The controversy surrounding the visit to the UK earlier this month by the eminent Islamic scholar, Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, was highly instructive.
On July 5, the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD)issued a press release calling on the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to “ban the notorious Islamic cleric [Shaykh Qaradawi] from entering the UK...We have every confidence that...the Home Secretary will exercise his powers to prevent people like Qaradawi from sullying our shores.” The press release also revealed that “several times over the past year the Board has written to the Home Secretary urging [Qaradawi's] exclusion.”
The Board of Deputies argued - falsely, though not surprisingly - that Qaradawi called on Muslims to have “no dialogue with the Jews” and “openly called for the killing of Jews.” In reality, Qaradawi’s remarks have been centred on Israelis who are illegally occupying Palestine.
Even the United Nations charter affirms the right of occupied peoples to engage in acts of resistance against their occupiers. Concerning Jews around the world, the Shaykh has clearly stated that Islam recognises the Jewish communities as a People of the Book who ought to be respected and dealt with honourably.
The Board of Deputies were evidently very confident that the Home Secretary would accede to their demands.
On July 6, the Liverpool Daily Post quoted the Jewish MP Louise Ellman (a member of the Labour Friends of Israel and also of the Zionist movement, Poale Zion) as having, “told Mr Blunkett in a letter that it would be ‘an outrage’ to allow Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi into this country to speak at a conference in London on July 12 on Muslim women’s dress.”
Witness also the following extract that appeared in the Jerusalem Post on July 7: “Protesting the planned visit, Neville Nagler, director-general of the Board of Deputies, said Qaradawi’s ‘abhorrent views make him an unacceptable visitor to this country.’ He was confident Home Secretary, David Blunkett, would prevent Qaradawi from entering the UK.”
Douglas Davis, author of the above article, was a little slow in catching up, as Dr Qaradawi had already arrived in the UK the previous day!
No wonder several of Wednesday’s British papers - undoubtedly urged on by the BoD - decided to scream indignation and urge the Home Secretary to expel Qaradawi. The Sun screamed, “The Evil Has Landed.” The Daily Express ran a story titled ‘An Evil Man We Must Ban’. The London Evening Standard called Qaradawi a ‘Race Hate Cleric’.
Even Michael Howard, the Leader of the Opposition, chimed in and raised the issue of expulsion at the Prime Minister’s Question Time in the House of Commons. The aim was clearly to embarrass the Labour Government into forcing Qaradawi out.
They had some success when Home Office Minister, Fiona Mactaggart, announced that she would no longer be sending her video message of support to the Muslim Women’s conference on the Hijab on July 12, because a ‘perfectly good cause had been hijacked [by Qaradawi]’.
Opprobrium was also heaped on the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who has long been a vocal critic of Israeli brutality towards the Palestinians.
Livingstone was due on July 7, to open a conference at London’s City Hall of the European Council for Fatwa and Research - a body that Qaradawi heads. The veteran Zionist, Lord Greville Janner, wrote in that day’s issue of the Sun: “I greatly hope that the Mayor will not attend this meeting.” The Sun’s editorial called Livingstone “a twerp.”
The Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, blasted Livingstone for giving Dr Qaradawi the “oxygen of publicity”.
Al-Jazeera - the independent Arabic channel based in Qatar, which has attracted American fury and American bombs - ran a story on the evening of July 7 from its London based correspondent, Nasir Badri, who said: “[This controversy] is an attempt to break sympathy with the Palestine question and the anti-Israel feelings. It is probably an attempt to push the British politicians, especially the British Government, against Al-Qaradawi’s visit and to embarrass the Government to make a decision that would probably harm its relations with the Muslim community.”
Spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), Dr Azzam Tamimi, defended Qaradawi in a large number of interviews while the MAB issued a statement decrying the ‘character assassination’ of Dr Qaradawi and said the “smear campaign against Dr Al-Qaradawi is being orchestrated by the Zionist lobby who are evidently angered by Dr Al-Qaradawi’s staunch opposition to Israeli State brutality against the Palestinian people.”
Still, the pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby continued to increase. Much was made of Dr Qaradawi’s statements of support for the Palestinians who carry out ‘martyrdom operations’ - or the so-called ‘suicide bombings’. Qaradawi was characteristically steadfast and patiently explained that “it was the weapon of the weak” - those who had no other option left.
We learned later that also on July 7, a delegation from the BoD had visited Scotland Yard and handed over a ‘dossier’ of quotes from Dr Qaradawi, which they alleged incited ‘race hate’. Newspapers began to speculate that Dr Qaradawi could face prosecution for incitement in this country.
The next day, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, issued a highly partisan statement saying: “The anger that was created by the comments made by the individual is considerable. I have had personal telephone calls from eminent members of the Jewish community. I don’t want my officers on the same stage [as Qaradawi for an upcoming conference about children]. I, for one, will not associate myself with the comments this man has made in relation to all sorts of issues.”
We understand that several Muslim organisations have now written to the Metropolitan Police to complain about Sir John’s intervention.
Several newspapers now pointed out that the Metropolitan Police were co-sponsors of July 11, upcoming ‘Our Children, Our Future’ Conference at which al-Qaradawi was also due to speak. Sir John’s comments had placed the Met in an embarrassing position. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police now said that they had come to an arrangement with the organisers of the Conference, Da’watul Islam, that al-Qaradawi would not speak so that the Met could carry on sponsoring the event. Spokesman for Da’watul Islam, Hasan Mueenuddin, categorically denied such an arrangement had been made and confidently stated to several newspapers that “Dr Qaradawi will definitely be speaking at our conference on Sunday.”
But amidst all the noise and disinformation, one question stood out and refused to go away: what on earth had Dr Qaradawi said or done in the UK that was unlawful?
On July 9, the tide began to turn and the Independent in its editorial wrote: “There is no good reason other than media hysteria for the furore. Al-Qaradawi’s views may be unacceptable to many. But he is no Abu Hamza, bent on self-publicity, but a respected fundamentalist thinker from Egypt, generally known in the Middle East as a moderate who has denounced al-Qa’ida and abhorred the loss of innocent life. Until he says something that crosses the boundary between offensiveness and actual incitement to violence, he should have every right to attend a Muslim conference in London and espouse his views openly. Indeed, we could benefit from the opportunity to listen and try to understand the voice he represents.”
The Times published an article, which warned that any action taken against Dr Qaradawi could result in a backlash from a Muslim community already deeply unhappy with the Government’s war against Iraq.
The Guardian published an excellent comment piece from a member of the MAB, asking, “If Qaradawi is an extremist, who is left?”
Then on the afternoon of July 9, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that they had no case against Dr Qaradawi. The Met Police now announced that due to this development they no longer had any objection to Dr Qaradawi addressing July 11, Da’watul Islam Conference - and bar all the predictable outrage from the expected quarters – the pro-Israel lobby in the UK had been soundly beaten.