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LEYTON: Mosque hits back after extremism claim

12:44pm Saturday 22nd December 2007

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A REPORT claiming that extremist literature was being distributed through a mosque in Leyton was based on forged evidence, according to the mosque's imam and the BBC.

Masjid al-Tawhid, in Leyton High Road, was named in The Hijacking of British Islam - published by the rightwing Policy Exchange think-tank in October.

Imam Dr Usama Hasan says the researchers bought the books from Tayba, an unaffiliated book shop next door, then faked a recipt to suggest the shop and the mosque were the same organisation.

He said: "We're furious about this and we're considering taking legal action against Policy Exchange unless they correct their errors.

"The shop is nothing to do with us. It is an independent commercial enterprise.

"We never promoted these books at all. We're involved in interpreting the Quran and understanding it in a modern British context.

"The only message this mosque promotes is tolerance and co-existence."

The books in question, including Justice Is In The Law of Islam And Not In The Acclaimed Democracy, advocate a strict, literal interpretation of Shari'a law and instruct Muslims not to associate with non-believers.

They also include misogynistic and anti-semitic views.

Among their authors is Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz - a Saudi cleric who helped found Masjid al-Tawhid in 1984 with a large cash donation.

However Dr Hasan says he rejects bin Baz's teaching on women and non-Muslims, saying he has little experience of life outside Saudi Arabia.

The Policy Exchange report made national headlines when it claimed that books promoting hate and intolerance were on sale in a quarter of the British mosques they visited.

However the BBC's Newsnight programme investigated the evidence "proving" where the books came from, and concluded that some recipts had been faked.

Among the alleged forgeries is a recipt from the "Tauheed Mosque and Islamic Centre" at 78, Leyton High Road - actually the address of the bookshop, not the mosque.

The BBC claim that the letterhead was designed to link the shop and the mosque. They also claim the recipt was printed off from a computer, unlike a normally-produced receipt book, and originated from the same source as several other "faked" recipts.

Policy Exchange, who say they are "committed to an evidence-based approach," stand by their report, and are considering legal action against the BBC.

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Your Say YourEast London and West Essex Guardian Series

FG, UK says...
8:27am Fri 21 Dec 07

The bookshop is next to the Mosque. If the bookshop really is "independent" and if Dr Hasan disapproves so much of the bookshop's wares then he has failed in his pastoral duty to his congregation in not speaking out about tthe bookshop's stock earlier. Why has he not taken steps to disuade the shop from selling hate filled literature which, due to the proximity of the two establishments are bound the "tarnish the good name of the mosque".
Taqiyya is ceasing to work on we kufr Dr Hasan, so please don't take us for idiots.

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uz, says...
2:11pm Fri 21 Dec 07

you are the idiot and the bigot FG how do you know dr. Hasan hasnt spoken to the bookshop owner who is not obliged at all to listen to him its his shop after all. Secondly rather than focus on that fact the Policy Exchange has stitched up a great many mosques you atttack Muslims like the true Islamophobe you are, if so concerned go speak to the bookshop owner and go accuse dr Hasan of 'taqiyya' yourself you little coward!

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Stephanie Anderson, Raleigh, NC USA says...
2:15pm Fri 21 Dec 07

You expect people to believe that the Mosque and the Islamic bookstore right next door to one another have nothing to do with each other?! Give me a break, does this Imam think we are all idiots? Besides, in the Koran it tells Muslims to not take Jews and Christians as friends, we won't even get into what it says about 'polytheists', so if this book discriminates against Jews and Christians and tells Muslims to not have on-the-level dealings with them it is only because the Koran says the same!

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FG, UK says...
10:17pm Fri 21 Dec 07

Because, dear uz, if Dr Hasan had spoken to the Mosque himself it would have been the easiest thing in the world for him to say so, and to have placed his concerns on record as having done so.
I would be quite happy to say this to Dr Hasan's face if I ever met him - he wouldn't be the first Imam I have questioned personally as to the veracity of what he is hoping we will be foolish enough to believe.
And as for Islamaphobia, a phobia is an irrational and unfounded fear. There is nothing irrational about our refusal to be cowed by this ideology. We can read the Koran for ourselves and know the hate and violence against non muslims contained within it.

