You really have to look hard to find an extremist church or a synagogue in Britain. Sure there are some African origin churches that are decidedly odd and have hard line attitudes to things like gay sex for example, but I’ve come across very few churches, and only a handful of Christian individuals who I would class as extremist in a worrying way. There are also no synagogues to my knowledge that could clearly be seen to have links with violent extremists. Of course there are Jewish communities, such as the Charadim who live separate lives, not only from the majority non Jewish population, but also from other Jews, who some Charadim may consider as not Jewish enough in terms of religious observance. There are few, if any, synagogues which contain within them those plotting violence or who have called for religious violence or as this story about Exeter Mosque relates to, taking money from men of violence.
This sort of extremist violent behaviour is anathema to the vast majority of Christians and Jews of my acquaintance. Christianity and Judaism may have its political and religious hard liners, such as the Christian Exclusive Brethren and the Jewish Defence League, but neither of these groups are linked to actual terrorism on a comparable scale to that which we are seeing from Islam and its followers, or are accused of having the worrying links to terrorism that too many Islamic clerics seem to have.
Islam, on the other hand, is a completely different kettle of rotting fish. There have been numerous occasion where mosques both in the UK and overseas where violence and hatred are preached and where those involved have links or alleged links to violent extremism. The much vaunted Finsbury Park Mosque, one that is now said by the great and the good to be a model of moderation, even that is alleged to have Hamas supporters on its management team.
The latest case regarding allegations of extremism or support for extremism relates to a mosque in Exeter where it seems all appears not quite well with the mosque, with some its actions and those involved in running it. While of course I concede that there are a vast number of Muslims who either reject terrorism outright or who are mere relatively harmless cultural Muslims, we should not let that fact blind us to the reality of the situation that extremism is not a minor problem when it comes to Islam.
The truth is that although there are a lot of peaceful Muslims, there are a lot of Muslim individuals who are inclined to violence and extremism and their actions are hidden away in mosques and Islamic ghettos. These people sometimes only come to light when they are either nicked, explode somewhere or as in this case are the subject of a relatively rare anti Islamic extremism article from the BBC. I shall paste the BBC story below about alleged dodgy donations to Exeter mosque and contacts with extremists and add my comments, as this story is decidedly odd and very worrying. This story could show us that this could be yet another mosque that has been infiltrated by extremists or is partially funded by extremists. As is the usual policy for this blog the original BBC text is in italics whereas this blog’s comments will be in plain text.
The BBC said:
The trustees of a mosque are facing questions about donations they accepted from a controversial Muslim cleric.
My own personal opinion is that there maybe enough suspicions of questionable behaviour to warrant a police investigation or at the very least an investigation by the Charity Commission into this mosque. The Exeter Mosque and Cultural Centre is a registered charity (Reg No 274095 ) and as such is required to adhere to certain standards of governance and record keeping. If these standards have not been met then the Charity Commission should take some form of punitive action against this mosque. The involvement of the Charity Commission in investigating this mosque is essential as there are claims that money was donated to the mosque by an al-Qaida supporting Islamic cleric.
Videos have emerged of Sheikh Sadiq Al-Ghariani expressing support for al-Qaeda aligned militia groups in Libya.
That’s pretty clear evidence of support for extremists by this Sheikh isn’t it? If you was running an organisation that you desperately needed and wanted to paint as ‘moderate’ and which was helping to sell the lie to Devon’s schoolchildren that Islam is a religion of peace, would you accept £50k or any money from such a terror supporting cleric? I would not. Such a donation would so obviously be tainted and should be refused.
An online petition is calling on those who run the mosque in Devon to clarify how much money has been received and what it was spent on.
I’m not surprised that there’s a petition about what has allegedly gone on in this mosque. What is interesting, and maybe not so surprising, is what the BBC is NOT telling us about this petition. It’s very very detailed in its allegations, which the BBC story is not. The petition, linked below, appears to have come from a bunch of genuinely moderate Muslims who are horrified about the effect these extremism links could have on local Muslims and their public image.
There were complaints about how the alleged £50k donation was handled, complaints about links with the above-mentioned extremist preacher who is banned from the UK (an unusual occurrence for any Islamic preacher visiting Britain these days), complaints of nepotism on the management board and theological complaints such as mosque trustees holding alcohol sales licences. There were also allegations that a man had been assaulted about which there was police involvement and claims that people who may be criminal were involved in the mosque’s management. These are of course at this stage only allegations and claims but they are definitely claims that in my view should be thoroughly investigated.
Trustees of the mosque said they “do not have any links to any form of extremism”.
After reading the allegations made by those behind the petition for ‘inclusivity, transparency and accountability’ at Exeter Mosque, I’m really not sure that I shall take the mosque trustees word on that without some form of evidence to prove their position.
They also said they were not aware of Mr Ghariani’s activities in Libya.
I’m not totally sure I believe this either, and I’ll tell you why. It’s because they should have known or made it their business to know about this cleric. Not having anything to do with this Sheikh should have been a priority policy for the trustees. We are not living in a world with the communications technology of the 19th century. We are in one where the data pertaining to the activities of extremist Islamic clerics is readily available and with a fraction of the work needed to do the research than would have been required just 50 years ago. Other people in other religions can suss out or take the time to learn to suss out which of their co-religionists are normal and which are violent nutcases or extremists. This is a very thin excuse from the mosque trustees.
