Harry's Place

It should be perfectly clear to all that Mr Abdullah is not a traitor for the simple reason this is not “his country”. He is merely using the place while the owners are out to lunch.

Agreed with Larkers. I would have thought a requisite for treason was citizenship of the country in question. Of course, there’s no reason to continue to offer residency to such visitors.

In other news, John Game is scared.

Slightly OT: Is Lucy Lips just a nom-de-plume of DT? How come?

Out of interest, why the interest in only signatory 17? Don’t 19, 26 and 72 raise similar concerns?

What exactly is Abdallah’s immigration status? I understand he was born in Guyana.

I am sure the usual suspects will whine about “breach of human rights” if he is deported.

Isn’t it about time this country started showing some backbone?

Out of interest, what is the current legal status of the waters off the coastal strip of Gaza?

“Out of interest, what is the current legal status of the waters off the coastal strip of Gaza?”

They are not drinkable.

Abdullah’s official CV: (He seems to have about as much direct familial connection with Palestine as George Galloway).

Daud Abdullah was born in Grenada where he received his early education. He obtained his first degree from the University of Guyana in 1981 and was awarded a scholarship to study Arabic language at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia.

In 1984 he joined the University of Khartoum to pursue
postgraduate studies and was awarded his doctorate in 1989. He then lectured in history at the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria.

Since moving to the United Kingdom with his family in the mid 1990s
Dr. Abdullah has been senior researcher at the Palestinian Return Centre, London. He has been a regular contributor to Impact International and the Palestine Times. He is editor of The Israeli Law of Return & its Impact on the Struggle in Palestine. His most recent book is A History of Palestinian Resistance. Dr. Abdullah regularly comments on Palestinian affairs in the British and Arab media.

Daud Abdullah has been an active member of the MCB since its inception in 1997 and moved through its ranks to become Assistant Secretary General in 2002. He chaired the European and International Affairs Committee during the period 2004-06 and represented the MCB in several delegations abroad. He has been a spokesperson for the MCB both in the British and international media.

Dr. Abdullah lectures in Islamic Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London

correction:Who would have thought that people in Britain could read Arabic?…who weren’t fellow travellers

Daud’s CV is a bit vague about he came to be a Moslem in the first place, given he is from the West Indies. Does anyone know, is he a convert?

It’s interesting that this person’s immigration status is questioned.

If you object to a Western country bending to Islamonazism, you are likely
to be branded “racist” a term that generally finishes the argument, like a cry of “Mornington Crescent” during the nation’s favourite parlour game.

As an anti – racist,it seems to me that we should throw out all Islamists regardless of their skin colour or the human rights which they would deny us.

They lie to us Kaffurs as part of their agenda. Does anyone really believe Binyan Muhammed would return, on a phoney passport, to the country he alleges “tortured” him ?
They are our enemies, much like their Nazi buddies were in the 1930s.

They exploit the state of denial presently dominant in Westminster,
and our children & grandchildren will have to pay a much more terrible debt than left by Brown’s economic reckless incompetance.

Martin

Daud’s CV is a bit vague about he came to be a Moslem in the first place, given he is from the West Indies. Does anyone know, is he a convert?

Well, Guyana is very ethnically mixed (with people from many parts of the Empire); on the last figures I’ve seen around 10% of the population are Muslim, so he wouldn’t necessarily have had to have been a convert, or at least devoid of an Islamic upbringing.

Out of interest, why the interest in only signatory 17? Don’t 19, 26 and 72 raise similar concerns?

Quite right Alex…here are the less infamous names who I haven’t been able to identify:

Professor Muhammad al-’Aani (البروفسور محمد العاني) – an Iraqi/Jordanian name – must be on the faculty somewhere – found a link possibly for him at Durham…can anyone confirm this?

Daa’eeyah (Propagator) Shah Jihan ‘Abdul-Qayyum (الداعية شاه جهان عبدالقيوم) – Almost certainly a Sylheti Bengali – could also be Indian/Pakistani

Shaykh Lateef as-Sa’eedy (الشيخ لطيف السعيدي) – almost certainly Egyptian

Does anyone know who they are?

