[h=1]DR TAJ HARGEY: I rejoice that this toxic preacher is in jail. But why didn't more Muslims stand up to him?[/h] By DR TAJ HARGEY FOR THE DAILY MAIL PUBLISHED: 01:59, 18 August 2016 | UPDATED: 01:59, 18 August 2016
Justice has finally been done. The notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been forced to pay for his record of vicious divisiveness and dangerous extremism, and faces a jail term of up to ten years under anti-terrorism legislation. It is the sentence he deserves. Choudary is not some foolish clown or irrelevant loudmouth, as some like to pretend. He is a cunning propagandist for a warped but increasingly influential brand of militant Islam. Through his violent rhetoric and bogus religious justifications for conflict, he is believed by the security authorities to have inspired 15 terror plots and more than 500 British Muslims to join the cause of jihadism in Iraq and Syria.
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The notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been forced to pay for his record of vicious divisiveness and dangerous extremism, and faces a jail term of up to ten years
Choudary is a self-styled ‘preacher’ without any recognised credentials in Islam who has done severe damage to Muslim communities by promoting a bleak, negative and brutalised image of the religion. He might pose as a ‘true Muslim’, but his bigotry causes as much harm to Islam as the racists in the English Defence League or Britain First. He is the ultimate enemy of tolerance and integration and now he is behind bars, Britain might become a more harmonious society.
But I have two hopes about his imprisonment. The first is that he has to serve out his time, a minimum of ten years, given that he has been a potent apologist for some of darkest crimes known to modern humanity.
[h=2]Lavish[/h] My second hope is that he is kept isolated. There is already too much Islamic radicalisation in our jails, not least because more than 20 per cent of the inmates in high security are Muslims. Allowing Choudary to associate with other prisoners would be a recipe for trouble.
But, while his incarceration might be welcome, Choudary’s case also raises profoundly disturbing questions for Muslim communities and the British political establishment. It cannot be right that he was allowed to roam across the airwaves and in the streets for two decades, spreading his toxic dogma. Why was he not challenged more effectively by other Muslims or the security forces? Why did parts of the British media present him as a spokesman for mainstream Muslim opinion, given that he neither held any public office nor had any proper theological qualifications? Why did the British state continue to lavish him with welfare and legal support? On the issue of Muslim collusion with Choudary, part of the answer lies in the nature of British Islam, which has come to be dominated by the austere Wahhabi-Salafi creed imported from Saudi Arabia.
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Choudary (pictured) is believed to have inspired at least 110 Britons into committing terrorist acts
Heavy funding from the Saudi regime ensures Wahhabism is now the most powerful force in most British mosques, faith schools, Muslim organisations and pressure groups like the Muslim Council of Britain. The outward symbols of this primitive doctrine, like the burka and the niqab and bushy beards, are increasingly seen as integral to British Islam, though they stem from archaic Arab life and have no theological basis in the Koran. Yet, tragically, it is the stranglehold of Wahhabism that has enabled figures like Choudary to flourish in our midst. While most Muslims are decent and peace-loving, characters like Choudary long went unchallenged by Muslim organisations because so many of them shared a similarly doctrinaire outlook, reflected in dress codes, the need for Sharia courts, the rejection of women’s equality, and disdain for liberal values.
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Police also think he helped encourage up to 850 fanatics to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS, but Dr Taj Hargey wonders why more Muslims didn't challenge him
Groups like the Muslim Council of Britain do not do nearly enough to root out extreme versions of Islam here because they too have come under the influence of Wahhabism, whose logical progression is to end up with a barbarous theocracy not dissimilar to that of Isis. Rather than doing more to confront extremists, the MCB acts defensively whenever the all-too-valid link between terrorism and Islam is made. When Eric Pickles, then Communities Secretary, wrote to 1,100 Imams and Muslim leaders after the terror attacks in Paris on the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine in January last year, saying they should do more to expunge ‘men of hate’, the MCB’s ludicrous response was to accuse ministers of behaving like the far Right. David Cameron, in turn, was robust and correct to say the council had a ‘problem’ with extremism. Yet there is an entirely different point of view of Islam from that of the MCB — and one to which I subscribe — which holds that Wahhabism is antithetical to the faith, and that Muslims should integrate and embrace Western liberal values.