In 2015, the same year the cleric was reportedly making donations to the mosque in Exeter, he can be seen praising the violence of jihadi fighters in Libya.
This mosque and its trustees are looking more and more questionable as I read more deeply into both the BBC story and the allegations that it is based on.
In one video he says: “Those of them who die, are dying for the sake of God.”
That is undeniable support for jihad. There should be no question now about there being a need for a thorough investigation of this mosques activities and management. This Sheikh is someone whom the mosque should not have touched with a bargepole.
Tallha Abdulrazaq, the son of a former trustee of the Exeter Mosque, says Mr Gharini’s first donation of £50,000 was presented in cash at a meeting of the trustees.
Although Mr Abdulrazaq did raise immediate suspicions about the source of the money and the connection between the Sheikh and extremism, such a large amount of cash should have rung much louder than they appear to have done. If I plonked £50k on the table in front of my Rabbi as a synagogue donation, her first questions would be along the lines of ‘where’s this money come from’, ‘what do you want for it’ and ‘are you dodgy’? This would be closely followed by a polite request to make the donation via the banking channels so that the donation can be duly noted, accounted for and any unwarranted suspicion of money laundering be removed. There would definitely be an investigation into me and my background before any donation of this size and possibly dubiousness was accepted.
He said: “If he is linked to these extremist groups, and there’s a lot of evidence that suggests that he is, do we really want to be taking his money and being associated with him? No.
“We do not want him in our community. The cash just appeared and was put on the table as £50,000 in cash, which obviously started suspicions.”
Well I must say that I’m glad you had suspicions. But there are still issues of a significant amount of money, a quarter of a million pounds in total according to the mosque transparency campaigners, being donated by the dodgy Sheikh. This is another question that needs answering.
Shaheed Ul Hassan is the man said to have brought the £50,000 to the mosque but he declined to be interviewed by the BBC.
I bet he didn’t
However, at a meeting at the mosque, he and the other trustees told the BBC that they had received money from Mr Ghariani, but would not say how much.
This mosque management committee are appearing to me to look shiftier and shiftier. The phrase ‘Would you buy a used car from these men’ definitely pops up in my mind when I read of how the trustees are apparently being so evasive.
A petition, put online by members of Exeter’s Muslim community, claims the donations from Mr Ghariani came to a total of almost £250,000.
If this allegation is true, then this is a massive amount of potentially questionable money from a supporter of jihad that has gone to Exeter Mosque.
Mr Ghariani has not responded to the BBC’s attempts to contact him.
Assuming the BBC journalists have accurate contact details for Gharini, then the inference we could take from this is that he may have something to hide. Because of that, it is difficult to dismiss totally the idea that the current management committee, through taking money from this character even when they may have known or suspected that Gharini was involved in jihad promotion, may have something to hide also.
I’m not over impressed with the mosque management when reading the BBC account and the allegations contained in the petition. I’m definitely not impressed with their response to the BBC. Their accounts do look a little evasive to say the least and I believe that their involvement with Gharini may be deeper than they may be letting on.
Because of the allegations that have been made against the mosque management committee and the way they have responded to media enquiries I believe that there may be good grounds for a police or Charity Commission investigation of this mosque. The association and alleged associations by mosque management with a known extremist and jihad promoter should prompt the police to examine this mosque for extremism and the Charity Commission should look into the issue of alleged financial irregularities.
This looks like it could be yet another mosque which poses as ‘moderate’ but has individuals running it who have links with those who are definitely not moderate in any way, shape or form. This mosque, as you will see by examining some of their Charity Commission annual reports, is quite influential in local political, interfaith and very worryingly, education arenas, and any taint of extremism on Exeter Mosque should disgust and propel into action and protest, not only local moderate Muslims, but also the whole population of the City of Exeter and of the wider Devon area.
Links
Original BBC story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-43813684
Website of Exeter Mosque
Petition by mosque members for transparency and accountability in Exeter Mosque
The next link is something that should concern parents in Devon who are worried that their children may be getting a one sided and dishonest view of Islam. On page 7 of the mosque’s annual report to the Charity Commission there is a very long list of schools, including many primary schools, where mosque propagandists have visited. Parents in the area should be concerned that an entity like Exeter Mosque may be overly influence their children’s view of Islam. Parents in the area should in my opinion get together to discuss this issue and take steps to remove their children from the influence of a mosque whose management who have not in my view answered questions sufficiently about their links to extremists or their management practises.
http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends95/0000274095_AC_20160630_E_C.pdf
Footnote: It seems local parents may have been right to withdraw their children from a mosque visit in 2015 because of ‘terrorism fears’. If the allegations of longstanding links to extremist preachers are well founded, then maybe the parents were correct to be suspicious of this mosque.
https://tellmamauk.org/parents-withdraw-students-from-exeter-mosque-visit-over-terrorism-fears-2/
