Green Lane Mosque (Birmingham) responds to the Quilliam Foundation's 'al-Qa'eda' allegations
Categories: Latest News
Monday December 21 2009
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The target of the Quilliam Foundation’s latest press release is Birmingham’s Green Lane Mosque (pictured). |
QF claim that the mosque is planning to host ‘two extreme Wahhabi clerics who bolster al-Qaeda narratives’. The two scholars in question are Sheikh Faisal al-Jassim, ‘a Wahhabi of Kuwaiti nationality’, according to QF, and Abdul Aziz As-Sadhan. The two speakers are also referred to by QF as being ‘al-Qaeda’s fellow-travellers’.
The QF inform everyone that British Muslims for Secular Democracy are ‘creating a coalition of faith and humanist leaders to oppose the event and is preparing to send out a joint letter on their behalf’. You can read the BMSD open letter, and see its list of signatories, here.
The Green Lane mosque has responded to the QF’s statement with a press notice of its own.
The mosque states:
‘The Quilliam Foundation’s latest press release (Saudi extremism continues to influence British Muslims) is a fear mongering exercise to reinforce the prejudices of those who wish to demonise and alienate long-established, mainstream Muslim institutions.
‘Green Lane Masjid refutes the allegation that it has invited speakers that are ‘fellow-travellers’ of Al-Qaeda, which could not be further from the truth. These speakers are academics who have specialised in Islamic sciences and are well respected in scholarly circles. It is grossly unjust to suggest that they belong to some fringe ideology rather than orthodox Islam. Furthermore they all are well known for their open criticisms of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Sheikh Faisal Al-Jassim for example is an author of a famous book criticising Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
‘Green Lane Masjid has a proud history of fighting terrorism and extremism over the last few decades – long before it became ‘fashionable’ to do so. A recent example is our two day seminar held on the 17th of July in which we specifically tackled issues related to extremism and terrorism. In this seminar speakers such as Sheikh Faisal Al-Jassim and others exposed the profound flaws in Al-Qaeda’s ideology and the political motives of other like minded groups.
‘One of the objectives of our institution (through events such as the forthcoming conference) is to fight the destructive ideology of Al-Qaeda and other similar groups, and to encourage British Muslims to become productive members of our society. The intention of this conference is to engage young British Muslims and educate them on the scholarly traditions of the academics who dedicated their lives to the study, preservation and implementation of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him).
‘The Quilliam Foundation has absolutely no credibility within the British Muslim community and has no legitimacy or qualifications to speak on Islamic matters. It is regrettable that this supposedly independent ‘think-tank’ is funded by hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer’s money and is not accountable to the tax payer.
‘Unfortunately the Quilliam Foundation is cashing in on the widespread fear of Muslims and Islam with its onslaught of mainstream Muslim organisations. It justifies its existence by periodically launching sensationalist and scaremongering attacks of well-established Islamic institutions. These attacks have been repeatedly exposed as disingenuous and only serve to demonise Islam and the Muslim community.
‘Green Lane Masjid has a legacy of working with inter-faith and non-faith communities of Birmingham and is proud of its relationship with these diverse organisations.
‘Green Lane Masjid has always spoken vociferously against oppression, sectarianism and terrorism, and we will continue to do so. We believe passionately in joining hands with all who wish for the betterment of British society.’