An Islamic group in Granby in Merseyside was given a well deserved slap down by the local authority recently when an attempt to ‘regularise’ an illegal mosque that was operating without planning permission was turned down. The Islamic group which runs a ‘community centre’ on the Granby Road in Granby had been holding religious services at the building without local authority planning permission to do so.

This group may have thought that with so many of Britain’s local authorities being so willing to appease the ideology of Islam, getting their illegal mosque legalised might have been a piece of cake. Local councils in Britain seem all too willing to appease and pander to Islam, so much so that this Islamic group may have treated the application to ‘regularise’ the illegal mosque as a mere formality. Unfortunately for these mosque-e-teers, a combination of vehement objections to the idea of yet another mosque in the Granby area from among others, a local church that is right opposite the illegal mosque and concerns about parking, put paid to the plans for this mosque. In addition to these objections the council looked back at their records and there was no record of this building being used for the previous ten years as a place of worship, something which would have eased planning permission being granted retrospectively. According to a report in the Liverpool Echo, the council found that the community centre building had been listed as a shop and nothing more.

Sadly the local authority has allowed the ‘community centre’ to carry on operating as a community centre, despite the fact that it doesn’t appear to be the case that this building was even in receipt of planning permission for that use either. The community centre should have been shut down as well, after all if you or I as non-Muslims had bought a shop, changed its use to something not permitted on planning permission grounds, such as a community centre, then you can bet your bottom dollar that we would not be allowed to carry on the non-permitted use. In fact in that case the local authority would throw the book at us for breach of planning permission.

This Muslim group has really taken the piss here. They’ve taken the piss out of the law and they’ve taken the piss out of local people who neither wanted yet another mosque to join the three others in Granby. They’ve taken the piss out of the local authority by setting up the ‘community centre’ without permission and they arrogantly thought they could ride roughshod over any objections from local people to impose a mosque where it was not wanted. With attitudes like this from those behind this illegal mosque is it any wonder why Islam is becoming an increasingly disliked ideology in Britain?

What’s interesting to me about this case is the type of objections made by the New Life Mission Church that sits exactly opposite to this illegal mosque. They quite rightly objected to the mosque being given planning permission on the grounds that it would cause an increase in parking problems, but they also objected on the grounds that the presence of this mosque would ‘increase tension’.

This is what the Liverpool Echo reported the New Life Mission as saying:

Part of one letter of objection said: “We are concerned the approval as a place of worship may create unnecessary tension judging from historical observations.”

What the New Life Mission is referring to here is the oppression of Christians that appears wherever Islam goes and particularly in those areas where Islam is ascendant. There are indeed ‘historical observations’ that can be made that show that in places across the world, from Africa, Asia and elsewhere, that Islam has brutally oppressed Christians and continues to do so. Of course this mosque would have increased tensions. I’ve little doubt that there would be subtle and not so subtle attacks on the Christians of Granby if this mosque had been granted planning permission. There would of course be the usual instances of illegal and inconsiderate parking that always seems to accompany the opening of a mosque, but the presence of an increased number of followers of an ideology that both historically and contemporaneously treats Christians like dirt, so close to a church, might have caused the church’s attendees to stay away out of fear. Of course this mosque would have created tension and seems to have done a damned good job of creating tension already.

It’s pretty obvious from the whining that is coming from the mosque-e-teers that they thought they would win this one and have been shocked to find that they have not. Those behind this illegal mosque and the illicit conversion of a shop into a ‘community centre’, have been complaining about the judgement and trying to clutch onto the lifebelt of ‘diversity’ by talking up all the ‘good work’ that they do. Below is what the Liverpool Echo has quoted the mosque promoters as saying along with my comments. As usual the Echo’s comments are in italics whereas my comments are in plain text.

The Liverpool Echo said:

Hassan Warsame applied for a certificate of lawfulness to “regularise” the existing use of 139-141a Granby Street.

In other words he’s taken the piss out of the planning permission system and wanted the local council to just rubber stamp the application and allow the building to continue to be used as a mosque.

Ismael Sallah, on behalf of Mr Warsame, said the building has operated as a place of worship, cultural and educational centre since 2009.

Imam Muhamed Hassan said: “We have been here for more than a decade.

A decade operating without proper planning permission it appears.

“We also offer an after-school study programme for Somali children in Liverpool city, raising some awareness and encouraging them to have an active role in the community.

Do you smell bullshit? I know I do. ‘After school study programme’ – my arse. It’s probably just a Koran crammer, filling kids with selections from the Islamic ‘Big Book of Death’. It’s probably got less to do with helping Somali children succeed in general education and much more to do with promoting Islam to them. As for the terms ‘raising awareness’ and ‘encouraging an active role in the community’ then these words can mean anything or nothing. In this context they sound like self justifying bullshit.

“We also work with the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service and some schools in the area.

I looked up this Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service for Liverpool and it is just another minority pandering entity, of course paid for by British taxpayers. It provides hand holding for parents and children with poor English and assists minorities who may be unfamiliar with the British education system. They also work with ‘Traveller’ children, hopefully by telling them not to nick lead from church roofs or engage in burglary or anti social behaviour, but I doubt it. Sadly appears that this Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service guff is not just confined to Liverpool, lots of councils seem to have set up these pandering groups. Money that should be going to support schools for every Briton regardless of race or religion, is most likely being siphoned off to pay for this crap.

“We have never encountered any problems and we never expected [when submitting the application] we would be facing something hostile or difficult.”

To translate this statement, what he’s really saying is this: We thought we would win, we thought the kufar would just roll over and give us what we demand. Well this time matey, you are wrong. You have pissed people off in the local area, that is something that is plainly obvious. You’ve pissed off people with you illegal use of a shop and with the arrogant assumption that you would have your demands appeased by the local authority.

In my opinion it’s really good to see a church actually bring up the danger that Islam poses to Christians. Too often we see Christians just play the ‘kumbaya’ card and treat Islam as a ‘religion of peace’ that is of no threat to Christians, glossing over both contemporary and historical aspects of Islam’s relationship with members of other faiths. Maybe more Christians should be ‘hostile and difficult’ when it comes to Islam and the attempts by Islamic groups to impose Islam on areas that do not want it for real and pertinent reasons. This is a win for the people of Granby against the piss takers of Islam and let’s hope and pray that there are more wins like this. I