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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Why Is Anyone Still Listening To Maajid Nawaz?

Why Is Anyone Still Listening To Maajid Nawaz?

June 14, 2015

By Beila Rabinowitz

In our 2008 article "Why Is Anyone Listening To Maajid Nawaz?" we wrote that:" Maajid Nawaz has recently been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, testifying before the Senate on matters concerning terrorism. He has been feted, in some circles; an iconic poster boy, this week's iteration of the "moderate" Muslim." http://www.pipelinenews.org/2015/jun/15/why-is-anyone-listening-to-maajid-nawaz.html

Nawaz, a self proclaimed ex extremist who used to recruit for the terrorist group Hizb Ut Tahrir, found it more lucrative and practical to wage stealth jihad and started a think tank called The Quilliam Foundation, is partially funded by the UK government "and a shadowy group of Kuwaiti businessmen." The organisation says its aim is to "prevent radicalisation" a goal fraught with irony given the radical nature of people who are associated with it.

In 2008 one of the speakers at the QF launch was Arsalan Ifthikhar, the former CAIR legal director.

QF called Sheik Ali Gomaa the Grand Mufti of Egypt "a scholastic giant". In a 2003 interview Gomaa defended the use of terrorism on religious grounds. The "noble Abdullah Bin Bayyah" was also named a "scholastic giant" on the QF website. Bin Bayyah is a close confidante of Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi who is banned from entering the U.S. and is vice president of the IUMS The International Union of Muslim Scholars which was founded by Qaradawi and includes a Hamas member.

Among the publications offered by the Quilliam Foundation are texts by radical Imam Zaid Shakir who is referred to as a "Muslim scholar". Shakir produced a CD titled "Jihad or Terrorism?" in which he justifies violent jihad blaming "the enemies of Islam" for equating the two. http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3825

The very choice of the name Quilliam Foundation should give its supporters pause for thought since a simple Google search reveals that: "William Henry Quilliam was the first British convert to Islam, took on the name Abdullah and waged a very sucessful ‘jihad through da'wa' campaign and opened the UK's first mosque. "After embracing Islam, Quilliam began a campaign of Dawah, which in the circumstances of Victorian England, has to be described as the most effective in the UK to date. He became an Alim, an Imam and the most passionate advocate of Islam in the Western world. In 1894 Sultan Abdul Hamid ll (shown on the left), the last Ottoman Caliph, appointed him Sheikh-ul-Islam of the British Isles . The Emir of Afghanistan recognised him as the Sheikh of Muslims in Britain . He was also appointed as the Persian Vice Counsel to Liverpool by the Shah. He became a prominent spokesman for Islam in the media and was recognised by Muslims around the world. He is the only Muslim in Britain to have officially held the position of Sheikh Ul Islam of Britain . He issued many Fatwas in his capacity as appointed Leader of Muslims in Britain . These fatwas are relevant even today. http://abdullahquilliam.com/wp/about-abdullah-quilliam

The QF has proven to be a vehicle for Nawaz to accomplish the civilization jihad which he could only have dreamed about as a member of HuT. And he is now a member of the Liberal Democratic Party in the UK running for political office. http://www.hampsteadandkilburnlibdems.org.uk/

In April of 2015 Nawaz's ambitions ran into a bit of a snag when he was exposed in an article with photographs in The UK Daily Mail groping a stripper and getting a lap dance in a seedy London club.

"…A regular guest on BBC News programmes, he declared on Newsnight in 2013: ‘I consider myself a feminist.' He once wrote on Twitter: ‘You don't need to be a woman to stand for women's rights.' He often throws his weight behind gender issues such as the campaign against female genital mutilation and paints himself as a role model for young Muslim men at risk of radicalisation. But Abdul Malik, the club's owner, said he wanted the video to be seen by the public because of the way Nawaz portrays himself as a feminist and a family man. ‘He's always talking about religion on TV and I thought, what a hypocrite,' he said. He claimed ‘arrogant' Nawaz acts like a ‘spokesman for Islam' – but visited the club during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan..". http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3034312/The-married-Lib-Dem-feminist-drunken-strip-club-night-temptation-caught-camera.html#ixzz3cQUG4128

