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Green Lane Mosque to host anti-semitic sectarian preachers; BMSD led coalition urges GLM to reconsider: Letter to Mr Tassadaq Hussain

18/12/2009

Mr Tassadaq Hussain
Public Relations Officer
Green Lane Mosque
20 Green Lane
Small Heath
Birmingham
B9 5DB

18th December 2009

Dear Mr Hussain,
 
The supporters and signatories of this letter are a broad coalition of people of different religious and non-religious beliefs, led by British Muslims for Secular Democracy.  Yesterday, the Quilliam Foundation (www.quilliamfoundation.org) announced that you have invited the anti-semitic and sectarian preachers Faisal al-Jasem and Abdul Aziz As-Sadhan to speak at a conference at Green Lane Mosque from 25th to 27th December 2009. We have read the teachings of these speakers, set out in the Quilliam press release, with great alarm.

We urge you to reconsider your decision to give these two speakers a platform.  Freedom of expression is a cherished right, but one which comes with concordant responsibilities to refrain from using threatening words or behaviour that stir up hatred against groups of people defined by their religious beliefs, or lack of belief. Incitement to religious hatred is also a criminal offence, under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.

Recordings of these two preachers’ incendiary speeches can be found on their websites.  In one of his speeches Sheikh Faisal al-Jasem refers to Jews as “among the arch enemies of this great religion,” and asks his listeners to “prepare all the weapons we can” in the context of the “means of victory.”
 
In another speech, Sheikh Abdul Aziz As-Sadhan describes “the band of Jews” as having “amassed despicable qualities and vile characteristics” and claims they have “defaced mankind.”

Sheikh Abdul Aziz As-Sadhan is also responsible for hate speech against Shia Muslims.  While discussing the conflicts in Kashmir, Palestine and Lebanon, he says of the Jews, “They became like dogs with their Shia brethren.”

British Muslim for Secular Democracy and our friends strongly condemn racism and religious hatred in all its forms.  We stand shoulder to shoulder with people of different religious and non-religious beliefs who contribute towards the shared goal of a peaceful and cohesive society.  We proudly defend religious freedom, a vital component of any healthy democracy and free society.

We understand that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been a regular benefactor of Green Lane Mosque.  As you know, King Abdullah has made strenuous efforts to promote interfaith dialogue over the last two years after meeting the Pope. These efforts were also applauded by President Obama in his speech to the Muslim world at Cairo this year. Rather than inviting preachers of hate, we would encourage you to develop more inter-faith dialogue and community work in Birmingham and across the UK through your network of affiliated mosques.

Just as we all came together to demonstrate against the incitement of hatred against Muslims by the far-right group “Stop the Islamification of Europe” outside Harrow Central Mosque, we call on Green Lane Mosque to rescind their invitation to these preachers of hatred, and for all people of goodwill to join us in opposing racism, sectarianism, and bigotry.

Signed

Dr Shaaz Mahboob
Vice-Chair, British Muslims for Secular Democracy
M: 07961 365 751
E: shaaz@bmsd.org.uk

Tehmina Kazi
Director, British Muslims for Secular Democracy
T: 0207 631 4175
E: director@bmsd.org.uk

Co-signatories:
Sheikh Usama Hasan, Imam, London
Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, BMSD Trustee
Rabbi Dr Margaret Jacobi, Birmingham Progressive Synagogue
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, Maidenhead Synagogue
The Revd Dr Toby Howarth, Inter Faith Adviser to the Bishop of Birmingham
Andrew Copson, British Humanist Association
Khalid Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Perry Barr

Notes:
British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSD) are a group of Muslim democrats who are committed to fundamental democratic values including as legal and constitutional equality for all, equal rights for women and minorities, and religious freedom for all.

Appendix

Sheikh Faisal al-Jassim
‘The Jews and this religion’
This talk by Al-Jassim is available on his own website. The date and location of the talk are not listed.

