An interesting feature of the recent controversy over the so-called "Muslim patrol" in Tower Hamlets was that some of those you might have expected to seize on the case as an excuse for a bit of anti-Muslim scaremongering balked at resuming their campaign against the Islamist menace on the basis of such flimsy evidence.

Ted Jeory of the Sunday Express admitted that he had suffered the "uncomfortable experience" of agreeing with Islamophobia Watch that the issue had been "blown out of all proportion", in a way that "would only serve to inflame the far right". And nobody familiar with Jeory's journalistic record could accuse him of failing to hype up the mythical threat of Islamism in east London. Even the Telegraph's Andrew Gilligan, of "Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets" notoriety, claimed that he was offered the story but "didn't use it because I wasn't sure whether a few kids on YouTube had national importance".

As a result the story was broken by The Commentator, a hardline right-wing blog linked to the neocon Henry Jackson Society, which has an established record of whipping up Islamophobia. It was immediately taken up by the mainstream right-wing press, including the Mail and the Sun. Trevor Kavanagh contributed a comment piece to the latter paper in which he denounced the supposedly widespread problem of "hooded gangs" who "roamed Muslim-populated suburbs ordering women to cover up and confiscating liquor". Kavanagh went further, warning Sun readers that "thousands of young British-born Muslims have been radicalised – some of them trained in bomb-making and terror tactics in the badlands of Pakistan", and he threw in a reference to Mali and Algeria for good measure. At Kavanagh's hands, "a few kids on YouTube" had become part of the "global threat" of al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism.

Perhaps the Murdochs were so impressed by Kavanagh's attempt to portray the "Muslim patrol" stunt as part of an international terrorist movement that they thought the same message should be conveyed to readers of one of their more upmarket publications. At any rate, yesterday the Times published an equally ludicrous article by Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation under the heading "Muslim patrols are a sign of things to come". Not content with describing the isolated actions of a few deluded Muslim youth in Tower Hamlets as comparable to "Hitler's Brownshirts", Nawaz went on to claim, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, that there was a real danger that their ranks might be augmented by Islamist fighters returning from Syria – "the Muslim patrols could become a lot more dangerous and, perhaps willing to maim or kill if they are joined by battle-hardened jihadis". Faced with such idiocy in what purports to be a serious newspaper, you can only rub your eyes in disbelief.

Nawaz's motive for promoting this nonsense isn't difficult to identify – he makes a good living out of wildly exaggerating the role of marginal groups of Islamist extremists and then presenting Quilliam as the only organisation with the specialist knowledge required to counter them effectively. But here he surely runs the risk of reducing himself to an object of ridicule, even among those who share much of his anti-Islamist world-view.

However, this didn't prevent the Telegraph from publishing a report based on the Times piece in which Nawaz's fantasies were uncritically repeated ("Muslim patrols could become more prevalent and more violent, warns anti-extremist"), and this report was in turn reproduced at Harry's Place. When even the likes of Andrew Gilligan and Ted Jeory have recognised that association with the "Muslim patrols" hysteria would further damage their own already limited credibility, you can only conclude that other sections of the Islamophobia industry have entirely taken leave of their senses.

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Muslim patrols are a sign of things to come

The Times, 30 January 2013

By Maajid Nawaz

We should worry that battle-hardened fanatics could impose their dogma on Britain's streets

On the streets of Greece supporters of the far-Right Golden Dawn party patrol neighbourhoods, attacking anyone who looks like an immigrant. In Denmark a group calling itself Call to Islam has declared parts of the country to be "sharia-controlled zones" and its "morality police" confront drinkers and partygoers. In France right-wing vigilantes ran Roma families out of a Marseilles estate and burnt down their camp. In Spain nine Islamist extremists recently kidnapped a woman, tried her for adultery under sharia and attempted to execute her before she managed to escape. And here English Defence League thugs march in towns and cities "reclaiming" the streets from Muslims.

Something very worrying is spreading across Europe. Fascists and Islamist extremists alike are copying what Hitler's Brownshirts excelled at – enforcing with threats and violence their version of the law in neighbourhoods. And the moderate middle is left gawping.

In Britain "Muslims Against the Crusaders" have recently declared an Islamic Emirates Project. They are seeking to enforce their brand of sharia in 12 British cities, naming the two London boroughs of Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets among their targets. Little surprise then that in these two boroughs "Muslim patrols" have taken to the streets and begun enforcing a narrow view of sharia over unsuspecting locals.

Petrified Saturday-night revellers have been stopped by hooded thugs in these so-called Muslim areas, who warn them that alcohol, "immodest" dress or homosexuality are now banned. To add to the humiliation of being threatened, all this is filmed and uploaded on to the internet. Now some shops in East London no longer feel free to employ uncovered women or sell alcohol without fear of violent reprisals.

