The Obligation to support the proposed new mosque in East London

[Yasir]

The obligation to support the proposed new mosque in East London
Wednesday, 31 January 2007

Written by Haitham Al-Haddad

A fatwa concerning the obligation to support the establishment of the new mosque in East London (London Markaz)

There has been an ongoing debate concerning the proposed establishment of a new mosque in East London. It is true that many Muslims and some non-Muslims are supporting it, yet we have also witnessed opposition to it from many including some members of the Muslim community. I find myself obliged to clarify the Islamic opinion regarding supporting the establishment of this mosque in particular and any other mosque for that matter.

Mosques are blessed premises where the words of the Creator are recited and taught. They are centres of mercy and peace for the whole of humanity. They are houses where monotheism is proclaimed enabling people to receive rays of guidance. It is for this reason that mosques are the most beloved places to Allah as the Prophet (sallaAllahu alayhi wa sallam) declared in an authentic hadith. In addition, the act of establishing mosques is one of the best deeds according to Islamic teachings. Allah says in the Quran [translation of the meaning of (9:18)], ‘The mosques of Allah shall be maintained only by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day; who perform Salat, give Zakat, and fear none but Allah. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance’. It is authentically reported that the Prophet (sallaAllahu alayhi wa sallam) said, ‘Whoever builds a mosque for the sake of Allah, seeking by it Allah's grace, Allah will build for him a house like it in Paradise’. (Related by Al-Bukhari & Muslim).

The first action carried out by the Prophet (sallaAllahu alayhi wa sallam) when arriving at Madinah was to establish the mosque. The Mosque in Islam has a central role in a Muslim’s life; the Prophet [sallaAllahu alayhi wa sallam] would spend a great amount of time in it meeting with people, receiving foreign delegates, co-ordinating activities, and holding public gatherings to discuss matters of public concern. It is the place at which the life of Muslims is centred.

In contrast, Allah condemns in very harsh terms those who prevent people from establishing the remembrance of Allah in mosques. Allah says in the Quran [translation of the meaning of (2:114)], ‘And who is a greater wrongdoer than one who forbids that Allah's Name be glorified and mentioned much in Allah's mosques and strives for their ruin? It was not fitting that such should themselves enter them except in fear. For them there is disgrace in this world, and they will have a great torment in the Hereafter.’

Allah described the destruction of places where He is worshipped as an action of mischief and corruption. Allah says in the Quran [translation of the meaning of (22:40)], ’For had it not been that Allah checks one set of people by means of another; monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques wherein the Name of Allah is mentioned much would surely have been pulled down’. Allah also commands us to help one another when doing righteous deeds by saying [translation of the meaning of (5:2)], ’Help one another in virtue, righteousness and piety; but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is severe in punishment’.

Based on these and other texts, I conclude that it is obligatory upon each and every Muslim who bears witness that Allah is the only God to be worshipped and Muhammad is His final Messenger to aid and help the establishment of this aforementioned mosque and any other mosque in the UK. This obligation is ever the more binding when we bring to our minds the unprecedented challenges the Muslim community in Britain is currently facing. This should oblige Muslims to be united and to be vigilant of any harmful or hidden agenda as well as of the possible ramifications of such debates.

Finally, it is not acceptable for any Muslim in the UK or elsewhere to refrain from supporting a mosque that he knows needs moral support, especially when seeing many adversaries actively working to stop Muslims from preserving their identity and religion. I warn the Muslims who are working and striving against the establishment of this mosque that they may in effect be aligning themselves with those who are classified as hindering people from the path of Allah as mentioned in the Quran; Allah says: [translation of the meaning of (22:25)], ‘Verily! Those who disbelieve and hinder (people) from the Path of Allah, and from the Sacred Masjid (at Makkah) which We have made (open) to (all) men - the dweller in it and the visitor from the country are equal there (as regards its sanctity and pilgrimage) - and whoever inclines to evil actions therein or to do wrong, him We shall cause to taste a painful torment."

Haitham Al-Haddad
11th Muharram 1428
29th Jan 2007.

http://www.islam21c.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40651&Itemid=44

[knowrass]

how can i offer a donation?