 

فيصل الجاسم

اليهود و هذا الدين

ايها المسلمون، يا أمة محمد يا امة دين الاسلام الذي جمع خيري الدنيا ة الآخرة، إن دينكم هذا له أعداء يتربصون به الدوائر و يتحينون الفرص و يغزونه من كل وجه، يغزونه من جهة العقيدة و الفكر و يغزونه من جهة الاخلاق و يغزونه من الناحية العسكرية ليوهنوا أبنائه و يشردونهم كل مشرد و يمزقونهم كل ممزق و من أعتى هؤلاء الاعداء اليهود الذين لا يألون جهداً في محاربة هذا الدين و إفساد أهله... فهم من ألد هذا الدين العظيم

“Oh Muslims, oh ummah of Muhammad, oh ummah of the religion of Islam that has combined the good of this life and the afterlife, your religion has enemies that stalk it waiting for an opportunity to attack it, and they attack it through every angle. They attack it from the direction of belief and thought, they attack it from the direction of morals and they attack it militarily to weaken its followers, displace them and tear them apart and the Jews are among the most potent of those enemies who do not spare any effort in fighting this religion and corrupting its people … they are among the arch enemies of this great religion.”
01:47
http://www.f-aljasem.com/player.aspx?paths=files/sounds/82_171.rm&type=audio

تعالى و أن نرجع إلى دين الله تبارك و تعالى و ندعو إلى السنة و التوحيد فإذا رجع الناس إلى ذلك رفع بعد ذلك علم الجهاد لإعلاء كلمة الله جل و على و تحكيم شريعته ... و يجب علينا كذلك أن نعد كل ما نستطيع من سلاح فنأخذ بالاسباب المادية و المعنوية فمتى تحققت فيها هذه الامور نصرنا الله جل و على

“We have to be prepared for those enemies [the Jews] and for every enemy of Islam and Muslims and we have to prepare the means of victory and be sincere in our intention to Allah, and we have to return to the religion of Allah and call towards the Sunnah and Tawhid, and if people returned to that the banner of jihad would be lifted to raise the word of Allah and to implement his shariah … and we have to also prepare all the weapons we can and prepare the material and moral means, so when these things are achieved Allah will help us to victory.”  
19:30
http://www.f-aljasem.com/player.aspx?paths=files/sounds/82_171.rm&type=audio
The history of al-Rafida’s [Shias] jihad:

 

تاريخ جهاد الرافضة

إذاً الجهاد في سبيل الله هو القتال لإعلاء كلمة الله تبارك و تعالى أي لإعلاء دين الله جل و علا لإعلاء التوحيد و قمع الشرك و أهله كما قال تبارك و تعالى آمراً بقتال جميع الكافرين و المشركين فقال "و قاتلوهم حتى لا تكون فتنة" جعل نهاية القتال، لا ينتهي القتال حتى تنقطع الفتنة و الفتنة كما هو معلوم المراد به الشرك أي أن الجهاد هو قتال لقمع الشرك و إعلاء كلمة الله تبارك و تعالى و أن يحكم بشرع الله عز و جل في الارض أن يحكم الناس في أديانهم و في شرائعهم فهو قتال لنشر التوحيد  ، قتال لرفع كلمة الله تبارك و تعالى و قمع الشرك. هذا هو المجاهد في سبيل الله و علق عليه النبي صلى الله عليه ة سلم الاجور الكثيرة و هناك نوع من الجهاد و هو جهاد دفع الصائل و يسميه العلماء بجهاد الدفع و هذا إن احتسبه الانسان و كان مؤمناً و غير مشرك و أراد دفع من صال عليه و تعدى عليه فإنه يؤجر على ذلك لكن ليس له تلك الفضيلة في الاجر كجهاد الطلب و جهاد نشر الدعوة لكنه من الجهاد


So jihad for the sake of Allah is fighting to raise the word of Allah meaning to raise the religion of Allah and to raise tawhid and crush polytheism and its people as Allah has said and ordered to fight all kafirs and polytheists and he said “and fight them so there is no fitna” and he has made the end of fighting, the fighting does not stop until fitna is stopped and fitna as it is known denotes polytheism, meaning that jihad is fighting to crush polytheism and raise the word of Allah and make governance in the earth according to the sharia of Allah, that people are governed by their religions and religious decrees, so it is fighting to spread tawhid, fighting to raise the word of Allah and crush polytheism. This is the mujahid for the sake of Allah to whom The Prophet has pinned many rewards, and there is another kind of jihad which is defensive jihad and the scholars call it the Jihad of defense, and this was carried about by a person who was a believer and not a polytheist and wanted to defend himself against an aggressor he will be rewarded for that, but it does not have the same virtue in reward as offensive jihad and the jihad of da’wah, however it is a part of jihad.
06:22
 http://www.f-aljasem.com/player.aspx?paths=files/sounds/20092_913_912.rm&type=audio

