Report warns candidates to guide Muslim Council of Britain have ‘deeply | Politics

Each candidates to guide the Muslim Council of Britain have “deeply disturbing views”, a brand new report finds.

Wajid Akhter, the frontrunner to guide the MCB after elections this month, says UK Muslims ought to educate their youngsters to establish primarily as Muslim, not as British, the Coverage Change has discovered.

The one different candidate, Muhammad Adrees, praised the Iranian Revolution “when the nice chief [Ayatollah Khomeini] led the nation to its future” in a publication linked to the Tehran regime.

One of many two might be elected to switch the present MCB secretary-general, Zara Mohammed, on January 25.

Khalid Mahmood, Britain’s longest-serving Muslim MP from 2001 to 2024, mentioned:

“The views uncovered by Coverage Change are deeply disturbing.

“That the MCB retains getting it unsuitable isn’t any accident – it’s a design fault, rooted in its ideology.

“The Authorities rightly refuses to interact with the MCB and this demonstrates why that coverage mustn’t change.”

Coverage Change has researched each candidates as a part of a broader investigation – to be printed later this month – of the MCB, which claims to be the primary democratic consultant physique for British Muslims.

Akhter, a health care provider from east London, had a senior function in The Muslim Vote, a marketing campaign on the final election to defeat Labour and Conservative candidates in favour of MPs sympathetic to Palestine and hostile to UK counter-terror coverage.

In two speeches in 2023, he mentioned Muslims ought to “organise” and “unite” right into a “highly effective neighborhood” which might “change from the hand that’s begging to the hand that’s giving.” He mentioned he was a part of a motion “attempting to unite the Muslim world politically,” including: “If we unite, we are able to win.”

Akhter has beforehand mentioned Muslims mustn’t rejoice the “pagan” occasion of New 12 months, with its “un-Islamic practices” comparable to “combined gender occasions.”

In 2017 Adrees, the opposite candidate, travelled to Iran on a delegation, assembly Iranian officers and the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini and praying at Khomeini’s shrine.

Writing about his journey in {a magazine} printed by the Islamic Centre of England, described by MPs as a consultant of the Iranian regime, he praised Khomeini and “the Iranian Revolution, when the nice chief led the nation to its future.”

It comes as Keir Starmer has been urged to shelve plans for an official authorities definition of Islamophobia within the wake of the grooming gangs scandal.

Critics say a strict definition would curtail free speech and make it tougher for whistleblowers to level out sure cases of wrongdoing.

They warn it might result in a repeat of the racism accusations that have been levelled at whistleblowers in Rotherham, Oldham and different cities the place there was abuse of largely white youngsters by gangs of males, predominantly of Pakistani heritage.

The Authorities mentioned it was persevering with to contemplate a proper definition of anti-Muslim discrimination, which some campaigners have likened to “blasphemy regulation”.

Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, mentioned “the Authorities ought to drop its plans for such a deeply flawed definition of Islamophobia”, warning that “all through the grooming gang scandal, the false label of Islamophobia was used to silence folks”.

He added: “It seems the Authorities has learnt nothing and is decided to press forward with a definition that can have a chilling impact on freedom of speech.”

An MCB spokesperson mentioned: “The Coverage Change has an extended historical past of hostility in direction of British Muslims, together with being uncovered by BBC Newsnight for fabricating proof to smear our neighborhood.

“They’re constant in advocating for not directly denying Muslims equal rights and an equal say in our democracy.

“Khalid Mahmood, a politician rejected by his personal citizens seems intent on concentrating on his personal neighborhood to achieve favour with those that search to marginalise us.

“As for the precise allegations raised, we belief our associates will scrutinise candidates totally within the weeks forward at our hustings occasions and thru the democratic course of.”