[Splinter-cell]

I don't agree with this project at all, it's just a ploy for the tabliqi jamaat to get a HQ, tragic things they're loads of mosques in london which are almost empty during your average mid week prayer and people want to waste 100 Million to build a moque, fill the one's u have first.

[SAINT GEORGE OF ARABIA]

from what i heard it's a masjid dirar..... and it's fully financed by british government.
how can a scholar write all these to call muslims to support the masjid that will be built for the pleasure of dunya...... undermine islam

and worse.........spy on muslims.

believe me.... the word kafir will be mamnu in that mosque.
the imam will use the term non muslim instead, they are paying for it afterall

w'Allahu mustan'an!!!

['Abd al-Kareem]

Assalamu 'alaikum

Not to insult the shuyookh or any Muslims supporting this masjid, but our money would be better off heading towards the poor Muslim countries and the mujahideen, assuming it actually reaches them. We don't need kaffirs building our masajid, thanks. We have enough empty masajid as it is, sadly. Like Splinter-cell said...work on filling up the small but empty masajid we have.

[Logic lover]

Quote from the fatwa:

''The first action carried out by the Prophet (sallaAllahu alayhi wa sallam) when arriving at Madinah was to establish the mosque''

Reply: Enough Masajid have been built or set up to follow the Sunnah of Muhammad, peace be upon him. Should the example of the Sunnah be used to build a big Masjid? Why should there be a big one apparently in a place which is not inhabitated locally by the Muslims?

If the funding or part of it is to come from the UK government, would they allow this Masjid to preach the true Islam? Masajid built on impiety did not receive the support from Muhammad, peace be upon him. I am not saying that the proposed one is of that category.

I am not refuting the fatwa either. The Sheikh's opinion is valid according to the Islamic laws inshaAllah, even if he makes a mistake.

[Yasir]

from what i heard it's a masjid dirar..... and it's fully financed by british government.Did it ever occur to you – had it been “fully financed by the British Government”, there wouldn’t have been a need for this article?

Is this the only mosque in the UK which will be receiving some funding?
What about the dozens of Muslim Schools, Muslim Charities, Muslim Community centres, Muslim Employment projects, rehabilitation programmes that annually receive government funding? Let alone to mention the tens of thousands of pounds foreign governments such as the Saudis donated towards constructing masaajid in the UK?

Regardless of our differences with Jamaa’atut-Tableegh and their methodology, there is quite a difference between co-operating with them to establish a masjid during a time of intense Islamophobia and rising anti-Muslim sentiments in the UK, and consenting to their every thought as an Islamic movement.

[abu imaan an-nepalee]

Regardless of our differences with Jamaa’atut-Tableegh and their methodology, there is quite a difference between co-operating with them to establish a masjid during a time of intense Islamophobia and rising anti-Muslim sentiments in the UK, and consenting to their every thought as an Islamic movement.

nice point bro maasha'ALLAH.

It is a time to mellow down and unify on as many points as we can innsha'ALLAH

[Abu_Zahid]

What is the current progress in regards the masjid? Is there much fierce opposition which could realistically prevent it from being built? When will we find out if its been given the green light or not, and who is going to decide?
Also, when is construction going to begin and when is it going to be ready inshaAllah if everything goes ahead?

[NAveed]

I think we should support the tableeghis.
They have istiqaamah

[Yasir]

UK Group Allays Grand Mosque Fears
By Emdad Rahman, IOL Correspondent

LONDON — With its plans for a grand mosque in London near the Olympics site met with bad publicity and ferocious smear campaigns, Tablighi Jamaat is trying to allay public fears, correct misinformation and clear stereotypes circulated by the media.

"Our role is to help put the planning arguments for a new mosque in the West Ham area to audiences including the local community, local and national politicians and leading stakeholders," a spokesman for the Abbey Mills Mosque Project told IslamOnline.net.

Tablighi Jamaat has recently hired Indigo Public Affairs, a leading public relations company, to counter bad publicity about its plan to build a grand mosque in Newham borough, in east London, near the 2012 Olympic Park.