Lucy Lips

Re: the Contest 2 and the Prevent component

I downloaded a word list of the recipients of the Community Leadership Fund (5.1m) here, from this press release. A cursory glace at the list and a bit of Googling underlines a point made in the recent Policy Exchange pamphlet: namely, that lots of money is being spent on social cohesion issues (even to counter Islamophobia) with no discernible impact on preventing extremism. To illustrate this, some cash will find its way to a housing association to pay for ’sensitivity’ training of the association’s employees.

It’s certainly worth a fisk if anybody’s interested.

Then there’s the Telegraph article below reporting Patrick Mercer’s FOI request:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5038157/Ministers-spend-90000-a-day-on-soft-schemes-to-tackle-extremism.html

90k/day!!!

In fact I find he converted to Islam in 1975 “as a result of his understanding of imperialism to his own experiences in Grenada, and to longer histories.2

(Quote) ‘We in Latin America and the Caribbean identify with people in Africa with their struggles against imperialism and we share common pain.’ His embracing of Islam in Grenada in 1975 helped him, he said, rebuild an identity that had been assaulted by colonialism.

It is not altogther clear how this “experience of colonialism” in the West Indies has led to him going native in espousing the Palestinian cause since living in the UK.

Daud’s CV is a bit vague about he came to be a Moslem in the first place, given he is from the West Indies. Does anyone know, is he a convert?

Grenada, Venichka old thing…Grenada.

Jamaica is slowly Islamising, so why not Grenada? The more the merrier I say…

Cipriano, What about the ‘Islamic Nation’ , I can’t find it on a map either.

Infie, did it have lots of links?

After Jaqui Smith’s interview on Today, there was an excellent one with Maajid Nawaz, of Quilliam Foundation. Followed by a weaselly obfuscation by HUT spokesman Taji Mustafa.

He claimed HUT does not want an Islamic state in the UK- there focus is on the Muslim world. When asked if he would like to see one in the UK, he murmured melodiously about Islamic philosophy being able to offer solutions for the economic crisis.. Islamic model.. public discourse..we offer an alternate model called a Caliphate, which we want to establish in the Muslim world. Asked do you espouse democratic values- he avoided responding, countering with: Oleg Deripaska..Cash for Lords, sleaze, torture.. but the moment we want to talk about these things, they bandy around labels to clamp down.. they say its extreme, we can’t discuss this..

aa’eeyah (Propagator) Shah Jihan ‘Abdul-Qayyum (الداعية شاه جهان عبدالقيوم) – Almost certainly a Sylheti Bengali – could also be Indian/Pakistani

I know who he is.

He is the Khatab (i.e. chief Imam) of the East London Mosque.

http://www.eastlondonmosque.org.uk/?page=sermons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaBKTQBUI30

Qayyum’s signature of this Declaration should prove problematic for him. I expect that the story will break, at some point.

Apparently Abdullah is a lecturer in Islamic Studies at Birkbeck College. Very impressive! An academic! At a serious institution!

Except he isn’t.

Islamic studies is only taught at Birkbeck in “Continuing Education” i.e. not as a major department. He doesn’t even seem to be a full-time member of staff. Maybe he is a sessional lecturer i.e. the equivalent of a supply teacher.

The Palestinian Return Centre is propaganda institute

I don’t think one can be hanged for treason any more (for some time I believe it continued to carry the death penalty even after it was abolished for murder) so presumably that gets us away form any leeway on account of severity of punishment. This looks like treason to me – book ‘im.

Mrs Ben -
the Nation of Islam knows no political boundaries. Wherever a Muslim has ever set foot is Moslem territory for ever more.
All Moslems are brothers *)

*) Disclaimer: except as pertains to helping resettle refugees.

Equally interesting is that Daud has no experience of growing up in the UK and that he converted to Islam as a teenager (I imagine he was probably a Christian before that – Grenada is a very small island and indeed had a troubled history under colonialism. Post independence in 1974 it seems to have suffered from a power struggle between two dodgy politicians with different agendas, Eric Gairy and Maurice Bishop. This led to an army coup, under finance minister Bernard Coad, and a counter intervention, ruled illegal by the UN, by the US Marines, in 1983 to overthrow the government. Various killings of political figures at this time.

