This afternoon, I lodged two complaints related to factually incorrect and misleading statements made by the Prime Minister during Questions to the Prime Minister (PMQs) in the House of Commons, earlier in the day.
1. The Ahmadiyya Community
In response to a question from the SNP’s Angus Robertson, the Prime Minister stated the following:
“The attack on Ahmadiyya Muslims by other Muslims demonstrates once again that what we face is not some clash of civilizations between Islam and Christianity, or Islam and Buddhism; what we are seeing is a small minority within one of the great religions of our world, Islam, believing that there is only one way, a violent extremist way, of professing their faith. This is a battle within Islam. And we have to be on the side of the moderate majority and make sure they win it. We have to really understand what is happening here or we’ll take the wrong path.”
Aside from condemnation of the killing, extremism and criminality, which all sensible people will side with, the Prime Minister has strayed into Islamic theology to undermine and attack the position of Muslim in Britain. The largest representative organisation of Muslims in Britain, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), has an unmatched pool of scholars and Muslim civil society bodies associated with it. They have confirmed, as have every global school of Sunni and Shia Muslim thought, that the Ahmadiyya community’s views are outside of the fold of Islam. This has also been confirmed in statements by the most liberal refomational scholars in the world such as the American scholar, Hamza Yusuf Hanson, who also promotes sufism and liberal arts, as do I. As such, whatever the political matter, the Ahmadiyya community are not considered Muslims according to mainstream Muslim theology.
It is vital to note that there can be and should be no discrimination, persecution or mistreatment towards the Ahmadiyya communities and this sentiment has been made by all Muslim scholars, commentators and public figures who have spoken on the issue. They should be supported in their faith, and as a community. I have also done both within my roles with interfaith bodies and organisations. I have also made this statement on the record:
However, as a purely theological matter, it is entirely incorrect to denote despicable criminal acts against a member of the Ahmadiyya community by a Muslim as sectarian. It is a divisive and exploitative move to use it as a political wedge issue to reinforce arguments for Muslim reform. Furthermore, there is no ‘Battle within Islam’ as the Prime Minister stated. Whatever my personal views on the issue, and the right of the Ahmadiyya to self identify as they wish (in the past I have even used the term ‘Ahmadiyya Muslim’ in reference to their self identification) the consensus of all Muslims scholars and schools of thought is clear on this matter and the Prime Minister is incorrect in fact.
2. Suliman Gani statement
In response to Christopher Pincher, the PM stated
“I think my honourable friend is absolutely right if we are going to condemn not only violent extremism but also the extremism that seeks to justify violence in any way. It is very important that we do not back these people and we do not appear on platforms with these people, and I have to say, I am concerned about Labour’s candidate for the Mayor of London who has appeared again and again and again. The leader of the Labour Party is saying it’s disgraceful; let me tell him, Suliman Gani, the honourable member for Tooting has appeared on a platform with him nine times. This man supports I.S. He even shared the platform… well Mr Speaker, I think they are shouting down this point because they don’t want to hear the truth. Anyone can make a mistake about who they appear on a platform with. We’re not always responsible for what our political opponents say but if you do it time after time after time, it is right to question your judgement.”
Mr Gani has been on the record as denying any support for I.S. (Islamic State). He has also condemned their barbarity and unislamic practices. Sadiq Khan has also issued a statement about his relationship with Mr Gani. The statement ‘This man supports I.S.’ factually incorrect and should be stricken from the book and the PM brought forward to clarify what would ordinarily be a criminal and civil matter if said outside of the House. The racism and Islamophobia, with false claims of extremism, seemingly being deployed by the Zac Goldsmith campaign against a Muslim Labour candidate, is scandalous. We cannot allow British politics to fall into the gutter of hate and prejudice against Muslims.
The House should not be tackling matters of Muslim theology and making scurrilous and false claims about Muslim public figures, which seemingly reflects the current appetite on the political Right to disenfranchise Muslims in society by use of smears and false claims against them.
First published 20 April 2016: the original archive