Indigo, which is specialized in major planning battles, has created a website for the mosque and has put a short statement on YouTube to calm fears about its size. "The stories citing 70,000 or 40,000 have been intensely exaggerated," the spokesman told IOL, requesting anonymity.

"The proposed mosque will be able to accommodate 12,000, although as at present the regular weekly attendance for Thursday evenings is expected to be probably about half that figure.

"We currently attract about 3500 to our gatherings every Thursday and about 2000 on Friday."

He indicated that Tablighi Jamaat has not yet applied for permission to build the mosque as widely reported in the media.

"This will be submitted in September 2007 at the earliest."

Initial blueprints for the mosque, supposed to be built on an 18-acre site, envisaged a garden, playing field, school and a prayer space.

Twenty-five percent of the population in Newham, the mosque's site and London's most diverse borough, are Muslims.

Smear Campaigns

Livingstone said an anti-mosque e-mail campaign by tabloid Evening Standard aims to stir up hatred between Muslims and non-Muslims. No sooner had the group revealed its mosque plans than it came under ferocious smear campaign from far-right media and politicians.

The far-right British National Party has launched an online poll on its website, describing the planned mosque as the "the biggest symbol so far of the Islamic colonisation of England."

London Borough of Newham Councillor Allan Craig, an MP for the Christian Peoples Alliance, is also one of the mosque's arch opponents.

"Craig is a coward and a racist," charged 21-year-old Faisal Hammad, a Newham resident.

"True followers of the Abrahamic faiths have joined non-Muslims to offer support. Allan Craig feels he is onto a winner," he told IOL.

"He understands that these peaceful people will rarely debate with him for fear of repercussions and he is twisting the knife."

Graham Hyde, a plumber based from West Ham, shared Hammad's opinion on Craig. "Politicians like Craig would sell their mothers for a few lines in the papers," he told IOL.

"I am insulted at the lengths this man is going to cause disunity. He should be sacked from office."

Hyde said many of his lifelong neighbours have attended the makeshift mosque Tablighi Jamaat hopes to turn into a purpose-built mosque. "I have never had problems and I am not dropping my neighbours."

His apprentice Chris also does not mind the construction of the mosque if it will not compromise his religious freedoms. "I hear this place is going to be bigger than St Paul’s Cathedral. We are a Christian country, or we pretend to be anyway," he said.

"As long as my way of life is not interfered with I’m fine, so I wish these people all the best."

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has also defended the construction of the mosque as a symbol of communal harmony, blasting an anti-mosque e-mail campaign launched by the tabloid Evening Standard.

"The allegations in these emails are clearly designed to deliberately whip up communal hatred and contain content that is entirely untrue. They are clearly being spread in an organised way for unscrupulous political reasons," he said.

"This email campaign is a disgrace and should be clearly condemned as such. Besides the lies it is spreading for political purposes it aims to stir up hatred between Muslims and non-Muslims."

Apolitical

A large part of the campaign also focused on Tablighi Jamaat itself. In an article published on May 21, The Times described the group as "one of Islam’s most secretive sects" and an " ultra-orthodox religious movement."

It argued that "intelligence agencies" fear that the group is "a gateway to extremism."

The Abbey Mills Mosque Project spokesman refuted the allegations. "As a mainstream organisation we have always remained apolitical, whilst seeking to practice our faith peacefully, in an affable manner," he said.

"Due to this we refute any links to terrorism of any shape or form and this is evident through the efforts of the millions of citizens all over the world that are part of the Tablighi effort."

Gerald Hewitt, a social scientist from Edinburgh, says the blemish campaign against Tablighi Jamaat was due largely to a dearth of research papers on the group.

"Tablighis generally shun proselytising through TV, radio and the media, preferring face to face discussion," he told IOL.

"In an age obsessed with media coverage, it is easy to accuse Tablighis of all sorts, when all they are doing is trying to practice their faith peacefully and in private. Can’t people respect that?"

In earlier interviews, prominent British Muslim leaders refuted claims that Tablighi Jamaat was preaching violence. They blamed the fuss on the current climate of fear and rising Islamophobia in Britain.