While this street-level problem festers across Europe, al-Qaeda and its affiliates are busy capitalising on the chaos of the post-Arab Spring world. Syria, Libya, Mali and Somalia are being ravaged by jihadist outfits, and all of them are attracting European-born Islamists seeking the thrill of real combat.

British jihadists with South London accents have already been documented as shooting the British journalist John Cantlie in Syria. Scores of young European-born Arabs and Somalis are following in the footsteps of British Pakistanis in travelling to lawless conflict zones. What happens when these men, schooled in the use of political violence in far-flung places, return to Britain?

Five men have been arrested for assault, but the Muslim patrols could become a lot more dangerous and, perhaps willing to maim or kill if they are joined by battle-hardened jihadis. The killing last year of Osama bin Laden was hailed as a milestone in defeating al-Qaeda. President Obama was keen to portray himself as having severed the head of the snake. But no one man ever controlled this loose movement. And while it may lie dormant for a few years in different parts of the world, there are plenty of committed grassroots ideologues to ensure that will rise again. And worryingly, the Islamist world view is an entrenched default position even among many non-devout British Muslims.

I fear that the Muslim patrols are a sign of things to come. As Syria becomes the new Afghanistan, we should prepare for the blowback from a new wave of extremists.

The Government has a sensible policy to challenge extremism at home and abroad. It has committees, partnerships and policy papers all in place that understand the need to build cohesion at the national level and root out extremism in local communities. But very little has actually happened at the grassroots. I struggle to see initiatives that inoculate young Britons against extremist messaging.

The longer we stand by and watch the far Right and Islamists impose their dogma on our streets, the more the extremes will become mainstream for a rising new generation.

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The far right British National Party says it will stage "numerous days of action" over plans to create a new Muslim centre in a Shropshire market town.

Members of the Shropshire branch of the BNP say that they believe the word "mosque" has been deliberately omitted from a recent planning application to convert a former church in Oswestry.

The Oswestry Muslim Society wants to convert a former Presbyterian Church in the town into a Muslim Centre.

North Shropshire organiser of the party Mr Phillip Reddall said: "Our Shropshire branch is planning numerous days of action in Oswestry in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We intend to ensure that local residents are made aware of the plans submitted by Oswestry Muslim Society.

"We will be leafleting the area and speaking to residents and shoppers. We will be encouraging local people to submit objections to these plans via Shropshire Council's online planning register.

"I believe the word 'mosque' has been deliberately omitted from the planning application."

The application, for the building on Oswald Road, which has latterly been used as a furniture store, would include internal alterations.

Creating their own centre would end a 10-year search to find a religious home for the Muslim community in the town. They currently meet at Eastern Oswestry Community Centre for prayers every Friday afternoon and also for major religious festivals such as Ramadan and Eid.

George Miah, chief adviser of Oswestry Muslim Society, said: "For the past 10 years or so we have tried to get a place to worship in the area. It could be a place for sharing viewpoints, cultural differences and understanding people. Our children and female members can get together and invite the community for a cup of tea and to share our views."

The Muslim society has members in Oswestry and Welshpool, St Martins, Llanymynech and Chirk.

Shropshire Council planners hope to determine the bid for the new centre by January 11.

Shropshire Star, 3 December 2012

On its Shropshire Patriot website the BNP urges its supporters to bombard Shropshire Council's planning department with objections to the Oswestry Muslim Society proposal. While stating that the point of its campaign is to resist "the gradual colonisation of Oswestry", the BNP advises that there is "absolutely no point on commenting on religious or ethnic grounds per se" and that "valid comments might include concerns over parking or noise".

Update:   See also "Dismay over BNP's White Tigers defence group plan for Shropshire", Shropshire Star, 3 December 2012

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LOURDES — Leading bishops have voiced alarm at a rise in anti-Islamic sentiment in France and admitted that hardening attitudes within the Roman Catholic church are fuelling the trend.

In comments that will add to pressure on President François Hollande to respond to demands from France's large Muslim community to speak out on the issue, the Bishop of Angoulême, Claude Dagens, said he was profoundly concerned by recent developments.

"It is with much pain that I notice the emergence of a Catholic Islamophobia, in the same way that there has been a Catholic anti-semitism for centuries," Dagens told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of an assembly of French bishops here.

Dagens said his concerns had been heightened by the controversial "Muslim demographics" presentation made at the Vatican last month in which Cardinal Peter Turkson predicted that Islam would eventually become the dominant religion in Europe.

The Vatican subsequently distanced itself from a film which included a claim that France could have a majority of Muslims within four decades, but Dagens acknowledged that the episode reflected a worrying shift in attitudes. "We are living in a society where fear is seeping into every corner. That's true for Muslims but also for Catholics."

Dagens comments, echoed by a number of his colleagues here, came in the wake of a call by France's Muslim Council, the main representative body for the country's estimated five million Muslims, for the President to publicly condemn Islamophobia.