But it is still surprising that Abdullah took up Islam as the 200 Muslims on the Island only make up 0.30% of the population.

I’m not surprised that Islam is spreading in Jamacia, it is a pretty lawless, gang-ridden society, however, I wonder what the very strong and forthright females in Jamaica would make of having to drape themselves in bits of cloth and walk four paces behind their man?

The reason by the way I have suddenly burst into life here is that I have been bogged down with work (comes and goes) and just finished a strenuous assignment so can take an interest in the blogs.

Anyway your starter for ten, guess who wrote this delightful piece of hagiography:

“I was standing on the Rafah Border with members of the “Viva Palestina “convoy and scores of well wishers who wanted to witness the final steps of our 5,000 mile journey from London to Gaza and I spotted Dr. Daud Abdullah.

“He’s one of the most significant and respect figures in Britain’s Muslim community and has many titles, as well as being the deputy general Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain.

“Delighted to see him turn up to show his solidarity on such a grand, historic occasion we began chatting while waiting for the gates to open.

“He filled me in on local events which included a demand by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government calling for the Muslim Council of Britain, to sack Dr. Abdullah.

“She had bleated that he was one of 90 Muslim leaders from around the world who had signed a public declaration of support for Hamas, the democratically-elected government of Gaza.

“A spokeswoman for her department justified her call by saying, “We are concerned that the statement calls for direct support for acts of violence in the Middle East and beyond.

“We are also aware that a senior member of the MCB may have been a signatory to this statement. If it is proven that the individual concerned had been a signatory, we would expect the MCB to ask him to resign and to confirm its opposition to acts of violent extremism.”

This was a gross exaggeration for a start of what the 90 signed up to.

“That the MCB even had to discuss the issue is an outrage itself and makes you wonder what is the point of belonging to such an organization – something I pointed out to Dr. Abdullah who simply responded with one of his engaging smiles.

“Had the MCB any backbone in the first place, the Secretary General would have sent Hazel Blear’s letter by return post and told her to shove it where the sun don’t shine.

“Dr. Abdullah stands head and shoulders among the ditherers and self-important little men in the MCB. He is hugely respected across the world and gives the MCB the little bit of credibility it needs in order to be taken seriously. “

He is hugely respected across the world and gives the MCB the little bit of credibility it needs in order to be taken seriously.

Hahaha. Oh dear.

“Dr. Abdullah stands head and shoulders among the ditherers and self-important little men in the MCB. He is hugely respected across the world and gives the MCB the little bit of credibility it needs in order to be taken seriously”

Self-important? Now, where have we heard recently about a self-important little narcissist p*** travelling across North Africa in relentless pursuit of applause?

There is another quite unpleasant passage in the declaration here -

We affirm in full conviction that the so-called Arab peace initiative is a proven betrayal of the Islamic Nation and the Palestinian cause, and a blatant betrayal of the Palestinian people. It aims to criminalise the Resistance [muqawama] against the Zionist occupying entity in perpetuity through its de facto recognition of it

Daud Abdullah evidently thinks that recognising Israel’s right to exist is a betrayal of “the Islamic Nation”.

And furthermore -

The obligation of the Islamic Nation to circulate a declaration to withhold aid funds from the undeserving or placing them in the hands of those who are not trustworthy. It must regard this as a legal betrayal that should be prosecuted, and punish those who cause mayhem, negligence and waste of these moneys.

Watch out George! I think they’re after you!

Of course he does, Mark. As I’ve said, any land ever conquered by Muslims is deemed to be Muslim by definition.

In the aftermath of the July 7th suicide-murders, Daud Abdullah appeared on Radio 5 Live evening news in his capacity as a member of the MCB. This was, I recall, no more than a few days after that horrible day. He was asked the question by the presenter, what would your message be to young British Muslim men who are engaged in, or actively justify, the terrorist suicide-bombing of innocent people in Britain?