Tablighi Jamaat is a non-violent group whose platform is preaching the tenets of Islam within the Muslim community itself. It is not involved in missionary or proselytizing efforts targeting non-Muslims. It was founded by Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalwi (1885-1944) in the late 1920s in the Mewat province of India. The group's membership expands to include a wide array of nationalities and diverse backgrounds. It has followers in approximately 160 countries.

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1179664664586&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

[Abu GG]

Regardless of all else, now that it's getting built inshaAllaah, the only way forward is for us all to be optimistic and support it. Even if you don't pull out your wallets

[JayshAllah]

Tablighi Jamaat has recently hired Indigo Public Affairs, a leading public relations company, to counter bad publicity about its plan to build a grand mosque in Newham borough, in east London, near the 2012 Olympic Park.

That's great. This is something that Muslims need to do more often. Israel spends hundreds of millions on public relations. We should too.

[JayshAllah]

I think we *should* support the Mosque and not be sectarian or hizbi about it. However, I think it's a bit of a stretch when people pass fatwas saying "you have an obligation to support this mosque or vote for our party, etc". It's kind of exploiting Islam to force people to do what you want them to do. I know that the Shia of Iraq went overboard and passed fatwas that you MUST vote for the Shia bloc (as in it is Haram not to do so). We should be a bit cautious when saying what is a Wajib, what is Haram, etc. I think the people founding this mosque should simply appeal for aid, but saying that it is Wajib is a bit of a stretch.

[Abu_Zahid]

The article is by Shaykh Haytham, who is not affiliated with Tableeghi Jamaat...so its not him calling for people to support "his" group or anything like that. He has nothing to do with them..So i dont think thats an issue here.

But like AbuGG said, I think that there is no benefit in criticising the project if it is going to go ahead anyway..therefore everyone should encourage all to support it inshaAllah.

[StudentofKnowledge]

from what i heard it's a masjid dirar..... and it's fully financed by british government. how can a scholar write all these to call muslims to support the masjid that will be built for the pleasure of dunya...... undermine islam and worse.........spy on muslims.

Where is your daleel for this? I hate it when Muslims accuse each other wihtout any proof.

How can you refute a well known scholar like Shaikh Haitham al-Haddad, with such disrespect? What the heck do you mean it will be built for the pleasure of dunya? You are making some strong accusations against your own Muslim brothers and sisters. Not to mention you lack of respect when talking about the fatawa of the scholars. May Allah guide you.

[MosDef]

The politics of mosque-building (http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9725332)
Constructing conflict (http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9725332)

All over the Western world, mosques and mosque-building plans are generating passionate arguments, particularly in local and municipal affairs. In many cities, both opponents and supporters of Muslim construction projects have realised that this issue engages voters far more than drains or libraries do.

In the east London borough of Newham, for example, proposals to build a “mega-mosque” to accommodate at least 12,000 worshippers have divided local people (of whom at least a quarter are Muslim) and drawn global attention. British Muslims have been lining up for or against Tablighi Jamaat, the conservative missionary movement behind the mosque. Some are dismayed at the thought that this hard-line group could soon become one of British Islam's most obvious faces, only a stone's throw from the site of the 2012 Olympics; others defend the movement's right to build, noting that Newham's existing mosques are visibly overflowing during Friday prayers.

In Newham council, a new party—the Christian Peoples Alliance—has sprung up, mainly to articulate non-Muslim resistance to the mosque. And on the website (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ScrapMegaMosque/) of Gordon Brown, the prime minister, an experiment in e-democracy had an awkward result: some 277,000 people used a click to register their opposition to the mega-mosque, much the biggest sign of voter interest that the site attracted.

[al-omari]

The Sufi traitors Irfan Alawi and Stephen Schwartz have written against building this masjid.

[Intoodeep]

Regardless of all else, now that it's getting built inshaAllaah, the only way forward is for us all to be optimistic and support it. Even if you don't pull out your wallets

Who told you its getting built? its not yet, im not sure they have even applied for planning permission

[SAINT GEORGE OF ARABIA]

Where is your daleel for this? I hate it when Muslims accuse each other wihtout any proof.