Sheikh Abdul Aziz As-Sadhan
These following quotes are from a 3-part Friday sermon that As-Sadhan gave entitled ‘The Jews’. Although the date and location of these talks are not listed, all three parts of the talk are available on his own website.
‘The Jews’ - Part 1/3

 

عبد العزيز السدحان

اليهود 1

إن نشاز البشر و شراذم الخلق من يهود قبحها الله لطخت عنصر الخلق و شوهت بني الانسان. إن شراذم اليهود قد جمعوا من الصفات الدنيئة و الخصال الخسيسة ما تكفي الواحدة من تلك الصفات بالدلالة على دنائة مقصدهم و عظيم خبثهم فكيف بتلك الصفات مجتمعة فالقول أكذب الخلق ألسنة و أخلفهم موعدة

“The oddities of humans and bands of creation that are Jews (may Allah make them ugly) have smeared creation and defaced mankind. The band of the Jews have amassed despicable qualities and vile characteristics of which only one of those qualities would be enough to indicate the sordidness of their cause and the greatness of their malice, so what if all those traits were combined in them?”
02:05
http://www.a-alsadhan.com/player1.php?file_id=132&filename=1246406033.rm
‘The Jews’ - Part 2/3

2

التاريخ يشهد بملء فيه أن عصبة يهود كانوا وراء كل فتنة هوجاء و كل حرب ضروس إما بمباشرة و إما بتهيئة الامر بليل و بالسعي بإثارته وفي خروجه فحركة القرامطة و ثورة الزنج ... كان اليهود رافعي ألويتها في السر و العلن ... و من ذلك الحرب العالمية الاولى و الثانية كانت يهود وراء إشعال فتيلها كما ذكر ذلك غير واحد من المؤرخين الغربيين و غيرهم ثم سعوا جاهدين حتى أسقطوا االخلافة فتم لهم ذلك بعدما صنعوا أحدهم و هيؤا الامر... فألغي دين الاسلام من الدولة و اصبحت قوانين الغرب حاكة و الناس محكومين...

 


“History testifies that the band of Jews were responsible for every disorder and fierce war whether directly or by preparing it by night or by encouraging it like the Qaramita movement [9th/10th Century heretical Islamic movement] and the revolt of the Zanj [9th Century slave revolt] … the Jews were the flag bearers for them in secret and in public … and among them are the first and second world wars which the Jews were responsible for igniting their flames, as is mentioned by more than one Western historian and others, then they tirelessly worked until they abolished the Khilafah after they had created someone to take over and prepared the scene … then the religion of Islam was abolished from the state and the laws of the west were put in place and the people became subjected to them.”
07:39
http://www.a-alsadhan.com/player1.php?file_id=133&filename=1246406150.rm

مع إخوانهم من أهل الرفض و غيرهم فأشعلوا نار الفتيل و إستباحوا دماء المسلمين...

“And among their latest and biggest issues and not their last is what happened in the case of Kashmir then what happened in the case of Palestine and Lebanon, as they became like dogs with their Shia brethren and others and ignited the fire and made lawful the blood of Muslims…”
09:10
http://www.a-alsadhan.com/player1.php?file_id=133&filename=1246406150.rm

‘The Jews’ – Part 3/3

3

معاشر المسلمين، و من أعظم أسباب قوة اليهود أن جميع أمم الكفر تقف موقف المدافع بل الداعم لليهود ذلك لأنهم يعلمون أن الاسلام هو العدو الحقيقي الذي تلتقي عليه جميع مذاهبهم و نحلهم و لذا سخروا نفوذهم تلميحاً و تصريحاً في دعم قضايا اليهود في منظمات حقوق الانسان زعموا أو في مجلس الخوف زعموا فتكالبت أمم الكفر على الاسلام عامة و على أهل فلسطين بخاصة فأزهقت أرواح و سالت دماء و هدمت مساجد و حرقت بيوت...


“Oh Muslims, and among the biggest reasons of the Jews’ power is that all the nations of kufr defend and support the Jews, because they know that Islam is the real enemy that all their sects meet upon, that is why they have utilized their influence privately and publically in supporting the causes of the Jews in the so called Human rights organizations or in the Fear Council [Security Council] and the nations of kufr became like dogs against Islam in general and the people of Palestine specifically, so lives were taken and blood was spilt and mosques were destroyed and houses burnt … “
09:48
http://www.a-alsadhan.com/player1.php?file_id=134&filename=1246406296.rm