UK: Hypocritical Mosque chairman slams report

The report published on Monday 28, October by the Policy Exchange think-tank has been condemned by the chairman of Birmingham's Central Mosque. The Policy Exchange sent researchers to almost 100 mosques, and found extremist literature in a quarter of the mosques visited. Much of this material was of Saudi Arabian origin.

The chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque is 84-year old Mohammad Naseem (pictured, left), who claims to be a "moderate". He is a bizarre character, whose hypocrisies I will describe below. In an article from the Birmingham Post, Naseem called the Policy Exchange study "irresponsible".

He said: "A mosque is an open, public place and anyone can distribute literature or leave literature in a mosque. The real question is who is publishing these leaflets? These are people that spread hatred and the people who do publish this literature generally don't put their name on it. If such literature comes to our notice we will confiscate it and we will report it to the police."

He added: "My presumption is that these leaflets have nothing to do with the mosques - it's irresponsible to suggest that a quarter of mosques are involved with this."

Earlier I wrote of the exposure in the Times and other media of the Deobandi "scholar" Riyadh Ul Haq, who for years had been the imam at the Birmingham Central Mosque while Mohammad Naseem was the chairman. Ul Haq was criticized for his anti-women, anti-Hindu and anti-Jewish views. In one speech he said: "Of the peoples of the Earth, the ones that hate Muslims the most, the ones who are bitterest of their enmity towards Muslims, the most unrelenting, unforgiving, are the Jews and the mushrikin (Hindus), idolaters in all their forms."

Dr Muhammad Naseem may say that he is against extremism, yet he has presided over a mosque that had a Deobandi extremist as its imam, and his mosque website still has material that is anti-Christian, such as the article condemning the "deceptive" ways and dishonest tactics of Christian missionaries.

As I wrote in September:

In August 2004, Ul Haq was named in a feud which cost the lives of two people. On July 29, 2004, 35-year old Azmat Yaqub was shot dead as he worked out at a gym. A fortnight before he was shot several times at the gymnasium in Sparkhill, Mr Yaqub had become a father. Earlier, on March 17, 2003, Mr Yaqub had been hit by gunshot in his shoulder, a victim of a drive-by shooting. Shaham Ali, companion who had been with him, was shot in the head and died. In the March 2003 killing, six people were arrested, and two were charged with attempted murder. The murder charges were rejected by a court, but the one of the two accused was sentenced to two year's jail. 31-year old Mohammed Sharafit Khan was found guilty of false imprisonment and assault. Two others were found guilty of false imprisonment.

Khan had invited the secretary of Birmingham Central Mosque, Mr Shockat Lal, to his home. There, the victim was kept captive and repeatedly beaten over a period of one and a half hours. The secretary had had an affair with a woman, and she had fallen pregnant. What had incited the anger of young Muslims from the mosque was the fact that the woman was Riyadh ul-H