How can you refute a well known scholar like Shaikh Haitham al-Haddad, with such disrespect? What the heck do you mean it will be built for the pleasure of dunya? You are making some strong accusations against your own Muslim brothers and sisters. Not to mention you lack of respect when talking about the fatawa of the scholars. May Allah guide you.

the mosque is being built for the olympics if that's a valid intention to build a masjid, Allahu musta'an!!!

scholar like who? i never heard of him, yes may Allah guide me.... and you too.
try and read ibn rajaab al hanbali's explanation of the very first hadith in every book of hadiths........ about intentions.
and teach the hadith to your "well known scholars"

[AkramUKConv]

http://www.mpacuk.org/images/stories/mpacuk/mpaclogo.jpg

Zulfi Bukhari CEO MPACUK:
Why the Mega Mosque should not be built (http://www.mpacuk.org/content/view/3933/1/)

MPACUK have never shied away from exposing the hypocracy and special interests of the rich and powerful. In this Podcast, the Mega Mosque and its proposers are taken to task for building a 'white elephant' whilst the urgent needs of the Ummah are ignored and asks the questions 'If Tabligui Jamaat want Muslims to support them, what are they willing to do to gain that support?'

http://i6.tinypic.com/522n1b4.jpg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrLh80xqrAE)




.

[SAINT GEORGE OF ARABIA]

yup !!!! a real masjid diraar...

designed to divide the ummah

[Yasir]

TERROR MOSQUE, OLYMPIC MOSQUE OR WEST HAM MOSQUE?

Date: Friday 7th September 2007
Time: 6.15 pm - 8.30 pm
Venue: Ithaca House, 27 Romford Road, Stratford, London, E15 4LJ

[Note: if due to unforseen circumstances the venue is changed at short notice, please make your way to the following address: Froud Centre, 1 Toronto Avenue, off Romford Road, Manor Park, London, E12 5JF]

A debate with Abdul Khaliq Mian (Newham Respect Coalition) and Councillor Alan Craig (Newham Christian People's Alliance).

Far away from the oil fields of the Middle East, in the early 1990s, members of the Anjuman Welfare Trust (Tablighi Jamaat) through sheer sweat and hard work in the rag-tag factories of East London, managed to purchase a disused and contaminated area of land near Abbey Mills from Newham Council. Their intention was to serve the growing needs of the Muslim community in East London and beyond by building a mosque and community centre.

If we now fast forward to 2007 - post 9/11, 7/7, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the announcement that the 2012 Olympic Games are to be held in London, we have a situation where this non-descript piece of land in East London has become the subject of intense controversy, capturing the attention of both local and international media.

Nearly 1 in 8 Londoners consider themselves to be Muslim. Up to half of those living near the area where the Olympic Games will be taking place are Muslim. Up to a third of the countries participating will be Muslim majority nations. So why is it that certain individuals supported by neo-con think tanks and Zionist inclined newspapers have decided to target this project, whose administrators are affiliated with Tablighi Jamaat, a worldwide movement known for being apolitical? Why is this mosque project being labelled as a potential source of terrorist activities just because some of the individuals involved happen to share similar theological roots as the Taliban?

Is it not ironic that this is happening now despite all the talk of diversity and multiculturalism - one of the principal reasons why London won. Note the hijab wearing children on the TV screens when London's victory was announced in contrast to the recent French experience of "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité"! What is all the fuss about? Will the area become an "Islamic Emirate of Stratford" or perhaps something more akin to a Cordoba of the past - a shining example of genuine tolerance, diversity, dialogue and civilisation?

To debate the issue we have Abdul Khaliq Mian who has been an active member of the community in Newham over the last 30 years. He has contributed significantly towards the development of the West Ham mosque project and is currently a member of the Respect Party. His counterpart will be Alan Craig, councillor for the Canning Town South ward in Newham. He is also leader of the Newham branch of the Christian People's Alliance and has actively campaigned against the mosque claiming that the Tablighi Jamaat are funded by the Saudis and have terrorist links, and that the project would damage community relations if it were to go ahead.

