Flying Imam
Thursday, April 27, 2006
http://www.flyingimam.com/
After having drawn attention on this blog to an
alleged concerted campaign by the Muslim Council of
Britain (MCB) and gay rights groups to eradicate
homophobia amongst the Muslim community the MCB has
issued a press statement denying that there is any
substance to the story published by Marc Shoffman on
pinknews.co.uk, stating categorically that "the
practice of homosexuality is sinful in Islam" and that
"homosexual relationships are sinful and clearly go
against Islamic teachings".
The MCB clarification goes on to say that "The article
written by Marc Shoffman contained various
inaccuracies that have misrepresented the MCB. Chief
amongst them is the reference to a 5-year plan
endorsed by the MCB. Abdul Aziz has confirmed to the
MCB that no such plan exists and that the reference to
one was entirely fictional."
Since no correction appeared on the pinknews site and
the above MCB release indicates that Abdul Aziz is a
real person who is in contact with them, the
retraction by the MCB raises questions of its own and
I asked Shenaz Yusuf, media officer with the MCB to
clarify the actual position of Abdul Aziz who
according to the MCB statement was incorrectly
described as a "policy advisor" but has made
statements on their behalf in the capacity of
"consultant adviser" before. I also asked her what
action the MCB intended to take against Marc Shoffman
or Abdul Aziz to ensure that the misrepresentation of
the MCB does not continue. After all, when informing
me of the MCB press release she had written: "I'm very
surprised that you should have suspected that the MCB
would be involved in any such endeavour and irked that
you did not seek to ascertain the veracity of the
alleged 'campaign' by speaking to a member of the
MCB."
Sadly, the reply to those simple questions proved less
than satisfactory. About Abdul Aziz it said: "Abdul
Aziz is not a Policy Advisor to the MCB. He is not a
member of the Central Working Committee nor does he
hold any official position whatsoever within the
organisation. The MCB sometimes asks him to attend
meetings on our behalf if necessary."
So hang on, whilst he has no position with the MCB,
the MCB does sometimes ask him to attend meetings on
their behalf. So this does make him a kind of
consultant. And when he does attend meetings on behalf
of the MCB, presumably he speaks in their name? Did
the MCB send him to meet with Marc Shoffman?
As for my other question, I was now asked to apologise
for not checking with the MCB about a story which they
themselves could not be bothered to ask for a
retraction. The pinknews article stood unchallenged
for over two weeks, and only after I made reference to
it in my blog was a statement denying its truths
issued by the MCB. And now I was told: "We cannot
correct every misrepresentation in the media. We
simply issue statements clarifying our position in the
hope that people with good intentions will take
note Since it was Abdul Aziz whose comments were
misrepresented as MCB policy, the matter of retraction
is his to pursue." This was followed by: "I would ask
that since you appear to have taken the published
account on Pink News as gospel truth, without
verification of the claims contained therein from the
MCB itself; something that would have entailed a mere
phone call, that you apologise to the organisation for
not seeking its own comments before maligning it in
this way."
Who said the MCB was arrogant? After all, if somebody
makes a statement or gives an interview on behalf of
an organisation like the MCB and says what he
shouldn't have, it is for the organisation to rein him
in, not for me or the public to wonder whether he
might have just fallen from grace. And if the
organisation is misrepresented in public, it is for
the organisation to seek a retraction, rather than put
the onus on the reader.
To make doubly sure I asked whether Abdul Aziz had
been sent by the MCB to meet Marc Shoffman or whether
they were at least aware of him having this meeting. I
also asked whether they had requested and received any
apologies from either of them. I was told that they
had received an apology from Abdul Aziz who "was
greatly apologetic for not stepping in and correcting
the errors sooner but then given his having suffered a
mugging on the day the news appeared, it would have
been unkind to have expected swift action. We have
requested that he also pursue the matter of correction
with Marc Shoffman." Nothing about the first question,
but if I read this reply correctly it tells me that
for Abdul Aziz to pursue this matter with Marc
Shoffman on behalf of the MCB he must be in touch or
know where to find him.
Not wanting to be chastised again for lack of
communication with the MCB's media office, I
reiterated the question about whether Abdu Aziz
attended a meeting with Marc Shoffman on behalf of the
MCB or with their knowledge, and finally got this:
"There was no meeting with Marc Shoffman. Abdul Aziz
was referred a telephone enquiry to apprise Marc of
the work of the MCB's legal affairs committee on
anti-discrimination issues surrounding the enforcement
of the EU directive on equality in the workplace. He
was once asked to step in and attend a meeting on this
when the MCB official could not be present."
So in plain English Abdul Aziz did talk to Marc
Shoffman upon the request of the MCB (albeit on the
telephone) but also once attended a meeting on their
behalf to cover for an MCB official. In other words,
he acted on behalf of the MCB. He may have messed up
by doing so, maybe with best intentions. Maybe he was
keen that the MCB should not fall foul of
anti-discrimination rules, which include
discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation,
seeing that funding these days is hard to obtain
without subscribing to these. Maybe those discussions
weren't meant to go public. But why I should I take
the blame for it all? Or need we now check every
statement given by somebody on MCB business with
somebody else from the MCB, just in case they can't
agree amongst themselves or differ in what they say
behind closed doors and what they state to the public?
http://www.flyingimam.com/
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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