[osint] The Advance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK

[Beowulf]

 

The Advance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK


by Michael Whine
Published on Monday, September 12, 2005
ARTICLES 
http://www.futureofmuslimworld.com/research/pubID.21/pub_detail.asp


SINCE ITS FORMAL ARRIVAL IN THE UK NINE YEARS AGO, the Muslim Brotherhood
(Ikhwan al Islami—MB) has grown from having no organizational presence to
being perhaps the most dynamic influence within the British Muslim
population. It has done so by seizing the initiative on issues of concern to
Muslims, whereas more moderate activists have dithered or failed to act
effectively.

In 1996, the first representative of the MB in Britain, Kamal el-Helbawy, an
Egyptian, was able to say that “there are not many members here, but many
Muslims in Britain intellectually support the aims of the Muslim
Brotherhood.” He added that at that time, the object of the MB in Britain
was only to disseminate information on Islam, Islamic issues and movements,
and to rectify the distortions and misunderstandings created by “different
forces against Islam.” 

In September 1999, the MB opened a “global information centre” in London.  A
press notice published in Muslim News stated that it would “specialize in
promoting the perspectives and stances of the Muslim Brotherhood, and
[communicate] between Islamic movements and the global mass media.”

The Arab Expatriates 

London had been named “Londonistan” by the French security services during
the 1990s, when they became alarmed and frustrated by the growing presence
of Algerian Islamists who used London as a rear base from which to conduct
their terrorist campaign against France. They were mostly, but by no means
all, members of the Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Islamique Armeé—GIA). France
sought the extradition of some of them in connection with the bombings that
terrorized Parisians during the 1980s. The British authorities took the
view, however, that they should be granted asylum, provided they had
committed no crimes on British soil. Since extradition requests take many
years to work their way through the British courts, and since defendants are
granted the right to appeal to a higher court at every stage in the process,
the French authorities openly voiced their dismay.  

Among the Arab Islamist ideologues who had been granted asylum—and in some
cases, the indefinite right to stay, or even British citizenship—was Rashid
Gannouchi, the leader of the Tunisian al-Nahda party who had left Tunisia on
completion of a prison sentence for terrorism offences, and members of the
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Another leader was the Syrian expatriate Omar
Fostock (aka. Omar Bakri Mohammed—OBM), who with another Syrian expatriate,
Farid Kassim, founded a branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation
Party—HT) in 1986. He had arrived in Britain, after being expelled from
Saudi Arabia, to where he claims he had fled after the late President
Assad’s crackdown on the MB. In Saudi Arabia he claims that he was active in
another group with a similar ideology, al-Muhajiroun (The Emigrants—AM).

HT was founded by Shaykh Taqi Uddin Al Nabahani, an Islamic court judge, in
Jerusalem in 1953, after he had left the Palestinian branch of the MB. HT
follows a similar ideology as the MB, but Nabahani promoted the resurrection
of the Islamic Caliphate, which had been destroyed in 1924 on the
dissolution of the Turkish Empire, as the main priority. He believed that
Muslims may only live in a Muslim state governed by Sharia law. This goal
takes precedence over all others and explains why, for example, HT’s members
have generally refrained from campaigning on other Islamist and MB issues,
and been criticized for so doing. Nabahani had also been much influenced by
Haj Amin Al Husseini, then living in exile in Egypt, and as a consequence
had introduced an even greater element of anti-Semitism into HT ideology
than it had inherited from the post-war MB leadership under Sayyid Qutb.  

HT first began public activity among Arab students studying at the colleges
of London University, notably Imperial College and Queen Mary College. It
rapidly gained notoriety within student circles for its anti-democratic,
anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh and homophobic
campaigning. However, most of its activity was focused on moderate Muslim
students. HT’s confrontational stance led to it being banned by the National
Union of Students in 1994, and eventually, after numerous complaints from
the Union of Jewish Students and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, to
the publication of guidelines against religious coercion for all university
heads, by their umbrella body, the Committee of Vice Chancellors and
Principals (later renamed Universities UK).

