Comments on: A Letter from Osama Saeed

By: GMS

GMS — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:32:56 +0000

Osama says: “My view on organisations like the Muslim Brotherhood is that we should not be transplanting Eastern complexes into a British and Scottish context.”

He continues in the same article: ” For those that want more of an Islamic character to society, this is not a political issue. It is properly aimed at the social and moral fabric of society and can only be achieved by reasoned argument and popular acceptance. Islamic character is a private affair of the heart and can only be won by appeals to those hearts, not force.”

However, despite his “not a supporter” position, the similarities with the Ikhwan’s philosophy are quite remarkable given that he says they they are not connected.

From the Ikhwan homepage:

“Al-Ikhwan has branches in over 70 countries all over the world. The movement is flexible enough to allow working under the “Ikhwan” name, under other names, or working according to every country’s circumstances. However, all Ikhwan groups, in all countries are characterized by the following with respect to their method :

1- Following the Salaf: Rejecting any action or principle which contradicts the Quran or Sunna, and inviting people to nothing but them both.

2- Establishing the Sunna: Working -as much as possible- to spread the Sunna in every aspect of life.

3- Increasing the Iman: By concentrating on the purity of hearts, loving Muslims in the sake of Allah, and remembrance (plus being away of any Sufi mistakes).

4- Political Activism: By putting political programs for “Islamising” government in different countries (after realistic studies), and establishing these programs thru the convenient ways which do not conflict with Islam.

5- Stressing Physical Health: By forming sports clubs and committing members to regular exercises.

6- Enriching Scientific Study: By enhancing the knowledge of members and others about Islam. Members with “Shari’a” major have special study programs.

7- Establishing a Sound Economic Infrastructure: By supporting and/or sponsoring any Islamic project and facing its “fiqh” problems. By the way, the ONLY accepted source of money to the Ikhwan is its members’ OWN money.

8- Fostering Social ties: By maintaining brotherhood links among the members of the Islamic society.”

Osama and the SIF fit every one of these perfectly.

Does Osama carry an Al Ikhwan, (Glasgow Branch) membership card in his wallet? Probably not. But then again, it’s not exactly the Central Glasgow Bowling Club we’re talking about, is it?

By: Barad

Barad — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:04:55 +0000

“There’s no other way to congratulate George Galloway’s barnstorming performance in the US other than to use his own words with which he praised the Iraqi people during sanctions: “I salute your courage, your strength and your indefatigability.

The Prophet (saw) said that the greatest jihad is speaking the word of truth in the tyrant ruler’s court, ”

Saeed quotes what was in fact a salute by Galloway (AKA Catwoman) to the late, unlamented and murderous dictator of the Iraqi people, not a salute to his victims, the Iraqi people themselves.

Galloway, of course, was not speaking truth in the actual tyrant’s court, only in the very safe environment of a US Senate hearing. Had he spoken so forthrightly to Saddam Hussein, he might be dead.

Perhaps the subtlety (and the irony) was lost on Saeed.

By: Mark J

Mark J — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:00:28 +0000

Osama – it seems you are deliberately playing dumb and pretending not to know what an Islamist is. The fact is you do and therefore please stop hiding behind the ‘i am just against the Iraq war….its those with a right wing agenda’ nonsense because it doesn’t wash anymore. Please clarify your views on key Islamist aims once and for all and then people will leave you alone. Just a reminder, do you believe:

a) Shariah should be state law
b) Political Soverignity belongs to Allah
c) Muslims must have one ruler and hence be politically united under a Caliphate

Look forward to an honest response.

By: Alec M

Alec M — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:25:04 +0000

Alan, we all make off-the-cuff remarks which we later come to regret. Saeed, for any faults he has, is definitely one of the most urbane and well travelled of the Snuppies, having likely done more international travel than many of the cabinet combined (Salmond and/or Strugeon excepted).

I can’t really believe he wishes to establish a Caliphate, in the Hizb ut Tahrir mould, even if he does imagine himself as the gatekeeper for a contained “Muslim community”.

By: Alec M

Alec M — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:12:41 +0000

Does anyone know if Saeed will be at this event?

http://efrafandays.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/scottish-deputy-first-minister-to-attend-speech-by-hamas-officials/

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:57:33 +0000

The link for the November 2003 move by the MAB to have four Glasgow schools converted to Islam is here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060118094006/www.theherald.co.uk/news/54336.html

and his Guardian call for a Caliphate is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1605653,00.html

So this is what appeared at this (now defunct) address:
http://www.iwitness.co.uk/comment/06051002.htm

For purposes of review, it can be reproduced in full under UK and US copyright law.

“We need 646 George Galloways
June2005
OSAMA SAEED

There’s no other way to congratulate George Galloway’s barnstorming performance in the US other than to use his own words with which he praised the Iraqi people during sanctions: “I salute your courage, your strength and your indefatigability.”

The Prophet (saw) said that they greatest jihad is speaking the word of truth in the tyrant ruler’s court, and surely that performance is the closest we’ve seen to this in modern times. Having the ability to do what George did was something, having the guts another.

Lesser mortals would have given up years ago. George could have easily sat on the backbenches of the Labour Party quietly taking his salary, all the while happily being whipped like the spineless anonymous sheep the rest of them are.

There is a constant level of opprobrium heaped on George which his detractors never stop to think about. Those that reported supposed documents in the aftermath of the Iraq war showing George was in the pay of Saddam Hussein have since admitted that they were forgeries. What’s never been answered is why anyone would want to do this.

Quite simply, George Galloway is a thorn in the side of the right-wing establishment. He doesn’t wield power, isn’t a President or a Prime Minister, but he himself is considered a big threat to the interest which uphold the injustices being perpetrated across the world.

