This is a guest post by Amjad Khan
Recent reports suggest a man by the name of Dr Salman Butt is to launch a legal challenge against the British government and their Prevent policy after he was labelled an ‘extremist’ and ‘hate preacher’ in a Downing Street press release. According to a news story on the website of the legal firm representing him ‘…the Court has found that there is an arguable case on behalf of Dr Butt. Dr Butt challenged the government which dubbed him as an “extremist” and “hate speaker”. Dr Butt had no right of reply. This is in breach of the rules of natural justice and unlawful!’
Firstly, the government press release in question didn’t technically call him an extremist or a hate preacher, it states:
‘In 2014 there were at least 70 events involving speakers who are known to have promoted rhetoric that aimed to undermine core British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs, held on university campuses.
Queen Mary, King’s College, SOAS and Kingston University held most events. Events included the hosting of 6 speakers that are on record as expressing views contrary to British values, including Haitham Al-Haddad, Dr Uthman Lateef, Alomgir Ali, Imran Ibn Mansur (aka ‘Dawah Man’), Hamza Tzortis and Dr Salman Butt.’
So the question arises – who is Dr Salman Butt and does he express views that are contrary to British values?
Dr Butt is the Chief Editor and of an Islamic news website called Islam 21c.com. This website, in its own words, states:
‘…Islam21c seeks to show that Islam is a comprehensive world view incorporating a way of life, a system of belief, a 1400 year old history and an extensive and divine system of law.’
I guess these words can be interpreted in different ways, to me they sound like classic Islamist propaganda. Islam as a ‘comprehensive world view’ and ‘divine system of law’ is another way of saying Islam is a political ideology that offers an alternative to western democracy.
These suspicions are cemented when one looks around the website for the kind of articles it publishes. For example, this piece attacks secularism and promotes ‘Islamic rule’, or in other words Islamist theocracy, as the solution whilst hinting at paranoid conspiracy theories about the British government and the origins of ISIS. It is fairly blatant Islamist propaganda.
Islam21c also promotes the work of a number of notorious hate preachers that regularly preach a message that goes against British values. These include:
Haitham al Haddad who has expressed extremist views on homosexuality, FGM, non-Muslims, Jewish people, wife-beating and a whole host of other subjects.
Alomgir Ali who thinks secularism is the modern version of pre-Islamic idol worship, homosexuality is a crime and women who wear perfume are fornicators or adulteresses.
Asim Qureshi who is a leading member of Cage, a group that described Jihadi John as a beautiful man, and once called for Muslims to support the effort of jihadists around the world at a Hizb ut Tahrir rally.
Dr Abdul Wahid who is UK spokesperson for notorious extremist group Hizb ut Tahrir that seeks to establish a global theocracy that would persecute women, homosexuals, ex-Muslims and other minority groups.
It also publishes articles that describe Sheikh Raed Salah as a hero, the same Sheikh who promotes anti-Semitic conspiracies such as blood libel and funds Hamas as well as this intriguing piece that challenges western values and the idea that Muslims in the west should integrate and accept such values.
The list could go on and on but suffice to say, Islam21c seems to be a mouth piece for some of Britain’s leading extremist preachers who promote an anti-Western and anti-British narrative at every turn. Therefore, it seems fair to conclude that Dr Butt is chief editor of an extremist website that promotes views contrary to British values. However, he is not just a silent editor in the background he likes to get his hands dirty too.
Here he is suggesting Israel should be abolished and re-built in the US:
He also authored a piece entitled ‘When will it be right to be Muslim and gay?’ in which he argued that Muslims who find they have homosexual urges should resist such temptations for they would be committing a grave sin, he then goes on to compare homosexual urges with pedophilia. Not exactly in tune with British values is it?
It seems extremists don’t like the label ‘extremist’, they are happy to express views and support causes that are regarded as extreme in the UK but they just don’t want the label. Their aim is to continue promoting extremist views whilst stifling any discussion about what these views really represent. That is what tends to happen when you think God is on your side.