Nawaz has tried to utilize ‘damage control' by publishing a statement on Facebook which only serves to show how disingenuous he really is. In the FB statement edited on April 14th he claims that he was ‘not married at the time' and that he was "a non devout Muslim". "…I have already mentioned that this was a stag night before my marriage. However, even if it were after my marriage, Rachel had already known about it…" https://www.facebook.com/MaajidNawazFanPage/posts/845956352138298 Near the end of the piece he complains that the "sting was planned after his wedding" so he appears to contradict himself. In addition a bio page about him states his marriage was in 2014. The Daily Mail expose appeared on April 10th 2015.

On April 12th he tweeted a picture of his wife Rachel with the following text: "Don't ya wish your wifey. was. hot. like. mine? .... Don't ya? ... Don't ya?"@RachelMaggart x pic.twitter.com/u6DVGDVxkh 822pm 12 April https://mobile.twitter.com/MaajidNawaz/status/587425654272090112 "

On being a Muslim, I have lost count of the number of times I have stated that I am a "non-devout" Muslim, including in the Mail newspaper itself." https://www.facebook.com/MaajidNawazFanPage/posts/845956352138298

In a 2012 Newsweek article Nawaz had to catch himself and proclaimed the following: "I am no longer—I never was—-devout," says Nawaz. http://www.newsweek.com/maajid-nawaz-repentant-radical-65445

Nawaz may not be a "devout Muslim" now but he must have been during his tenure with Hizb Ut Tahrir and his four year stint in an Egyptian jail with luminaries of the Muslim Brotherhood. At the time, Amnesty International took up his case. He would have had plenty of time to practice taqiyah (lying to infidels to further the cause of Islam).

The 2008 Quilliam Foundation "About Us" page is fraught with religious references and calls upon Muslims to" revive Western Islam",states that they and their "progeny" belong in the UK and lauds two radical clerics. It also says that Quilliam leaders remain "committed Muslims".

"… The founders of the Quilliam Foundation have all travelled the path of extremism and, in recent years, after witnessing the logical conclusion of unfettered ideology and its impact on adherents, have resoundingly rejected Islamism while remaining committed Muslims…"

"Now under the guidance of mainstream Muslim scholars, we believe that Western Muslims should revive Western Islam, our Andalusian heritage of pluralism and respect, and thereby find harmony in West-Islam relations. Western Muslims should be free from the cultural baggage of the Indian subcontinent, or the political burdens of the Arab world. We were born and raised in a milieu that is different from the Muslim East. As such, our future and progeny belong here. Just as Muslims across the globe have adopted from and adapted to local cultures and traditions, while remaining true to the essence of their faith, Western Muslims should pioneer new thinking for our new times. Here, Muslim scholastic giants, such as the noble Abdullah bin Bayyah and Shaikh Ali Goma (Mufti of Egypt), have provided ample guidance."

Reza Aslan, a notorious stealth Islamist is among the advisors to the Quilliam Foundation. Aslan has praised the terror group Hezbollah and stated that "The Muslim Brotherhood will have a significant role to play in post –Mubarak Egypt and that is a good thing." http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/13336

In 2014 the Quilliam Foundation held an event which featured Fiyaz Mughal the head of the ‘Tell Mama" organisation which claimed to monitor "Islamophobia". http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/events/quilliam-event-09-07-2014-anti-muslim-hate-crime-in-the-uk/

Tell Mama had its government funding withdrawn after it was discovered that they had consistently lied about anti Muslim incidents and threatened their critics with libel action. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/andrew-gilligan/10108098/Muslim-hate-monitor-to-lose-backing.html