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Groups like the Muslim Council of Britain do not do nearly enough to root out extreme versions of Islam preached by Choudary
There is no foundation in the Koran to prop up Wahhabism’s theological extremism. The concept of Sharia, for example, is just the concoction of Medieval clerics which is now well past its sell-by-date. Similarly, the idea of the caliphate — so beloved of Choudary and ISIS — is barely mentioned in the Koran, while the term ‘Jihad’ is not a call to war, as the extremists pretend, but a reference to the inner, personal quest for true spirituality. Nor is there anything anti-Islamic about democracy. Chapter 42 Verse 38 of the Koran stipulates that governments are required to consult the people they rule, the very essence of democracy. So it is Choudary and his ilk who are the real phonies. They should have been confronted on the basis of their perverted theology. Their pretence to religious expertise is a sham. But this brings us to the disgraceful role of Britain’s civic institutions in raising Choudary’s profile. Through the irresponsibility of key players in the state and media, he was given the unmerited position as a spokesman for British Islam. The BBC and other major stations gave him huge amounts of airtime, rarely confronting him with a competent Muslim theologian who could tear apart his pretensions. ‘I have hundreds of interviews with the BBC, CNN, you name it,’ Choudary once proclaimed. That boast should be a badge of shame for broadcasters. Even when confronted with evidence of his crimes, the media colluded with him. After the murder of Lee Rigby, the BBC’s Today programme granted him a 12-minute interview in which he would not condemn the murder, while Twitter refused to comply with police requests to remove his account, with 30,000 followers.
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After the murder of Lee Rigby, the BBC’s Today programme granted him a 12-minute interview in which he would not condemn the murder
This has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Twitter has proved in the past willing to shut down accounts of neo-Nazis and racial extremists. The same failure to act against Choudary could also be found on Facebook and YouTube. Just as disturbing was the supine approach of the Government, which gave Choudary benefits, legal support, education allowances and police protection, on top of reluctance to prosecute him despite evidence of his criminal extremism.
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At one stage, his immediate family was reputed to be taking more than £25,000 a year in social security
At one stage, his immediate family was reputed to be taking more than £25,000 a year in social security, while he lived in a subsidised £320,000 house in London and ran several cars.
So great was the financial backing, so absent any sign of prosecution, that many critics, including large numbers of Muslims, felt Choudary must be in the pay of MI5, as an informer or agent provocateur.
His conviction may have confounded this theory, but the stench of collusion remains. Some argue the state should deport Choudary, but he was born in Britain. Others say he should be paid to go and live in the ISIS-controlled parts of Syria or Iraq.
But no, the best place for him is solitary confinement in prison. And after his conviction, the strongest proof of the Government’s willingness to take on radical Islamic fundamentalism would be to challenge the lethal Wahhabi philosophy and ideology. This is the only practical way to neutralise the odious cancer of Choudary and his cronies and promote a tolerant and inclusive Islam in the UK.
DR TAJ HARGEY is director of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford.
[h=1]Why Choudary will be free to spread his message of hate through jail: Bosses are unable to isolate extremist after court victory by terrorist associates[/h]
Prison bosses will be unable to isolate hate preacher Anjem Choudary
He once vowed if he was jailed he would 'radicalise everyone' in prison
Faces 10 years in prison after being convicted of inviting support for ISIS
But a legal ruling – in case brought by two convicted terrorists linked to Choudary’s banned group – means the prison cannot keep him in solitary
[h=1]Hate preacher Choudary radicalised boy aged FIVE: Child shouted 'shame' at women with legs on show after attending meetings of banned extremist group[/h]
A boy of five was radicalised by infamous hate preacher Anjem Choudary
Child shouted 'shame' at women who were not completely covered up
He had attended meetings of banned extremist group Al-Muhajiroun
Was taken along to the meetings with his three siblings by his mother
He is nephew of Siddhartha Dhar who fled to Syria to replace Jihadi John
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A hate preacher and the craven liberal elite After 20 years of preaching hatred, recruiting terrorists and glorying in bloodshed – while milking taxpayers of colossal sums in benefits and legal aid – Anjem Choudary at last faces jail for drumming up support for Islamic State. Like decent people of every religion and none, the Mail is hugely relieved that this sworn enemy of our security and way of life has finally been brought to justice.
