Makbool Javaid is the head of the Employment Group at the law firm, Simons Muirhead and Burton.
Next Saturday, he will be speaking at the Bar Conference, the annual conference of the Bar Council:
10 Religion and Belief – What is it all About?
Moderators
Catherine Casserley Cloisters; Chair, Discrimination Law Association
Daphne Romney Cloisters; Chair, Employment Law Bar AssociationSpeakers
Robin Allen QC Cloisters
Maqbool Javaid Solicitor and Human Rights Advocate; former Head of Litigation at the CRE
Hanne Stinson Executive Director, British Humanist Association
John Wadham Commission for Equality and Human RightsOrganised by the Employment Law Bar Association and the Discrimination Law Association
Who is Makbool Javaid?
Unfortunately, if I told you what I think of his politics, it is likely that he would join the long list of people who have tried to have Harry’s Place shut down. Mr Javaid is a professional litigator, and does not take kindly to people discussing his political activities. In fact, acting in the guise of the Al Muhajiroun front organisation, The Society of Muslim Lawyers, Makbool Javaid attempted to prevent Channel 4 for screening the Jon Ronson documentary on Omar Bakri Mohammed, The Tottenham Ayatollah, by threatening to sue them.
What can I say?
Well, Makbool Javaid has been very visibly active in Al Muhajiroun and its various front organisations. When it was pointed out, in 1998, that this was his political background, Makbool Javaid sued various newspapers. He is recorded as saying:
“I knew al-Muhajiroun as an organisation involved in a wide range of educational and social activities consistent with the promotion of Islam. I have never supported any form of violence, let alone terrorism”
Because Makbool Javaid sues, it is unsafe to speculate on this statement.
However, what follows are a few documents bearing Makbool Javaid’s name, that provide background color.
“Muslims in Britain Declare War”
Here are two documents, signed by Makbool Javaid, which contain a “fatwa” that states:
10. We the undersigned confirm that the only Islamic Fatwa against this explicit aggression is Jihad. Therefore the message for the US and the British Governments or any other government of non-Muslim countries is to stay away from Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan, Arabia etc. or face a full scale war of Jihad which will be the responsibly and the duty of every Muslim around the world to participate in.
11. We the undersigned call upon the Muslims around the world, including the Muslims in the USA and in Britain, to confront by all means whether verbally, financially, politically or militarily the US and British aggression and to do their Islamic duty in relieving the Iraqi people from the unjust sanctions.
You will see that Omar Bakri Mohammed and Muhammad Al Mass’ari are the first two signatories to this letter.
The third is Makbool Javaid.
The other signatories to the letter are Al Muhajiroun front organisations. Makbool Javaid usually signs in the name of the Society of Muslim Lawyers, which has been named in Parliament as an Al Muhajiroun front.
Pamphlets and Meetings
Here are a series of pamphlets and flyers for meetings that bear Makbool Javaid’s name. Their message is always the same. Man made law is oppressive and must be overthrown. Only divine law, as implemented by the Caliphate, is legitimate. Voting is prohibited.
The Muslim Cultural Society of Enfield & Haringey
Makbool Javaid was the secretary of a charity called The Muslim Cultural Society of Enfield & Haringey (no. 1037987): another Al Muhajiroun front. It was shut down on 26 November 1999, after this incident.
An Islamic court in Britain has imposed a death sentence against Terence McNally, the writer who depicted Jesus Christ as a homosexual in his play Corpus Christi . The fatwa was passed by the Shari’ah Court of the UK to coincide with the opening of the play in London on Thursday night.
The trustees were Omar Bakri, Anjem Choudary and Kalim Mohammed.
I understand that Makbool Javaid has previously said, of all this material, that he was wholly unaware of the nature of Al Muhajiroun, or of the politics of the persons with whom he served in the various Al Muhajiroun related bodies.
There is not sufficient space to discuss all the merry japes that Al Muhajiroun and Hizb ut Tahrir got up to in the 1980s and 1990s. However, here are two documents which give you some idea of the activities of Omar Bakri Mohammed’s Hizb ut Tahrir and its successor, Al Muhajiroun.
In 1988, Hizb ut Tahrir promulgated a fatwa, legitimising aircraft hijacking.
In 1996, Al Muhajiroun organised a conference – which never took place – at which the following men of peace were billed to provide messages of support:
Sheikh Osama Bin Laden – Sheikh Al-Jihad (Saudi Arabia/Afghanistan)
Sheikh Ahmed Yaseen – HAMAS Still held in Isreali Prison (Palestine)
Sheikh Abdullah Abou Al-Farouq- International Islamic Front (Syria)
Sheikh Muhammad Ubaied – Still held in Isreali Prison (Palestine)
Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadhlullah – Hizbollah, (Beirut)
Sheikh Omar Abdur-Rahman – Prison in the USA
Sheikh Ali Ballhaj – Leader of FIS (Algeria)
I cannot comment on Makbool Javaid’s present politics. However, he participated in a public debate earlier this year, organised by the Muslim Brotherhood front organisation the Cordoba Foundation, between Muslim Brotherhood, Labour and Hizb ut Tahrir speakers. The subject of the debate was whether Muslims should participate in democracy.
Here is Makbool Javaid’s contribution to the debate:
Mr Javaid told the meeting: “I think that we have lost our way, that we’ve been mesmerised by this society.
“We need to return to our roots. Our vision is to change the world, not join silly little parties.
“What could be better than that when it’s rooted in Islam?”
The English Bar used to be thought of as a conservative organisation, which would not normally promote or give a platform to those who regard all law – bar Sharia, applied in a Caliphate – as an evil, to be challenged and destroyed, and who regard voting as a sin.
I do not understand why Makbool Javaid has been billed as a Human Rights Advocate. His conception of human rights is not one shared by most people in this country.
I do not think that it was appropriate for the Bar Council to invite Makbool Javaid to speak on religion and belief. Very few Muslims in Britain reject law and democracy. A more representative participant could surely have been found.
Nevertheless, if Makbool Javaid does participate in this event, then there are two speakers who I hope will ask him about his views on the Caliphate, man made law, Muslims voting, Al Muhajiroun, Omar Bakri Mohammed, the “declaration of war” on the United Kingdom that he signed and generally, of his vision for Muslims in Britain.
They are:
- John Wadham, legal director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and formerly deputy director of the Independent Police Complaints Commission: before which he spent years fighting for human rights at Liberty
- Hanne Stintson, the Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association.
There is a depressing tendency for Muslim speakers with radical views to be given a pass in public meetings. A speaker or any other cultural origin who had such a remarkable history would be questioned closely on their activities in any debate or discussion in which they participated.
It would be a terrible shame if the opportunity to discuss the rise of Jihadist politics in the United Kingdom were lost.