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FG, UK says...
10:23pm Fri 21 Dec 07

I meant to say if Dr Hasan had spoken to the bookshop proprietor etc.

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Anon, London says...
10:44pm Fri 21 Dec 07

RE: FG,UK. Do you have the right to tell you neighbour what they can or cant do in their own house?? If not, why not?? You expect Dr Hassan to do this!! You completely ignore the fact the the evidence has been fabricated but dont let a simple fact like that get in the way!!

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FG, UK says...
11:45pm Fri 21 Dec 07

The receipts are a side issue - no one can deny that these books were for sale if not in Mosques, around mosques, freely available for the congregation of those mosques. Why have an Islamic bookshop next to a Mosque if the mosque congregation is not the target customer?
And yes, I do have the right to say that my neighbour should not break the law. I do have the right to say that my neighbour should not peddle an ideology that wants to make a dhimmi or a slave of me.

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Keith, Walthamstow says...
11:55pm Sat 22 Dec 07

As usual there's a smokescreen being put up about how this mosque and the community can live in harmony with the indigenous population.
Why hasn't the Iman AND the local council London Borough Waltham Forest not sort to remove the large highly objectionable sign that has been fixed to the side wall of the mosque in Downsell Road for over 2 years. Did it get planning permission is another unanswered question. Would a Christian church be allowed to erect a similar sign on their buildings in a moslem country proclaiming Our Saviour Jesus Christ, Son of God, I don't think so.
Why is it necessary to place the sign there at all in a Christian country.
For the ill-informed it reads in large capitals, There is no god except allah. mohammed is the messenger of allah.

I find this highly insulting to our reigning monarch head of the Church of England.

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Emma, suffolk says...
12:18pm Sun 23 Dec 07

Keith
When my late father was alive I found the sign on the front wall of the Lea Bridge Road Mosque even more offensive.
It read "God is only one
He has no son".
Thankfully that one was taken down.

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John Bull, Leytonstone says...
5:41am Mon 24 Dec 07

Keith wrote:
As usual there's a smokescreen being put up about how this mosque and the community can live in harmony with the indigenous population.
Why hasn't the Iman AND the local council London Borough Waltham Forest not sort to remove the large highly objectionable sign that has been fixed to the side wall of the mosque in Downsell Road for over 2 years. Did it get planning permission is another unanswered question. Would a Christian church be allowed to erect a similar sign on their buildings in a moslem country proclaiming Our Saviour Jesus Christ, Son of God, I don't think so.
Why is it necessary to place the sign there at all in a Christian country.
For the ill-informed it reads in large capitals, There is no god except allah. mohammed is the messenger of allah.

I find this highly insulting to our reigning monarch head of the Church of England.
Did it get planning permission is another unanswered question.


In other words, you haven't found out.

For the ill-informed it reads in large capitals, There is no god except allah. mohammed is the messenger of allah.


So?

Would a Christian church be allowed to erect a similar sign on their buildings in a moslem country proclaiming Our Saviour Jesus Christ, Son of God, I don't think so.


Then you are abominably ignorant. There are many Muslim countries where nobody would care.

I find this highly insulting to our reigning monarch head of the Church of England.


Doubtless Her Majesty will survive. She might not even understand what it had to do with her. Frankly, nor do I.

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Laurie Wilson, Lincolnshire says...
7:52pm Tue 25 Dec 07

It seems that extremism is never going to let the dust settle in Waltham Forest from either side of the fence.

As an ex resident of Waltham Forest born and bred,I remember when the ex clothing factory in Lea Bridge Road was converted to the present mosque, all of the shop windows in the vecinity of the mosque were boarded up because of a march along Lea Bridge Road by the National Front in protest.

When are we going to accept that this is now a multicultural society and try to live in harmony!

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Jim, Woodford says...
7:31pm Mon 31 Dec 07

After the 7 July bombings when mass murder was perpetrated upon us by moslem extremists it is incumbent upon moslem religious groups to take steps to distance themselves from murderous nutters. If they won't even check what is being sold next doot they are failing in this task and action should be taken

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