge on the Sharia council of Britain, Abu Eesa Niamatullah- a Director at Prophetic Guidance, and Shakeel Begg, of the Lewisham Islamic Centre in South London, received a largely positive response for to its calls for the safe return of Alan Henning – including coverage on the BBC.
All three speakers in the video have been known to harbour extremist views across a wide range of issues. According to a report by the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, Haddad has previously stated that to oppose suicide bombing would be to “nullify” “defensive jihad”. As well as this, he has stated that it is a duty for Muslims to “fight everyone until they establish the law of Allah.” I ask myself the question – isn’t that also what ISIS want?
These statements warrant the question as to whether Haddad would believe further beheadings by ISIS, or anyone else, would be legitimate if they were to meet his criteria of “defensive jihad”.
Additionally, by mainstreaming the opinions of those involved in the video, such as Haddad, we run the risk of allowing for the greater exposure of their views regarding other domains of discourse.
Abu Eesa Niamatullah, also featured in the YouTube video, has previously angered many through social media. On international Women’s day earlier this year, Eesa tweeted a number of comments which sparked controversy, eventually leading to an online petition which called for the Al-Maghrib institute, an institute dedicated to Islamic studies to which Abu Eesa is an instructor, to fire Eesa on the grounds of tweeting misogynist comments. One of the many tweets, included
Despite calls by many for Eeesa’s removal from the institute, including a large number of women within the Muslim community, the Al-Maghrib Institute failed to take any punitive action on Eesa and did not even get him to offer an apology.
The Al-Maghrib Institute has itself come under scrutiny concerning terrorism related issues. In 2008 Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who in 2009 was convicted for attempting to detonate plastic explosives on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 headed for Boston, Massachusetts, had attended classes held by the institute in Houston, Texas.
The third player in this new twist is Shakeel Begg. Begg is a hate preacher with a special interest in terrorist suspects and convicts who finds former Guantanamo inmates “inspiring” and worthy of a divine salute as well demanding that the police must not be helped, for they are the devil.
It is not enough to condemn ISIS from a theological perspective alone – as per the video, which called for the protection and release of Henning and other aid workers according to Sharia law. Acts and threats of barbarism should be condemned on a human rights level as well as a theological level. The failure to do so threatens to undermine attempts of critical engagement, and thus potentially allow for morally abhorrent views to congeal amongst members of society, causing greater harm than good.
Furthermore, it is clear that these people preach hatred and the concept of an Islamic State as well as in some cases, support and defend other people who have tried to commit terrorist activities. There seems to be only a tactical difference between them and ISIS – perhaps they would react differently if their Sheikh had been in charge? I hope we never get the chance to find out.
Whilst it is important that we do hear voices from all walks of societies condemning ISIS, we must not let the desire to do so confuse us as to what it is that we are standing for as a society and that we don’t make the mistake of believing that everyone who condemns ISIS is in actual fact moderate. For these reasons we should be careful in distinguishing between pleas made by those who are sincere and demonstrate morally laudable qualities, such as those shown by the family of Alan Henning this morning, with those offered earlier this week by Haitham al-Haddad, Abu Eesa Niamatullah, and Shakeel Begg.