OBM’s publicity-seeking stunts, however, drew criticism from the HT
leadership based in Jordan and Lebanon. In 1996 he left the party with the
majority of its active members to form AM. In doing so he joined up with
Shaykh Mohammed Al Mas’ari, the Saudi Islamist exile whose own high-pro

[osint] The Advance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK

[Bruce Tefft]

http://www.futureofmuslimworld.com/research/pubID.21/pub_detail.asp
 
The Advance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK
by Michael Whine
Published on Monday, September 12, 2005
ARTICLES 
  Current
Trends in Islamist Ideology vol. 2 
SINCE ITS FORMAL ARRIVAL IN THE UK NINE YEARS AGO, the Muslim Brotherhood
(Ikhwan al Islami—MB) has grown from having no organizational presence to
being perhaps the most dynamic influence within the British Muslim
population. It has done so by seizing the initiative on issues of concern to
Muslims, whereas more moderate activists have dithered or failed to act
effectively.
In 1996, the first representative of the MB in Britain, Kamal el-Helbawy, an
Egyptian, was able to say that “there are not many members here, but many
Muslims in Britain intellectually support the aims of the Muslim
Brotherhood.” He added that at that time, the object of the MB in Britain
was only to disseminate information on Islam, Islamic issues and movements,
and to rectify the distortions and misunderstandings created by “different
forces against Islam.” 
In September 1999, the MB opened a “global information centre” in London.  A
press notice published in Muslim News stated that it would “specialize in
promoting the perspectives and stances of the Muslim Brotherhood, and
[communicate] between Islamic movements and the global mass media.”
The Arab Expatriates 
London had been named “Londonistan” by the French security services during
the 1990s, when they became alarmed and frustrated by the growing presence
of Algerian Islamists who used London as a rear base from which to conduct
their terrorist campaign against France. They were mostly, but by no means
all, members of the Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Islamique Armeé—GIA). France
sought the extradition of some of them in connection with the bombings that
terrorized Parisians during the 1980s. The British authorities took the
view, however, that they should be granted asylum, provided they had
committed no crimes on British soil. Since extradition requests take many
years to work their way through the British courts, and since defendants are
granted the right to appeal to a higher court at every stage in the process,
the French authorities openly voiced their dismay.  
Among the Arab Islamist ideologues who had been granted asylum—and in some
cases, the indefinite right to stay, or even British citizenship—was Rashid
Gannouchi, the leader of the Tunisian al-Nahda party who had left Tunisia on
completion of a prison sentence for terrorism offences, and members of the
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Another leader was the Syrian expatriate Omar
Fostock (aka. Omar Bakri Mohammed—OBM), who with another Syrian expatriate,
Farid Kassim, founded a branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation
Party—HT) in 1986. He had arrived in Britain, after being expelled from
Saudi Arabia, to where he claims he had fled after the late President
Assad’s crackdown on the MB. In Saudi Arabia he claims that he was active in
another group with a similar ideology, al-Muhajiroun (The Emigrants—AM).
HT was founded by Shaykh Taqi Uddin Al Nabahani, an Islamic court judge, in
Jerusalem in 1953, after he had left the Palestinian branch of the MB. HT
follows a similar ideology as the MB, but Nabahani promoted the resurrection
of the Islamic Caliphate, which had been destroyed in 1924 on the
dissolution of the Turkish Empire, as the main priority. He believed that
Muslims may only live in a Muslim state governed by Sharia law. This goal
takes precedence over all others and explains why, for example, HT’s members
have generally refrained from campaigning on other Islamist and MB issues,
and been criticized for so doing. Nabahani had also been much influenced by
Haj Amin Al Husseini, then living in exile in Egypt, and as a consequence
had introduced an even greater element of anti-Semitism into HT ideology
than it had inherited from the post-war MB leadership under Sayyid Qutb.  
HT first began public activity among Arab students studying at the colleges
of London University, notably Imperial College and Queen Mary College. It
rapidly gained notoriety within student circles for its anti-democratic,
anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh and homophobic
campaigning. However, most of its activity was focused on moderate Muslim
students. HT’s confrontational stance led to it being banned by the National
Union of Students in 1994, and eventually, after numerous complaints from
the Union of Jewish Students and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, to
the publication of guidelines against religious coercion for all university
heads, by their umbrella body, the Committee of Vice Chancellors and
Principals (later renamed Universities UK).
OBM’s publicity-seeking stunts, however, drew criticism from the HT
leadership based in Jordan and Lebanon. In 1996 he left the party with the
majority of its active members to form AM. In doi