* Nearest Station: Stratford
* Situated near the Ibis Hotel in Stratford

For more details and to attend contact:
Tel: 07956 983 609
E-mail: info@islamiccircles.org. . . . . .

[Yasir]

Muslim group behind ‘mega-mosque’ seeks to convert all Britain
Andrew Norfolk
September 10, 2007

A Muslim group that wants to open a giant £100 million mosque in London has set its sights on “winning the whole of Britain to Islam”.

Tablighi Jamaat aims to build an Islamic complex near to the site of the 2012 Olympic stadium, with a mosque for 12,000 people, by far the largest religious building in Britain.

The organisation, which has millions of followers worldwide, insists that it is a peaceful, apolitical revivalist movement that promotes Islamic consciousness among individual Muslims. However, intelligence agencies have cautioned that the group’s ability to fire young men with a zeal for Islam acts as a staging post, for some, along a path that leads to jihadist terrorism.

Kafeel Ahmed, the Indian doctor who died from burns last month after trying to set off a car bomb at Glasgow Airport, is the latest in a line of terrorists for whose initial radicalisation Tablighi Jamaat has been blamed. The group (literally, the preaching party) belongs to the ultra-conservative Deobandi school of thought within Sunni Islam, whose adherents run more than 600 of Britain’s 1,350 mosques.

In recent days The Times has exposed the virulently anti-Western creed of some British Deobandis who preach that non-Muslims are an evil and corrupting influence. Their defensive, isolationist approach to life in Britain is shared by many British supporters of Tablighi Jamaat.

One leading advocate, Ebrahim Rangooni, has said that the movement seeks to “rescue the ummah [the global Muslim community] from the culture and civilisation of the Jews, the Christians and [other] enemies of Islam”. Its aim, he wrote, is to “create such hatred for their ways as human beings have for urine and excreta”.

Mr Rangooni has also given warning to parents that non-Muslim schools “turn humans into animals” and that sending a Muslim child to a British college “is as dangerous as throwing them into hell with your own hands”.

Representatives of Tablighi Jamaat refused to attend a public meeting on Friday to discuss plans for the “mega mosque” in West Ham, even though the debate was organised by a Muslim group.

Tablighi Jamaat was founded in 1926, in India, by a Deobandi scholar, Muhammad Ilyas, who wanted to raise Islamic awareness among rural Muslims in south Asia. He promised them that by obeying Islamic laws and following the example of the Prophet Muhammad in their personal lives they would one day “dominate over non-believers” and become “masters of everything on this earth”.

Ishaq Patel, Tablighi Jamaat’s first amir (leader) in Britain, is said to have been on pilgrimage in Mecca when Ilyas’s successor gave him a long-term mission to win “the whole of Britain to Islam”.

Yoginder Sikand, a Muslim expert on the movement, says that its ethos of “social and cultural separatism and insularity” seeks “to minimise contacts with people of other faiths”.

The self-segregation that this encourages is evident in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, where the group has its European headquarters. The Tablighi Jamaat complex – housing its large Markazi mosque and a Deobandi seminary called the Islamic Institute of Education - is based in the Savile Town area, which has an 88 per cent Asian population. The overwhelming majority of its 5,000 residents are Muslims from Pakistan or the Gujarat region of India and some, at home and at work, have little contact with nonMuslims.

It was on the advice of a Tablighi Jamaat scholar that Aishah Azmi, a Dewsbury teaching assistant, refused to remove her full-face veil in the class-room while helping young children who were learning to speak English.

Mr Sikand says: “There is little doubt that the sense of cultural separatism and heightened [Islamic] identity consciousness fostered by Tablighi Jamaat can be taken advantage of by more assertive Islamist groups that have a more explicit political agenda.”

One of the suicide bombers who attacked London in July 2005, Shehzad Tanweer, studied at the Deobandi seminary in Dewsbury and Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the 7/7 terror plot, was a regular worshipper at the adjoining mosque. Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, was said to have been influenced by Tablighi Jamaat, several of whose adherents were also among those arrested last year over an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners.