At a Quilliam Foundation "outreach" event in 2013 entitled "Do We Need An Islamic State?" (Sheik) Usama Hasan their "senior researcher of Islamic studies" who is involved with "developing the Sharia in keeping with the original Prophetic spirit of mercy, and away from rigid ritualism" stated the following: Dr. Hasan argued, based on Islamic scripture and its mainstream, normative interpretation, that an ‘Islamic state', if such a thing existed, would be a just state, respecting basic human rights, freedoms and democracy. Furthermore, it would be obliged to help provide for people's basic necessities such as food and drink, housing, education, jobs and healthcare. Dr. Hasan stated that in this sense, " Britain is far more ‘Islamic' than many so-called ‘Islamic states'. http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/events/do-we-need-an-islamic-state-dr-usama-hasan-addresses-bristol-university-multi-faith-chaplaincy/

An article in the New Statesman entitled "Nice Try, Maajid Nawaz but you didn't go to a lapdancing club because you're a feminist" sums up the absurdity of his protestations that he is indeed a liberal democrat who fights for women's rights.

"..Nawaz's "feminism" is a hollow parody of the women's movement. He proudly proclaims his support for all the choices a woman can make, especially the choices that might give him an erection, but never asks why it should be women who have this "choice" to gyrate unclothed for men they wouldn't let within sniffing distance unpaid… …Because Nawaz, of course, is not a feminist. He's just one more man pinning the label on himself like a set of nipple tassels and twirling them to distract the audience from the fact that he's got a giant hard-on for his own power. " http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/04/nice-try-maajid-nawaz-you-didn-t-go-lapdancing-club

Nawaz is indeed obsessed with his own power. His latest Facebook page entry reads : " ATTEND - I'm chairing the Lib Dem Leadership Debate at the National Liberal Club between leadership candidates Tim Farron MP and Norman Lamb MP on "Liberalism, Free Speech & Extremism." The event will take place on June15th https://www.facebook.com/MaajidNawazFanPage/photos/a.551104524956817.1073741829.135775283156412/872322886168311/?type=1&theater

An article about himself in The Times of London revealed the following. "Maajid Nawaz can understand why two aspirational Muslim brothers from Cardiff have ended up going on jihad in Syria . Born in Southend to a middle-class Anglophile household of Pakistani origin, he and his brother also turned from being A-grade students into Islamist extremists…

…"That's why I want to go into British politics. I want to prove that the best way to change the world is through democratic engagement — and get that boy from Cardiff back here becoming an MP." http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/press/the-times-an-interview-with-maajid-nawaz/

Stealth jihadist Nawaz recently spoke at the American Jewish Committee's Global Forum which highlights the gullibility and stupidity of those who are so desperate to find the non existent Muslim "moderates" that any ex terrorist who claims to be a reformer is embraced without question or serious vetting playing perfectly into their Islamist agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UGY4Qweim0

Which once again begs the question: Why is anyone still listening to Maajid Nawaz?

For more see:

http://www.pipelinenews.org/2015/jun/15/part-ii-why-is-anyone-still-listening-to-maajid-nawaz.html

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MIM: The Quilliam Foundation's 2008 website's About Us page states that they are campaigning to "foster a genuine British Islam".

The Quilliam Foundation is a counter extremism think tank. Created by former activists of radical Islamist organisations, our founders are familiar with the mindset and methods of extremist groups. Now under the guidance of mainstream Muslim scholars, we believe that Western Muslims should revive Western Islam, our Andalusian heritage of pluralism and respect, and thereby find harmony in West-Islam relations.

Western Muslims should be free from the cultural baggage of the Indian subcontinent, or the political burdens of the Arab world. We were born and raised in a milieu that is different from the Muslim East. As such, our future and progeny belong here. Just as Muslims across the globe have adopted from and adapted to local cultures and traditions, while remaining true to the essence of their faith, Western Muslims should pioneer new thinking for our new times. Here, Muslim scholastic giants, such as the noble Abdullah bin Bayyah and Shaikh Ali Goma (Mufti of Egypt), have provided ample guidance.

Public launch with prominent Muslim scholars, Jemima Khan,

Lord Paddy Ashdown, Timothy Garton Ash, Maajid Nawaz,

Ed Husain and others.

Tuesday, 22nd April 2008 at 1:00pm
Venue: BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum.
Please email to book a seat.

About Us

The Quilliam Foundation, under the guidance of mainstream Muslim scholars, is a specialist think tank and campaign group that believes that Western Muslims should revive Western Islam, our Andalusian heritage of pluralism and respect, and thereby find harmony in West-Islam relations.