We need more of his kind, 646 in fact, to fill up the rest of Parliament. How George’s interest in the Muslim world was initiated is an interesting, but simple story. In the 1970s he was a leading figure in the Dundee Labour Party. He was manning their office there one day when in walked a Palestinian man. The man proceeded to unburden the decades of hurt that his people had suffered at the hands of the Israelis.

And that was that. Shortly after, Dundee City Council’s building became the first in the Western world to have a Palestinian flag draped across it. Since then, George has not relented in his campaigning for the Palestinians and the linked problems in the Muslim world. We owe this Palestinian gentleman a huge debt of gratitude.

If anyone wants a lesson on how much effect lobbying can have, surely this is a shining example. Contrast this with the recent General Elections. Channel 4 aired a documentary about the Muslim Public Affairs Committee’s battle with Jack Straw in Blackburn.

The two MPAC lads were leafleting outside a mosque in the town when some of the local Labour Party heavies took exception to this insulting of their darling Jack. Remarkably, on camera, they physically assaulted them. So rather than lifting a finger to help their 100,000 brothers and sisters slaughtered by missiles in Iraq, they attack people in defence of the man who helped arrange it from yes, leaflets.

I met a waiter in Dundee recently who originally hailed from Blackburn. I joked with him that MPAC refer to Blackburn Muslims as the “Stupidest Muslims in the UK” for continually re-electing Mr Straw. To my amazement, he went on to claim that Jack was an excellent local MP, that it was the Palestinians’ own fault that they had been terrorised from their homes, and the Iraq war needed to be put in its context.

What context can it be put in? On a scale, how can you possibly balance up the massacre of 100,000 people? No amount of money diverted to local mosques, and peerages for the likes of Adam Patel justify it. The Prophet (saw) looked at the Ka’aba, holiest place in the world, and said it was beautiful but not worth the blood of a single person. How can a pokey mosque in Blackburn be worth all the death and destruction in Iraq then? Labour also tried to bribe local Muslims in Bethnal to vote Oona King in this way, but thankfully it never worked.

In East Renfrewshire, Labour’s Jim Murphy, former Chair of the Labour Friends of Israel, faced his local Muslims saying that he was consistent. He told the local synagogue the day before the Muslim hustings he was speaking at, that he believed in a two state solution, that the Palestinians had to root out terrorism and corruption, and the Israelis had to show “restraint”.

Have the Palestinians no restraint to show? Not even after decades of millions of them being driven from their homes and living in camps since then? Not even for living under military occupation since 1967? Not even after seeing thousands of them murdered by guns, planes and tanks in the last few years alone? He flouted his bias as a badge of balance and got away with it. Hopefully it won’t be four years till anyone mentions it to him again.

I fear, though, that no one will press him on these issues. A couple of people may write in, or send off a standard email. Practically no one will pay a visit to a surgery like our Palestinian friend who visited George Galloway. We have a situation where we admire George for stepping into the lion’s den, but we can’t find the will to step into the donkey’s pen.”

Nice, Osama. The voters will love you….

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:53:28 +0000

On a more serious note, I really think that voters should think twice about someone who has publicly announced that Muslims should not co-operate with police:

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2006/11/07/newsstory8939138t0.asp

This announcement does not comply with the figure of responsibility that he projects himself as being.

And he also thinks that Sharia in Britain is a good thing. From his “Rolled-up Trousers” blog, from February 11, 2008:

“Shariah already exists in the country – I’m married under it, eat meat slaughtered by it, and bank according to it. In some cases, the law even had to be changed to accomodate this e.g. the removal of double stamp duty for Islamic mortgages.”
http://www.osamasaeed.org/osama/2008/02/williams-and-sh.html

This comment was approved by the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that he claims not to have anything to do with:
http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=15997&ref=search.php

Let his potential constituents not forget that as the coordinator of the “Campaign for Muslim Schools”, Saeed complained that Catholic-run St Albert’s Primary school in the Pollockshields area of Glasgow (where about 90% of the pupils are Muslims) were taking part in Catholic “rituals” such as saying the Lords’ Prayers and going to Mass. He suggested that the school should change itself to a Muslim school!

http://web.archive.org/web/20060324032454/http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=71792006

And no- of course, this has nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood’s policies of infiltration and subversion of non-Muslim societies.

And the Muslim Association of Britain, of which Osama Saeed was a member, had in November 2003 targeted four Glasgow schools (including St Albert’s Primary) to convert to islam.

This seems fully in line with the policies of the Muslim Brotherhood. And why would Osama Saeed deny having anything to do with the Ikhwan, when Kemal el-Helbawy, a leading figure of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded the Muslim Association of Britain, shortly after he co-founded the Muslim Council of Britain with Mehboob Kantharia.

The Muslim Association of Britain itself seems , unlike Kemal el-Helbawy itself, to be rather shy about mentioning that it was founded by a prominent member of the Ikhwan:

http://mabonline.net/?page_id=2

So maybe, he is just shy.

But in June 2005, Osama Saeed wrote in “iwitness” – “We need 646 George Galloways”.

To avoid alerting the Typepad auto-censors due to a long post, I will reproduce that text in full below.

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:03:14 +0000

I would like to know just how far up each others’ sphincters Osama Saeed and David Miller really are.

By: Alan A

Alan A — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:01:05 +0000

Why?

The central purpose of the Muslim Brotherhood is to create a Caliphate.

Osama Saeed was a MAB/Muslim Brotherhood activist.

He wrote the article five years ago. He was hardly a callow youth at the time!

By: Alec M

Alec M — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:46:07 +0000

To be fair, the one about his supporting the Caliphate should be put down to youthful exuberbance.

Oh dear for the rest.