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Choudary's radical sermons have become a magnet for easily-influenced young men
But doesn’t his case raise profoundly disturbing questions about why he was tolerated – and indulged – for so long? A remorseless publicity-seeker, Choudary never made a secret of his ambition to recruit others to his cause of ‘world domination’ by Islam and Sharia law. Indeed, he was the unashamed mouthpiece of the banned fanatical group Al-Muhajiroun, which is said to have radicalised 850 jihadis, while his supporters included the killers who hacked Fusilier Lee Rigby to death in 2013. Yet though all this was known, he was left free to spread his poison through lectures, YouTube and Twitter, on which he had 32,000 followers. Even the BBC, to the disgust of its licence fee-payers, was ever ready to offer a platform to this champion of holy war.
Meanwhile, taxpayers have been forced to provide for Choudary and his five children, with expensive NHS treatment for his wife (who ran the women’s section of Al-Muhajiroun), and benefits said to have topped £25,000 a year. That’s not to mention police protection for his rallies and six-figure sums in legal aid to defend his ‘human rights’. True, freedom of expression is a vital feature of liberal democracy, while Choudary’s legal training made him adept – until now – at exploiting laws drafted to uphold it. But leave aside the urgent need to review those laws in light of the spate of Islamist attacks across Europe, and the ease with which hate preachers circumvent the ban on incitement to violence. Didn’t Choudary’s kid-glove treatment go far beyond tolerance of free speech? Why were Twitter and YouTube so loath to close down his accounts? Why were benefits and legal aid granted so readily to a man who apparently owns luxury cars? Why, above all, did our national broadcaster see fit to give him a platform for his message of hate, as if ‘balance’ requires that opponents of murder must be offset by its apologists? Isn’t it almost as if the West’s liberal elite, in its craven terror of offending minorities, has a death-wish for our values and way of life?
[h=1]Fanatic's web of hatred: From 7/7 bombers to Lee Rigby's killers, how vile preacher's network of radical connections was like a who's who of Islamic terrorism - with links to 15 plots and 500 jihadis[/h]
Choudary was a cider-drinking drug-smoker at university but fell under spell of Omar Bakri Muhammed
Pair then launched series of radical groups in UK and their followers have carried out shocking attacks
The best known of his disciples was Muslim convert Michael Adebolajo, who, along with Michael Adebowale, attacked Lee Rigby with a meat cleaver in Woolwich in a murder which shocked the country
Anjem Choudary was at the heart of an international web of extremism. His network of radical connections read like a Who’s Who of modern Islamic terrorism. Choudary’s associates have been connected to at least 15 major terrorist plots and experts believe 500 jihadist disciples are fighting for Islamic State in Syria. The former law student’s links led from street-level jihadi recruitment cells to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. Al-Muhajiroun, the Al Qaeda-inspired group he helped set up in the UK in the 1990s, also radicalised the July 7 bombers and reached into Paris and Syria.
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Spreading poison: Choudary inspired violent fanatics both in this country and overseas
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Anjem Choudary, 49, has been at the centre of radical Islamic organisations for many years
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Choudary's radical sermons have become a magnet for easily-influenced young men
Choudary, who previously called for adulterers to be stoned to death and branded UK troops 'cowards', has always hidden behind free speech rules whenever challenged by the authorities. Many radicals tried for serious terror offences were influenced by his lectures and speeches. Until now, Choudary – who had called for Muslims to attack the UK and adulterers to be stoned to death and branded UK troops cowards – has always hidden behind free speech rules whenever challenged by the authorities. But while he ran rings around the police, security services and the Government, he brainwashed hundreds of young men who subscribed to his warped vision of Islam. His best-known acolytes were Muslim converts Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who attacked Fusilier Rigby with a meat cleaver outside a barracks in Woolwich, south-east London. The murder of the soldier at the age of 25 after surviving the dusty killing fields of Afghanistan, shocked the nation.
