As we know, late last year the East London Mosque said it “will not tolerate its facilities being used for extremist groups or speakers and is now vetting all speakers and publicity materials”.
To underline the point, Muhammad Abdul Bari, the mosque’s chairman, has noted:
The controversial speakers who were able, in the past, to speak via third-party bookings of our facilities (circumventing our procedures) have now all been banned. All accusations of ‘extremism’ links are also historical: it is two years since the Awlaki issue arose, for example, and since then we have tightened our procedures and policies accordingly, to ensure no such issues arise again. Let me state once more: we deplore extremism of all kinds and fully support democracy.
What about people who vocally support the killers of British troops? Are they extremists, or not?
If the mosque really has changed its procedures, one must conclude that its answer is “no”. Just this evening three speakers who have supported attacks on troops will appear at an Islamic Forum of Europe conference at the mosque’s London Muslim Centre.
Kamal Helbawy is a Muslim Brotherhood leader who lives in Britain. This is from a BBC report last year:
Perhaps more than anything else, its [the Muslim Brotherhood’s] open support for the militant Palestinian group, Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Washington, explains why it is viewed with suspicion and alarm, and its members refused entry to the US.
One such man is Kamal Helbawy, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, now based in London, who is quite candid about his support for jihad in what he regards as “occupied countries”, including Afghanistan – where both the US and UK have troops.
This is Anas Al-Tikriti, a prominent British Islamist, speaking to the Muslim Brotherhood’s ikhwanweb.com in 2006:
Legitimate resistance against occupation is patriotic
Al Tikriti called upon members of the Iraqi resistance to embolden its true patriotic image before the world and refrain from killing for the sake of killing but only to resist the occupation. He concluded by reaffirming the right of the Iraqis to engage in legitimate resistance against foreign occupation abiding by the international laws and traditions.
Here is John Rees, failed swuppie, at one of the Cairo Conference sessions, where far left idiots from the West join hands with Islamist supporters of jihad:
In the opening session, John Rees from the Stop the War Coalition in Britain received loud applause when he said, “We stopped George Bush from launching his re-election campaign in London last month. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people poured onto the streets. People have come from Britain in solidarity with you. This is not merely because we sympathise with your struggle, and that of Iraq and Palestine. We come because your struggle is our struggle, your enemy, our enemy…”
The Conference issued this statement:
Participants in the 2nd Cairo conference agreed that… to achieve that objective they will undertake the following measures:
… 6. Continue solidarity with the Iraqi people and its resistance against the occupation forces with all legitimate means including military struggle…
How about Yvonne Ridley? She will speak at the London Muslim Centre on 19 March. Here she is hailing the Iraqi “resistance” in 2005:
Ridley then described her experiences in Iraq. “The resistance is growing stronger all the time,” she said. “Where there is injustice, the only answer is resistance. It isn’t coming from outside. It’s coming from Iraqi people themselves.”
Jalal ibn Saeed, an American Islamist who lives in Britain, will speak at the same event as Ridley. Here he is at a conference in Bradford in 2009 saying that jihadis all over the world, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, have divine sanction to fight and Muslims who criticise jihadis are wrong:
To those against who war is waged, it is permissible for them, permission is given to fight because they are wronged and verily Allah is most powerful for their aid.
…
And I’m sure all of us have pain in our hearts knowing what’s happening to the Muslims in Iraq, the Muslims in Afghanistan, the Muslims in Swat valley in Pakistan and other places, the Muslims in Kashmir, in Chechnya, in Kosovo, in Bosnia, in Somalia, in Sudan, so many places in the world. Our hearts bleed for them and I say let’s share this ayaa [verse of the Qur’an] with them, at least the part where Allah says “permission is given to them to fight”. To defend themselves. Because they are wronged. Not just by their enemies, but by us, their brothers and sisters. Nod if you agree, at least. Yes, they are wronged. So permission is given to them by Allah. And Muslims dare speak and say “they shouldn’t”.
The East London Mosque does not oppose extremism. It is a centre for its promotion, where people who preach enmity towards British troops are welcome.
Over the last five years the mosque has received £195,978 from the borough of Tower Hamlets for “community cohesion” work.
