Opposing the mega-mosque

OPPONENTS of a mega-mosque in London have now launched an information and campaigning website. One of the opponents, Councillor Allan Craig, had an “obituary” put on YouTube about him at the beginning of November, featuring Craig himself, who’s a member of something calling itself the Christian People’s Alliance, along with his wife and two daughters.

The message ends with the words, “Our mosque will be built in time for the 2012 Olympic Games.”

Craig is a member of Newham Borough Council, and has upset some Muslims who are in favour of what could become Europe’s biggest mosque, with a capacity of 70,000 (according to last week’s Sunday Times [actually an older issue – see footnote]), which is only 10,000 fewer than the proposed Olympic stadium only 500 yards away.

The ultra-orthodox Muslim group Tablighi Jamaat are behind the building. Among their adherents has been the Glasgow airport bomber, Kafeel Ahmed, the “shoe bomber” Richard Reid and two of the 7/7 bombers.

The opposers’ website (whose banner top is reproduced above) is full of links and ideas for opposing the mosque. “We include a lawyer, a local councillor, a minister, and a trainee aviator,” one of the web pages says. (The “trainee aviator” bit could be a little worrying.)

“It will be something never seen before in this country,” Abdul Khalique, a senior member of Tablighi Jamaat, tells the paper. “It is a mosque for the future as part of the British landscape.”

And the fact that it could be stuck right in the middle of the British landscape is obviously worrying its opponents.

The Sunday Times says,

Tablighi Jamaat has come under scrutiny from western security agencies since 9/11. Two years ago, according to The New York Times, a senior FBI anti-terrorism official claimed it was a recruiting ground for Al-Qaeda. British police investigated a report that Mohammad Sidique Khan, leader of the July 7 London bombers, had attended its present headquarters in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. In August, Bavaria expelled three members of the organisation on the grounds that it promoted Islamic extremism.

The final masterplan for the mosque is likely to be published by the architects in the first half of 2008.

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FOOTNOTE: We’re grateful to Islamophobiawatch, the politically correct blog that doles out censorious judgement wherever it detects a hint of criticism (justified or not) of Islam, but doesn’t allow comments (as this blog does), for pointing out that our Sunday Times reference above is to one from 2005, and that the capacity is now expected to be nearer 14,000. Apologies for that (for what it’s worth, it was a link from the opposers’ website). Just as Islamophobia watch says of its own material, much of what appears here is already in the public domain and is cited as such. Freethinker readers might like to drop in on Islamophobiawatch now and again. Prepare for rising blood pressure.