The BBC programme recalled the presence of MCB secretary general Iqbal Sacranie at a memorial service last year in London for Sheikh Yassin, the spiritual leader of the radical Palestinian group Hamas.
It also made an issue of the fact that Sacranie failed to attend a ceremony, also in London, last January to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Jews from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Journalists have also taken MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala -- invited to sit on Home Office panel on confronting the spread of radicalism among Muslim youth in Britain -- for his own radical past.
Speaking to AFP, Bunglawala said: "There is no doubt that is part of a Zionist campaign to prevent British Muslims taking part in the mainstream political institutions of our country."
"It is designed to put pressure on the government to withdraw the position offered to me. Let's wait and see. It is our hope that the government will stand firm because it is important never to give in to this kind of bullying."
A spokesman for the Home Office, the government department in charge of public security, said Bunglawala was a respected member of the Muslim community who for four years has spoken out against radicals and extremists.
In an article this month, "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushie questioned Blair's decision in the wake of July 7, and a failed attempt to repeat the bombings two weeks later, to deepen his dialogue with the MCB and Sacranie.
"Instead of blaming US foreign policy or 'Islamophobia', Sacranie described the bombings as a 'profound challenge' for the Muslim community," he wrote.
"This is the same Sacranie who, in 1989, said that 'Death is perhaps too easy' for the author of 'The Satanic Verses'... If Sir Iqbal Sacranie is the best Mr Blair can offer in the way of a good Muslim, we have a problem."
Tahir Abbas, an expert on Britain's minority groups at the University of Birmingham, said that "certain elements" of the council are indeed "radicalised elements".
He added: "The MCB has got a very difficult job on their hands."
"They cannot possibly hope to convey every aspect of British Muslim opinion in one organization as an effective channel of communication between the British Muslim community and the British government."
"It's a hopeless task. It's too much to be expected of the MCB to try ... and I think one of the other things is that the MCB has really been around since the mid-90s, so it's still very early stages for their own development."
"There's a huge diversity of opinions about what it means to be British and Muslim and that doesn't get conveyed at all," he said, yet it is either the "progressive liberals or conservative traditionalists" who get talked about.
For his part, Bunglawala said: "The MCB must continue to speak out against injustice. Otherwise the MCB will lose the respect of the Muslim community."
The US should now target CAIR
Britain's biggest Muslim group faces 'extremism' charges
LONDON (AFP) - The most respected voice of Britain's 1.6 million Muslims is under fire for pandering to radicalism, just as it is being called upon to play a bridge-building role in the wake of the London bombings.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is a coalition of some 400 organisations, making it a privileged dialogue partner for Prime Minister Tony Blair's government after the July 7 attacks in the capital.
But a BBC documentary last weekend, and an earlier front page report in the Observer newspaper, have pointed an accusing finger at the council for harbouring militants and sympathising with Palestinian suicide bombers.
The BBC programme recalled the presence of MCB secretary general Iqbal Sacranie at a memorial service last year in London for Sheikh Yassin, the spiritual leader of the radical Palestinian group Hamas.
It also made an issue of the fact that Sacranie failed to attend a ceremony, also in London, last January to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Jews from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Journalists have also taken MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala -- invited to sit on Home Office panel on confronting the spread of radicalism among Muslim youth in Britain -- for his own radical past.
Speaking to AFP, Bunglawala said: "There is no doubt that is part of a Zionist campaign to prevent British Muslims taking part in the mainstream political institutions of our country."
"It is designed to put pressure on the government to withdraw the position offered to me. Let's wait and see. It is our hope that the government will stand firm because it is important never to give in to this kind of bullying."
A spokesman for the Home Office, the government department in charge of public security, said Bunglawala was a respected member of the Muslim community who for four years has spoken out against radicals and extremists.
In an article this month, "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushie questioned Blair's decision in the wake of July 7, and a failed attempt to repeat the bombings two weeks later, to deepen his dialogue with the MCB and Sacranie.
"Instead of blaming US foreign policy or 'Islamophobia', Sacranie described the bombings as a 'profound challenge' for the Muslim community," he wrote.
"This is the same Sacranie who, in 1989, said that 'Death is perhaps too easy' for the author of 'The Satanic Verses'... If Sir Iqbal Sacranie is the best Mr Blair can offer in the way of a good Muslim, we have a problem."
Tahir Abbas, an expert on Britain's minority groups at the University of Birmingham, said that "certain elements" of the council are indeed "radicalised elements".
He added: "The MCB has got a very difficult job on their hands."
"They cannot possibly hope to convey every aspect of British Muslim opinion in one organization as an effective channel of communication between the British Muslim community and the British government."
"It's a hopeless task. It's too much to be expected of the MCB to try ... and I think one of the other things is that the MCB has really been around since the mid-90s, so it's still very early stages for their own development."
"There's a huge diversity of opinions about what it means to be British and Muslim and that doesn't get conveyed at all," he said, yet it is either the "progressive liberals or conservative traditionalists" who get talked about.
For his part, Bunglawala said: "The MCB must continue to speak out against injustice. Otherwise the MCB will lose the respect of the Muslim community."
Posted by Ted Belman at August 25, 2005 09:30 AM