Shabbir Daji, a trustee and secretary of the Tablighi Jamaat mosque in Dewsbury, told The Times that the movement’s aim was “unity among all humanity”. He said that it had no hidden agenda. “We never come out on demonstrations against the Government,” he said. “Our aim is to make each and everyone . . . a better Muslim.”

More than 250,000 people have signed a Downing Street petition against the London mosque. Local opposition is being led by Alan Craig, a Christian Peoples Alliance member of Newham council. He accuses Tablight Jamaat of being “a separatist sect that preaches a them-and-us approach to relations with the nonMuslim community” and encourages the creation of “Islamic enclaves” in Britain.

“There are many moderate Muslims who object to the teachings of Tablighi Jamaat. They know that it preaches hostility to non-Muslims. Some have friends and family members who have been radicalised by this movement.”

Irfan al Alawi, international director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, says the missionary work of Tablighi Jamaat acts as “a recruitment agency for jihad” in Afghanistan, the occupied territories and Iraq. “They go around deprived areas of British towns and cities, knocking on doors and urging young Muslims to come to their gatherings,” he said.

“The mega-mosque complex would become a flagship for Tablighi Jamaat’s mission to indoctrinate Muslims with a hatred of the West and the kuffar [non-Mulims].”

Tabligh Jamaat is expected to submit a formal planning application for the West Ham mosque before the end of the year.Source: Times Online (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2419524.ece)

[Yasir]

Christian councillor hinges mayoral bid on ‘mega-mosque’ opposition
Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2008, 9:34 (GMT)

One of the leading opponents to plans for a giant mosque to be built next to the site of the 2012 Olympics has launched his campaign for Mayor and the London Assembly. If approved, the so-called mega-mosque will be Europe's largest.

Cllr Alan Craig, who leads the Christian Peoples Alliance group on Newham Council, says the mosque and the highly controversial Islamic group behind it pose major issues for the future of London, especially after leading Muslim groups came out to endorse pro-mosque Ken Livingstone's mayoral effort.

“Europe's biggest mosque project at West Ham must be challenged for the sake of open diverse London," said Cllr Craig.

Councillor Craig is running as candidate for London Mayor and first candidate for the London Assembly party list for both the Christian Peoples Alliance and the Christian Party. The joint ticket is offering Londoners ‘The Christian Choice’.

Cllr Craig has been vocal in his opposition to the plans of the separatist Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat to build the giant mosque in West Ham. The site is just one mile from the ward area Cllr Craig represents as a Newham councillor.

Speaking at his London Mayoral launch next to the proposed site in West Ham, Cllr Craig said: “Londoners are right to be proud of our diverse and multi-ethnic capital where openness and tolerance are vital for our thriving world-class city.

“This proposed national landmark mosque stands for separateness and secrecy and against social cohesion. It will do London no good.

“Ken Livingstone has tried to shut down democratic debate by smearing legitimate opponents and condemning the campaign against the mosque. Yet the same Ken Livingstone has publicly hugged and welcomed an intolerant gay-stoning, wife-beating fundamentalist like Sheikh al-Qaradawi to City Hall on Londoners’ behalf.

“The Mayor’s equalities mask is slipping and his political faith-bias is showing. The aim of my campaign will be to unite Londoners around a more optimistic and positive approach, rooted in the Christian ethic of love for our neighbour.”

Concern about the mosque will be one part of the The Christian Choice election effort, "Hope for London 2008". The campaign’s five key commitments are to back families and marriage, end the culture of youth violence, provide more affordable homes, reject the Olympics mega mosque, and tackle inequality with more jobs.

In 2000 and 2004, nearly 100,000 people gave a vote to the CPA. If the same number vote for The Christian Choice list this time, Alan Craig will cross the 5 per cent threshold for the London Assembly. Second on the list is Christian Party activist, Paula Warren, a UK-born business woman and single mother of Caribbean parentage.

Director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, Dr Irfan al-Alawi joined the launch to show his support for Cllr Craig's opposition to the mosque.Source: Christian Today (http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.councillor.hinges.mayoral.bid.on.megamos que.opposition/16841.htm)