Anglican Mainstream

Growing opposition to controversial Islamic sect project by Muslims and Christians

In the face of growing opposition to the proposed ‘Olympic mega-mosque’ by Muslims as well as Christians, local residents and others, Cllr Alan Craig, leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance group on Newham Council, is today calling for the compulsory purchase of the whole site.

In a Question to the executive Mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales at tonight’s full Council meeting, Cllr Craig will draw attention to the continued illegal use of the site by the mega-mosque proposers, Islamic missionary sect Tablighi Jamaat, and to the opposition within the wider Muslim and Christian communities.

He will call on the Mayor to initiate the process required to compulsorily purchase the site for community use and rescue it from its current irresponsible management.

"We cannot go on like this," said Alan Craig. "The growing opposition (see Question below) and the absolute refusal of Tablighi Jamaat to regularise their illegal position over the past two years means that the land should now be used for other purposes."

Cllr Craig has tabled the following Question at Newham Council meeting tonight:

Question to the Mayor No. 4: Abbey Mills Mega-Mosque

"Muslim commentator Ziauddin Sardar has said that Tablighi Jamaat (the group behind the Abbey Mills mega-mosque proposals) has been infiltrated by banned and militant Islamic organisations, has a network in Britain that ‘works invisibly, hidden from prying eyes’, and that it is ‘not as harmless as most Muslims seem to think’.

"Dr Irfan al-Alawi of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism has also said that Tablighi Jamaat has been linked with terrorist activities in the UK and Pakistan, their doctrines ‘are unquestionably hostile to non-Muslim societies and religions’ and that the Abbey Mills mosque ‘which will promote a separatist cult’ should not be built.

"Dr Taj Hargey of the Muslim Educational Centre in Oxford has written that Tablighi Jamaat followers ’support a virulent intolerant form of Islam’ and that the mosque will be a ‘magnet for religious fundamentalists and cultural supremacists’.

"2,500 Newham Muslims signed a Sunni Friends of Newham petition against the mosque proposal because (inter alia) Tablighi Jamaat is not representative of classical Islamic teachings and its ideology is ‘not conducive to good community cohesion’.

"Dr Guayasuddin Siddiqui (The Muslim Parliament), Haras Rafiq (Sufi Muslim Council), Ed Husain (Quilliam Foundation) and the Bukhari brothers (Muslim Public Affairs Committee) have all also spoken publicly against the mosque proposal.

"Furthermore Dr Philip Lewis, the recognised authority on Islam in Britain, author of two books on the subject and a board member of the 1997 Islamophobia Commission, said recently at a meeting in Forest Gate that Tablighi Jamaat is ‘isolationist’, ‘patriarchal’ and teaches narrow form of Islam and a religious supremacy that creates an us-and-them mentality. Leading Tablighi Jamaat ideologues teach that women must be hidden as the ornamentation of the man’s home and only be allowed out fully covered and accompanied by a male relative. The West Ham mega-mosque, said Dr Lewis, could establish a ghetto and create a breeding ground for extremism. (Sunday Telegraph, 19 October 2008)

"Tablighi Jamaat intend that the mega-mosque will be their new international headquarters, yet the current temporary mosque on the Abbey Mills site has now been operating illegally and irresponsibly without planning permission for two years since 31st October, 2006.

"In view of the above, will the Mayor (a) undertake enforcement action at the site, and (b) together with other authorities, consider initiating the process required to compulsory purchase the site, in order that it may be used more responsibly for residential/commercial purposes that will benefit the local community?"

(Ends)

Queries: Cllr Alan Craig 07939 547198

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