Western Muslims should be free from the cultural baggage of the Indian subcontinent, or the political burdens of the Arab world. We were born and raised in a milieu that is different from the Muslim East. As such, our future and progeny belong here. Just as Muslims across the globe have adopted from and adapted to local cultures and traditions, while remaining true to the essence of their faith, Western Muslims should pioneer new thinking for our new times. Here, Muslim scholastic giants, such as the noble Abdullah bin Bayyah and Shaikh Ali Goma (Mufti of Egypt), have provided ample guidance.

The founders of the Quilliam Foundation have all travelled the path of extremism and, in recent years, after witnessing the logical conclusion of unfettered ideology and its impact on adherents, have resoundingly rejected Islamism while remaining committed Muslims.

Accordingly, the Quilliam Foundation rejects foreign ideologies of Islamism and Jihadism as aberrant readings of the Islamic tradition and are thus irrelevant and defunct. We uphold Islam as a pluralistic, diverse tradition that can heal the pathology of Islamist extremism.

Abdullah William Quilliam (1856-1932) was an English convert to Islam who founded Britain's first mosque and started educational and charitable institutions.

The Quilliam Foundation is in his memory a think-tank and campaign group to help foster a genuine British Islam, native to these islands, free from the bitter politics of the Arab and Muslim world.

The Quilliam Foundation will be spearheaded by high-profile, former Islamists to:

Expose and challenge the weaknesses, inconsistencies, and failings of Islamist thought and actions;

Provide a scripturally rooted theological and ideological alternative to the rigidity of Islamism and extreme Wahhabism;

Narrate public testimonies as to why Islamists and extreme Wahhabites (of various persuasions) abandoned these movements;

Encourage current Islamists and extreme Wahhabites to sever ties with their movements and enter the fold of mainstream Islam;

Advocate full integration of Muslims into Western society as citizens, not as a faith community, and counter the separatism of Islamists.

Maajid Nawaz – Director

Maajid's experience in the field of Islamism stretches back to being 16-years-old, when he was recruited to Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Liberation Party). Maajid very quickly became a national speaker and an international recruiter for the Party, traveling first to Pakistan and then to Denmark to export the Party's ideology and set up cells from London. He was also in Egypt, where in 2002 he was detained, subjected to witnessing of torture, and then convicted to five years imprisonment for belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir. After Amnesty International's adoption as a prisoner of conscience and a global campaign for his release, Maajid returned to the UK in March 2006 to join Hizb ut-Tahrir's national leadership committee. Maajid became one of only two members who joined Hizb ut-Tahrir's external Executive Committee and its then secret internal leadership, known as the Wilayah committee. In May 2007 Maajid unilaterally resigned his membership from the Party and in September 2007 he recanted Islamism on BBC's flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight.

Maajid's grasp and insight into Islamist thought is unique, due to years spent debating the intricacies of Islamist ideology with fellow prisoners at Mazra Tora, Cairo — the same prison complex as Sayyid Qutb. It was there that he met with leading and founding members of Egypt's most violent groups, including the surviving assassins of the late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadaat. During his time in the same prison he spoke at length with the Muslim Brotherhood leadership such as Mohammed al-Badee' - who in his youth personally smuggled Qutb's Milestones out from prison - and their spokesman Dr Essam el-Erian. Maajid also befriended Dr Sa'ad al-Din Ibrahim and the imprisoned runner-up to Egypt's 2006 presidential elections, the liberal head of the Tomorrow Party, Ayman Nur. Throughout this time, Maajid continued his studies, sitting with graduates of Cairo's al-Azhar University and Dar al-'Ulum. He specialised in the Arabic language whilst studying historical Muslim scholastics, sources of Islamic jurisprudence, Hadith historiography, the art of Qur'an recitation and committing half of the Qur'an to memory.

As a result of time spent in the Middle East, and sustained discussions with a wide range of personalities, Maajid has gained rare political insight into the complexities of Middle-East politics, religion, and the contemporary Muslim political mindset..."

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