His immediate, spontaneous and sincere reply was, ‘My message to them would be that this is not the time or the place’

I believe that the presenter was somewhat whooshed by this response. Either way, Daud Abdullah thought he was giving a very honourable and decent and moral response to the question, and must have thought that all would be humbled by his measure and decency.

If there are any journalists who wish to investigate Mr Abdullah further, please get in touch with the BBC and go through the archives to locate this clip from Radio 5 Live, and check all the news programmes from that station in the immediate aftermath of 7/7 in which Mr Abdullah participated. The gentleman who made the Panorama programmes investigating the MCB, or perhaps other journalists within the BBC, could search for this audio clip. It is so startlingly revealing.

January 2009. Daud Abdullah wants peace.

Deputy secretary-general Dr Daud Abdullah said he found it “incomprehensible” that the British government, and the US, did not approve a Security Council vote calling for an immediate ceasefire.

March 2009. Daud Abdullah wants war.

The obligation of the Islamic Nation to open the crossings — all crossings — in and out of Palestine permanently, in order to allow access to all the needs of the Palestinians — money, clothing, food, medicine, weapons and other essentials, so that they are able to live and perform the jihad in the way of Allah Almighty. The closure of the crossings or the prevention of the entry of weapons through them should be regarded as high treason in the Islamic Nation

I believe that Mr Abdullah is of Jamaican origin and a convert to Islam.

My apologies, he is from Grenada originally.

What I find interesting is that there seem to be quite a few of these ‘advisors’ to the government who despite having been in the UK for a relatively short period of time have made quite meteoric progress in the ranks of various government and police advisory bodies.
Now if you want to work for MI5 or GCHQ or the CTU, (even in admin) you usually have to have been in the country for at least 5 years and hold full British citizenship, renouncing any other nationality you may hold.
I wonder if this applies to advisors too?

His embracing of Islam in Grenada in 1975 helped him, he said, rebuild an identity that had been assaulted by colonialism.

Considering the history of Islamic imperialism in Africa, and the complicity and active encouragement of African slavery within the Islamic world, this speaks of a man in utter thrall to the nonsense of Islamic prosletysers. He should read the Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka’s treatise ‘The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness’

During the era of the Black Power movements, there was a kind of crossover in the area of generalised rage against ‘whitey’ that Islamic prosletysers co-opted to make their message attractive to disaffected Black men. It is something that is observable in the UK too, with noticeable numbers of Black converts to Islam. One of the London suicide-murderers was a young British Jamaican man.

It is not altogther clear how this “experience of colonialism” in the West Indies has led to him going native in espousing the Palestinian cause since living in the UK.

It has nothing to do with it. Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists all experienced the cruelty of colonialism. For a start, claiming Islamism as the bulwark and (delayed) reaction to the experience of colonialism priveliges Islam to a pompous degree over all other resistances both historical and modern.

The truth is, it is simple rhetoric, the rhetoric of rage that the seed of Islamic prosletysing, manifesting in Islamist politics and action, implants in the being of a convert. This is the action, this is the life. The ummah is paramount, the ummah is all. Ummah above all else, and when the ummah is attacked, the non-ummah must be attacked back.

Note the logic of this…..the Ummah is (good and righteous) undifferentiated mass, and the non-ummah is (bad and arrogant) barely differentiated mass. You can see how this seques so easily into the most horrific kind of communal bigotry, with the certain dynamics of racism transposed to religious division, hatreds, and eventually violence. This is what fires them, this is their passion, this is their politics and vision for humanity.

I’m not surprised that Islam is spreading in Jamacia, it is a pretty lawless, gang-ridden society, however, I wonder what the very strong and forthright females in Jamaica would make of having to drape themselves in bits of cloth and walk four paces behind their man?

The form of Islam that most starkly proposes itself in opposition to whichever culture it prosletyses itself in has a shelf life. An Islam that becomes complimentay to life is like the Hare Krishna movement, or Transcendetal Meditation, or Yoga practitioners, vaguely and warmly sufi in demeanour, tolerance and of private comfort to the believer.

