A Salafi group calling for the establishment of a Sharia based Islamic state in England is being left free to recruit and openly discuss its ideologies in a busy town market.
Followers of Call of the Salaf, a Luton based group, were seen openly handing out flyers advertising their ideologies while calling on shoppers to attend a talk on ‘Sharia & Khilafa: Every Muslims Duty’.
Names such as Al Muhajiroon, the Saved Sect and al-Ghuraba had Salafi ideologies and the latter two were banned under the Terrorism Act 2006.
Some members of both the Saved Sect and Al Ghuraba have since been sent to prison for their part in the controversial protest at the height of Prophet Muhammad cartoons row, in which one was seen wearing a suicide belt.
One could imagine this sort of thing happening all over the UK in Asian communities.
Such groups only serve to breakdown harmonies between communities and undermine the Muslim majority.
Comments (3)
Oh please!!! I cant believe im actually reading this! Agreeing with Charles Brickdale, I think its quite silly to stop anyone from distributing a point of view (IF it is not illegal or criminal) in public place.As for Senior: so, because some members of a relgious denomination are engaged in a criminal activity, everyone from that religion must anser for them? Very dangerous sentiments...there are always people from every single religion doing something terrible in some part of the world!
Posted by Zebunnisa | November 25, 2007 9:23 AM
Posted on November 25, 2007 09:23
I am delighted that someone is tracking the activities of Islamist and Jihadist groups in Britain and explaining what they believe. That's fine. What makes me uneasy is the implication, as in the post above, that the expression of a point of view, for example, that Britain would benefit from a large dose of sharia law, is in itself illegitimate. Were members of the 'Call of the Salaf' engaged in criminal activities similar to those of members of the other groups mentioned? If so, those activities should be dealt with under the law. Their religious and political demands, on the other hand, should be be subject to a range of political, theological and philosophical responses and critiques. Moreover, every effort should be made to draw the Islamists themselves and those who see their message as containing something of value into democratic debate. This must be right in principle in that it fulfils the great liberal democratic virtues of respect for persons, tolerance (if only in the weakest sense), maintenance of liberty and respect for the rule of law. It also has the possible practical benefit of not running the risk of reinforcing the 'enclave' mentality (thank you, Mary Douglas) that Islamism feeds on.
Posted by Charles Brickdale | August 4, 2007 12:01 AM
Posted on August 4, 2007 00:01
The terrorism legislation needs to be updated to prevent Islamic ideologies being preached outside mosques. This isn't the same as Christians, Jews, Hindus or Sikhs preaching, because those religious groups aren't responsible for terrorism the world over.
Posted by Senior | August 1, 2007 8:36 PM
Posted on August 1, 2007 20:36