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TV FeaturesYou are in: London > TV > Television > TV Features > Battle of Ideas Abu Izadeen heckling John Reid in 2006 Battle of IdeasJust 36 hours before Abu Izzadeen's arrest Kurt Barling talked to him about how he justified saying that British Muslim soldiers should be beheaded. Last week the man who put himself into the public eye by heckling John Reid in September 2006 was arrested and charged under the Terrorism Act 2006.听听 Abu Izzadeen cuts a striking figure dressed in white robes.听听 Born into a Christian family originally from Jamaica, Izzadeen converted to Islam.听听 At 32 he has spent the last few years berating the British government for its policies in the Middle East and criticising what he perceives to be Islamophobic tendencies in Britain. Last week he hit the headlines after footage showed him supporting the idea that British Muslims who join the British Army and then fight in Muslim lands could be beheaded.听 He says if there were an Islamic State in Britain governed by the rule of Sharia law, this is what would happen. This radical discourse evolved in Britain once the outspoken cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed (now back in the Middle East) split away from the British arm of Hizb-Ut Tahir and formed Al Muhajiroun.听听 Hizb-Ut Tahir is itself on the radical fringes of Islam and banned in countries like Egypt. In the wake of 9/11 the voice of radical Islam seemed to successfully drown out in public the opinions of the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Britain.听听 This voice of radicalism, which by its nature is intolerant, has since the London tube bombings of 2005 had to contend with strong challenges from within the Muslim community. Once British troops began to fight in Afghanistan, Al Muhajiroun and its small band of supporters claimed that a 鈥渃ovenant of security鈥 had been breached.听 The fundamental objective of all these radical groups is a return to the Caliphate in which all nations where Muslims are in the majority would serve under the jurisdiction of an Islamic leader.听 成人快手 London's Kurt Barling Al Muhajiroun, which is now disbanded, never gave accurate figures for its membership, but it never numbered more than a few hundred.听听 Its successor Al Ghurabaa had even fewer associated members.听 That group is now an outlawed organisation because the radical views it propagated glorified acts of terrorism. There is a strong argument that this small band of men had a voice out of all proportion to their size because the mainstream media was busy looking for explanations in the wake of 9/11 and then the bombings on the London underground in 2005.听 Abu Izzadeen and his close associate Anjoum Choudhary both refused to condemn those who carried out the attacks on the tube.听听 This served to gain them more media interest through their growing notoriety. There are those who wonder why on earth someone who wants to establish an Islamic State wants to try it here in the UK, given it is highly unlikely to happen, all but the deluded must realise that.听听 In short he believes that there is nowhere else in the world that would allow the establishment of the type of Islamic State with Sharia Law that he and his small band of sympathisers advocate.听听听 In other words he has to stay here because no-one else would tolerate his views. Although Izzadeen and close associates are undoubtedly devout and in some cases University educated they appeal above all to those young people who are most alienated from society.听听 But Izzadeen is a man wedded to the dogma of his faith and this appears to be having the opposite effect to the one he may have anticipated in convincing others to follow his path.听听 It鈥檚 noticeable that since the bombings in London, his radical message has been more robustly countered by alternative young voices from within the Muslim community.听听 These alternative groups are no apologists for the British state.听听 They are often highly critical of government policy and institutions like the police or more generally the portrayal of Muslims in the media.听听 Theological fanaticism when allied with a controversial political message is difficult to combat in purely rational debate, unless you separate the politics from the fanatic.听 Furthermore mainstream groups like the Muslim Council of Britain and even radical groups like Hizb-ut Tahir have disassociated themselves entirely from this radical current. Perceived levels of rising Islamophobia are just one symptom of the Muslim community鈥檚 malaise.听听 The state of course has a critical role in shaping these perceptions. last updated: 20/05/2008 at 14:05 You are in: London > TV > Television > TV Features > Battle of Ideas |
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