The Islam you describe, however, has a shelf life. The rage, anger and hatred that powers it, the contempt for ‘the other’ it designates in its manichean conception of the world, can only last so long before coming up against the natural impulses of society and the human spirit. In Jamaica, where strictly designated re-ordering of life for those seeking solace from a brutal life can have a certain appeal, Islam can be one of many paths.

When and if it starts to interfere in the mainstream ‘Irie’ culture of the Jamaican soul, it will find deep resistance to it, not to mention Christian revivalism, whose genius always has been to assimilate the culture and spirit of Jamaica (and elsewhere) in its practise, iconography, demeanour and message.

“I did not and do not condone calls for attacks on British troops.

“The British government has not deployed troops to the territorial waters of Gaza and I do not believe it or our parliament would endorse any breach of international law.

Bollocks! there is no such thing as “territorial waters of Gaza!” and there would be no breach of international law if a British gunboat sailed up to a Gaza beach.

“I did not and do not condone calls for attacks on British troops.” No ‘troops’ involved in a Gaza blockade. Its the Navy. Is he beeing a bit wriggly? He never called for attacks on old age pensioners called Doris either.

“Daud Abdullah is a traitor. It isn’t a term that should be thrown around lightly. But there is no other way to describe a man who calls for military attacks on his own country. ”

Shaul Mofaz?

‘She bleated…’. Is that respectful towards the Homoe Secretary?

Sorry, typo, I meant Home Secretary.

Sorry, typo, I meant Home Secretary.

As in Jacqui Smith?

I know who he is.

Qayyum’s signature of this Declaration should prove problematic for him. I expect that the story will break, at some point.

I’m not sure that is him. He’s only referred to as a daa’eeyah and not as a shaykh on the declaration. Shah Jehan and Abdul Qayyum are popular Bengali names so I suppose so. If so, he’s a very naughy little Bengali man who says one thing in English and another in Sudhobhasa

ispaulsikandermuslim?

As his first name’s Paul, then I doubt it. But why not…are you an Islamophobe or something?

ispaulsikandermuslim?

I am large, I contain multitudes.

He is a traitor and should be tried as such.

Paul Sikander is a lawyer who grew up in London and the West Midlands, he has also observed the rise of Islamism in Birmingham at close quarters over the last twenty years.

Sikander is simply Alec with a scent of garam masala and incense, instead of stale porage and cheap whisky.

Hopefully, this thread has been overtaken by events. Yet, we are kidding ourselves if we think anything very much will come of any attempt to remove trouble makers from the UK and no treason trial will be attempted. (At least I hope not; think of the triumphalism if anyone so charged was aquitted.)

However, no such thing is possible. Think about this: Imagine the lawyers already sharpening their quills and smacking their lips at the thought of the pay outs from the European Court of Human Rights. The best that can be hoped for will be a complete end to government contacts at all levels with, and tax payer’s money voted to, these people and the groups they represent. Instead, much greater efforts in areas of public policy which affect everyone regardless of their religious or ethnic background.

With a will it is entirely possible to gather the greatest number around a set of guiding principles and institutions which do not depend for their force on national or religious identity. These can (and do) stretch across all areas everyday life.

Starve them of funds and starve them of publicity.
GW

And preferably of oxygen.

Caught Jacqui Smith on C4 News, in response to Jon Snow’s asking what had happened to the wunderkind Council, telling him that its “director had signed up to certain things”, at which point Snow started rabbiting on about torture.

He got a very easy ride from Paxman. Probably on the basis that Vaseline Vaz was doing the government propaganda. Understandable perhaps!

I must agree with field. Having Vaz on to counter Abdullah was poor stuff; probably incompetence rather than conspiracy. Paxman clearly much more relished biffing Vaz about and Abdullah was not seriously challenged apart from one very brief exchange. Abdullah was allowed to make utterance against Israel and to question support for Israel from the UK, thereby incriminating himself. Richard Wilson’s report which proceeded the interview was better.

I feel my prediction – that nothing will be done about someone who wants to live in the UK while actively, yes actively, seeking the deaths of UK service people – is still true.