The war of words between the Quilliam Foundation and the Green Lane Masjid (Birmingham) continues. Today saw the Quilliam Foundation issue an open letter to Faisal al-Jassim - who is due to speak at the Winter Conference at the GLM - and whom Quilliam had described in a previous press release as being a 'fellow-traveller' with al-Qa'ida. [ENGAGE] Read more
Saudi attitudes in Birmingham An instructive row has broken out between the Quilliam Foundation, British Muslims for Secular Democracy, humanists, and progressive rabbis on the one hand, and the Green Lanes Mosque in Birmingham, over a couple of visiting Saudi imams who will preach there this weekend.
The Quilliam/BMSD complaint is that these people are well-documented anti-semites and preachers of hate; the mosque responds indignantly that the preachers are thoroughly opposed to al-Qaeda and to terrorism, and that the objectors are unrepresentative stooges. [Guardian Cif] Read more
Saudi extremism continues to influence British Muslims In recent years, several leading UK Muslim organizations have moved away from hosting extremist foreign clerics and have instead begun promoting UK-born and -educated speakers who can facilitate the growth of a native, harmonious Western Islam.
Next week, however, a major Birmingham institution, the Green Lane Mosque (headquarters of the national Markaz Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith organization) will host two extreme Wahhabi clerics who bolster al-Qaeda narratives by advocating:
• Taking up arms against the ‘enemies of Islam’ in order to spread Wahhabi Islam • ‘Preparing all the weapons we can’ and raising the ‘banner of jihad’ • Forcibly implementing their understanding of Shari’ah as state law. [Quilliam] Read more