Behind the call lies resentment based on a perception that Hollande and his ministers have given greater priority to combatting a recent rise in anti-semitism than they have to defending the Muslim community in the face of a parallel trend.

Earlier this month, Hollande vowed that France would wage a relentless fight to eradicate anti-semitism from society, describing it as a "national cause."

Abdellah Zekri, one of the leaders of the Muslim Council, called for France's Islamic community to be offered similar support.

"Given the rise in the number of Islamophobic acts and anti-Muslim racism, we want a formal declaration from the President of the Republic that includes the Muslims of France in this national cause," Zekri said.

Government ministers have issued strong condemnations of high-profile anti-Islamic acts such as the desecration of mosques and pledged to do more to address the economic and social problems that afflict the country's Muslims more than the rest of the population.

But government pronouncements on the subject have almost invariably been qualified by warnings that the Islamic community must be vigilant about the development of radicalism within its ranks, which it has linked to both an emerging threat from homegrown terrorism and to the resurgence of anti-semitism.

Fears that a militant minority of young French Muslims represent a security threat have been fuelled by Islamist gunman Mohammed Merah's killing of seven people in Toulouse in March and by last month's dismantling of what the authorities described as an Islamist terrorist cell.

These episodes are seen as having hardened the attitudes of many French people towards their Muslim compatriots while exacerbating the minority community's sense of their culture and religion being under siege from the authorities and the rest of society.

Many Muslims have been angered by legislation which bans women from wearing full veils, arguing that it has led to increased hostility to any public display of their faith, while this year elections were marked by a divisive debate over the use of halal methods of animal slaughter.

AFP, 9 November 2012

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The Evening Standard has latched on to the allegations against Masjid-al-Tawhid in Leyton, carrying a report in today's issue titled "Mosque near Olympics site in 'terror link' investigation". The aim of this scaremongering headline, which is based on a quote provided by the mosque's former imam Usama Hasan, is obviously to suggest that the forthcoming Olympic Games face a threat from Masjid-al-Tawhid.

Interestingly, the nature of this supposed "terror link" has changed. According to the Standard, the Charity Commission's investigation, launched in response to a complaint by Usama Hasan, is now "understood to centre on sermons delivered at the mosque between 2004 and 2010 by Haitham al-Haddad, a preacher by whom notorious 'underpants bomber' Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab claims he was influenced". Indeed, to underline this point the report is illustrated with a photo of Abdulmutallab.

Which is rather odd. Because in his interview with the BBC yesterday Usama Hasan made no mention of Haitham al-Haddad. His accusation that Masjid-al-Tawhid was linked to terrorism was based on Anwar al-Awlaki having spoken at the mosque around 2003 and on an attempt by Abu Qatada's supporters to start a study circle there back in 1998. Dr Hasan's summary of his dispute with some of his fellow trustees at Masjid-al-Tawhid, contained in a now deleted blog post, similarly cited the 1998 and 2003 events and raised no objections to Haitham al-Haddad's sermons at the mosque. It is therefore difficult to believe that Usama Hasan's complaint to the Charity Commission would "centre on" this issue.

So what is going on here? Perhaps a clue is to be found in Sunny Hundal's report at Liberal Conspiracy, which includes an update stating that Usama Hasan has withdrawn his complaint to the Charity Commission but his employers at Quilliam "have also asked the CC to investigate". So presumably the objection to Haitham al-Haddad and his sermons originated with Quilliam. They perhaps reasoned that Dr Hasan's charges about the mosque's links to Abu Qatada and Anwar al-Awlaki were so weak that if a complaint to the Charity Commission was to get anywhere it needed beefing up.

However, if we turn to another now deleted blog post by Usama Hasan, we find a statement dated 6 April by himself and his supporters reporting that one of the two "mutually-agreed mediators" in their dispute with the opposing faction among the Masjid-al-Tawhid trustees was none other than "Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad of the Muslim Research & Development Foundation". The statement added that this had been agreed back in September/October 2011 and noted that the Charities Commission had been made aware of the situation.

So, if I'm interpreting this correctly, it appears that Quilliam is now complaining to the Charity Commision on the grounds that the trustees at Masjid-al-Tawhid allowed sermons to be given there by an individual who Quilliam's own Senior Researcher thought was an appropriate person to mediate in a dispute between himself and the trustees opposing him. Would Usama Hasan have have agreed to Haitham al-Haddad performing this role if he seriously believed that Haddad was a man who inspired terrorism?

Hopefully the Charity Commission will treat this malicious nonsense from Usama Hasan and his associates at Quilliam with the contempt it deserves.

Postscript:  Just to add that the allegation about a connection between Haitham al-Haddad and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is based on autobiographical notes by Abdulmutallab which were apparently written in 2008. They can be consulted here. As you can see, these notes provide no justification for the accusation that Haddad influenced Abdulmutallab's turn to terrorism.

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