We
demand The Jewish Chronicle (JC) to make a public apology and correct its gross
error and misjudgement in publishing this article.
For the last 4-5 years The Ministry of Dawah has held weekly
events at the KCB centre in Kings Cross. We have been active there and in
Camden and, far from having complaints from local residents, we have had strong
support from the community for the work it is doing to help local inner-city
youth avoid lives of crime and anti-social behaviour. All its activities are
published on its YouTube account, MOD blog, Facebook page and are publicised
for all to see and watch, as there is nothing to hide, and it is from these
public uploads that the author from The Jewish Chronicle has decided to
handpick quotes, take them out of context and attempt to portray our Muslim
youth group as a terrorist training camp.
This is grossly irresponsible in an age when Muslims are
often vilified in the press, when the general public have legitimate security
concerns and most of all when, in an area like Camden, local residents from
hugely diverse backgrounds get on with relatively few inter-community problems.
It is very unfortunate to read such a poor, grossly
inaccurate and immature piece of journalism which appears to be driven by an
agenda to undermine those who dare to
speak against Israel's brutality.
Regarding Some Specific fallacies in the article:
1)
The title of the article called the MOD group an
"Al-Qaeda group". This is a
total lie that clearly maligns MOD falsely. MOD is not an "al-Qaeda
group" and has never promoted Al-Qaeda. This title would understandably
worry most readers and create unfounded negative feeling and hostile resentment
towards MOD.
2)
The author also stated that MOD is "a group
which promotes the ideology of Osama bin Laden". Again, this is totally false as MOD doesn’t
believe in violence and this can be clearly refuted by at least trying to find
out the reality of MOD. But the author
clearly decided that it would not help his cause to resort to accuracy.
3)
The report accused MOD of "promotion of
extreme Islamist organisations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, and support for bin
Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders on social networks...”. It is not MOD’s job to promote any group; it
is an non-partisan independent organisation. It is not a requirement for every
speaker to agree with MOD, nor do the speakers promote all of MOD ideas as many
give their personal views. But general guidelines are given and to date none of
the speakers in MOD promoted any extreme or violent-orientated views. Their
views were either their personal views or shared by large number of ordinary
Muslims but nonetheless they were not "extreme" or
"terrorist" as the author would want the reader to believe.
4)
After starting his article with false slanderous
allegations, setting a background of fear and intimidation, the deceptive
author then randomly went on to talk about the titles of some of the topics of
the circles hoping he can build a link between his false allegations and the
innocent titles, which would subsequently leave the reader fearful. So he said “Events held by the group at
the venue have included a “Maidens of Paradise” discussion about women, and
“Deeds after Death”. We make no apology for these
titles, as one cannot hope to generate interest amongst inner-city youth with
bland titles. These talks are about describing the Afterlife and good deeds
that will help a person after death. Discussions
about the Afterlife are common amongst the Abrahamic faiths such as
Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and we are surprised that a newspaper that
emerges from a community that has a strong religious practice would resort to
sensationalism in this way. Again, these
talks are available to view on our website. The spurious twisted claims that this JC
journalist has put in the article are well known and accepted explanations of
Quranic verses and Prophetic sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Are these things that The Jewish Chronicle wish
to frighten people about? Are they the issues which the Camden Council and the
KCB should be worried about? Has quoting verses from the Quran now become
illegal or unacceptable? If so then please make it clear that this is in fact
the point of objection.
5)
The author has used the talks which addressed
the political reality of Palestine to again leave the fearful-reader to think
the worst of MOD. The article said, "A “Free Palestine” discussion asked
participants to consider how “the Zionist Israeli state [is] using illegal
weaponry such as white phosphorous to kill and murder innocent human beings
including children”. This is simply
stating the facts, a reality where Muslims and non-Muslims are already well
aware of, much to the dislike of those who would appease these brutal acts of
aggression. Amnesty International, Human
rights watch and many others discuss this at length on their websites. One only
needs to do some simple search to find the facts. In fact, when MOD addressed this, the
attendees were specifically warned from undertaking any extreme or violent
actions but to be the voice of the oppressed.
It would seem that the motivation behind the article is
either a hostility towards religious Muslims or because the Ministry of Dawah
dared to challenge the illegal actions of the state of Israel - something the
UN, national newspapers, broadcasters and politicians regularly do.
The Ministry of Dawah welcomes all to its events, watch its
videos online and participate in its discussions on Facebook, with nothing to
hide and proud carriers of the Islamic message and campaigners for the Muslim
Youth.
Ministry of Dawah has huge support in the local community
for the excellent work it is doing with keeping the youth out of crime, giving
them moral guidelines and making them better individuals for their families,
community and society. Is this a crime? Or is it now unacceptable in the eyes
of the JC because Islam is being used as a reference point to motivate the
youth to do good?
I, as a representative as well as others have been
approached by many from the local community inquiring about what happened to
our weekly circle and why the Jewish Chronicle publish such a spiteful article.
The Ministry of Dawah is seeking legal advice about
defamation and reserve the right to take legal action if a public apology and a
retraction is not forthcoming.
Koyes Miah
Ministry of Dawah
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