Sheik Omar Bakri, a supporter of al-Qaida, is typical of radical clerics in Britain. He has condoned suicide bombings in Iraq, but only indirectly encourages young Muslims here to join the insurgency in Iraq. "I believe Muslims are obliged to support their Muslim brothers abroad -- verbally, financially, politically," Bakri told The Associated Press. "I never said 'go abroad.' But if people want to go abroad it's a very good thing to do. But we never recruit people to go abroad."Bakri, who heads al-Muhajiroun, Britain's largest Muslim group, like all clerics in Britain is walking a fine line in what he preaches in his khotba, or sermons. At the London Mosque, for example, sermons are vetted by a senior cleric before they are delivered to worshippers during weekly Friday prayers. There's an undeclared understanding between British authorities and Muslim clerics that certain subjects -- such as Iraq or condoning holy war -- are off limits. "There's no control from the government," said Sheik Anwar Abdie Hamid Mady, deputy director general of the London Mosque. "But we don't exceed the limits in our khotba."
Mady, a 31-year-old Egyptian cleric, said he reads all the sermons before the imam, or prayer leader, delivers them. "I can interfere in order to modify some sections, to make them compatible with our circumstances. I have to review all the verses to see if they are compatible with the Quran or hadith," the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, Mady, said. "If I find some section that is not compatible to our situation, I change it." However, Mady said he never had to alter any sermon for its political contents. But many of the worshippers were less constrained about discussing fighting the American occupation of Iraq. "It's called brotherhood in Islam," said a British citizen of Algerian origin who would only give his first name, Nabil.
Even though they have not cracked down on individual clerics, as in France where five non-citizens have been deported, Muslims are well aware of their limits. According to Bakri, several Islamic groups in Britain voluntarily disbanded following a call by Osama bin Laden to come "under one camp" led by the al-Qaida leader. Bakri named the Movement of Khilafa, Jamat al-Tawheed, the Talabat al-Ilm al-Sharia al-Salafiyah, Ansar al-Sharia, Ansar al-Imarah al-Islamiyah, and the Sharia Court of the United Kingdom that was affiliated to al-Muhajiroun. Other institutions that worked under his al-Muhajiroun group, including the London School of Sharia and the Committee of Muslim Lawyers, have also ended their activities, said Bakri. He said he has stopped preaching and issuing pamphlets, and al-Muhajiroun Web sites have shut down. Did that mean these groups are now subservient to al-Qaida, as bin Laden had suggested?
| What the hell do you think? (Who the hell writes this stuff?) |
| ... which, in his opinion, is al-Qaeda. Give him the friggin' Titus Oates treatment and get it over with, fergawdsake! |
| How about if bloodthirsty Moose limbs occupy somebody else's homeland? Gee, golly. What should they do? Oh, what should they do? |