Why the world needs to remember Sir Gerald Kaufman
Britain’s oldest serving MP, Labour’s Sir Gerald Kaufman, died last night at the age of 86. Kaufman was distinguished due to the fact that he was both Jewish and an outspoken critic of the criminality of the state of “Israel”. He was born in Britain to Polish Jewish immigrants and raised as an orthodox Jew. He became an MP in 1970 for constituents in Manchester. Over the years, he became well known for using his voice and position to call for justice for Palestinians, sanctions against “Israel” and generally raising awareness of atrocities the state of “Israel” committed against non-Jews,…
Church of England’s turmoil over “gay marriage report”
Church of England facing “split” The Church of England has been said to be in “turmoil” after its General Synod (legislative body) debated for hours last night on a “controversial” report produced by Bishops after three years of conversations, costing a reported £300,000. The controversy around the report was due to its opening a debate around same sex relationships and its official reinforcing of the status quo of officially ordained marriages being between one man and one woman. After hours of debate the motion to “take note” of the paper was rejected as it failed to reach a consensus among…
Shocking report exposes secret “Human Slaughterhouse”
Today Amnesty International has published a harrowing 48-page report, exposing the “cold-blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners” secretly and systematically in just one particular Syrian government jail called Saydnaya. An estimated 13,000 people have been hanged there in the past five years, by mass hangings of up to 50 at a time, after beating, torture and sexual assault. They are overwhelmingly, according to the report, ordinary civilians believed to have been against the Assad government; a common modus operandi of the Syrian regime silently known by the world for years. Over the course of the year-long investigation until December…
More Than One in Three Rohingya Refugee Sisters Raped
Shocking news from the recent Extraordinary Meeting in Malaysia for the Rohingya crisis by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation One in three women interviewed by BenarNews this week in Bangladesh’s refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar claimed they were raped by security forces before their escape. A BenarNews correspondent, who spent four days visiting the camps in southeastern Cox’s Bazar district, reported that 17 of the 54 Rohingya women she interviewed said they were raped while Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown in northern Rakhine state, after nine police officers were attacked and killed by an armed Rohingya insurgent group…
Summary of Our Legal Case Against Prevent
What follows is a summary and some reflections from the four-day hearing at the High Court for the judicial review into the UK Government’s counter-terrorism strategy. It was a great educational experience for me personally, after which I am genuinely optimistic and happy—by the Grace of Allah. There were many shocking admissions that the defendant—on behalf of the Home Secretary—had made throughout the case over the last few weeks, some of which will be mentioned here and others in due course, God willing. Of course this is partly based on my own notes and recollections of what happened in court,…
Parliamentary Report Criticises ‘Extremism’ Policies
Today the Joint Committee on Human Rights, made up of members of the House of Lords and House of Commons, released a report which has finally injected some much-needed logic and reason into the “counter-extremism” arena. Many from within and without the Muslim community have welcomed this critical assessment of the government’s repeated appeals for more and more powers to curtail so-called “extremist” beliefs and speech. The report focuses on several key areas, highlighting what the Muslim community has shown concern over for many years. Considering the usual equivocal, diplomatic tone of inquiries—exemplified in the Chilcot report—today’s report was surprisingly…
Guidance on the EU Referendum
It has been almost four months since I first shared some thoughts about the EU referendum and its potential impact on Muslims. I had hoped that since then rational arguments for and against the Brexit would have been put forward for the public to consider and make an informed decision. However, unfortunately a lot of what we have seen is—like in other matters both sacred and profane—people arguing passionately for their own viewpoint or interests and studiously ignoring the difficult questions of their interlocutors. I have long wondered whether Muslims have a horse in the EU race, so to speak,…
Podcast – Was the government caught deceiving Muslims?
https://soundcloud.com/islam21c/podcast-was-the-government-caught-deceiving-muslims Why did the government go to such great lengths to cover up its covert funding of some "independent Muslim organisations"? Click above to listen to the latest podcast with your host Dr Salman Butt, and hear what Ibrahim Mohamoud (CAGE), Asim Qureshi (CAGE), Dr Ben Hayes, Prof Arun Kundnani and Dr Rizwaan Sabir have to say on the topic. Also read: “The Home Office is Creating Mistrust within Muslim Civil Society” Download the Cage Report 'We are Completely Independent' Source: www.islam21c.com
Podcast – London Mayoral Vote Today
https://soundcloud.com/islam21c/the-muslim-vote-london-mayoral-elections To Listen to the Podcast click play in the player above For those who are yet to vote, not sure whether they want to or are sitting on the fence undecided on who to choose here is a short Podcast interview that may help. Join Dr Salman Butt in conversation with Azad Ali, Sh Haitham al-Haddad and Anas Altikriti for this elections special podcast. Today is the only day a vote can be cast, the deadline is 10pm so there is still plenty of time. For any information on how, what, where etc visit the official mayoral voting site here…
David Cameron Caught Smearing Sh Suliman Gani
How a south London Imām found himself at the centre of British politics The last few days have seen a turn for the worse in the Tory campaign for London Mayor. The unsavoury tactics started quite early on when Zac Goldsmith’s campaign team started a slew of guilty-by-association arguments against Labour’s Sadiq Khan. They combed through his history and social networks for any instances where he ‘shared a platform’ with so-called ‘extremists’. A particularly embarrassing example was when Shaykh Suliman Gani—a prominent mainstream Imām in South London—was smeared by Goldsmith as “one of the most repellent people in Britain.” Shaykh…
