New Leader for the Muslim Council of Britain

***Update*** Just found the BBC's new profile of Bari. Hardly a twitter about any controversy surrounding the man. But it's interesting to note he had a hand, however indirect, in electing George Galloway by telling Muslims they have a duty to vote. I swear the BBC think this is supposed to make us like him.

Muhammad Abdul Bari is the new "moderate" leader of the Council for Britain's Islamic community.

Of course a small amount of digging into this man's background reveals a less than rosey picture of the man the Government will be trumpeting as the bridge between us and the savages.

Bari is Chairman of the East London Mosque which opened a £10 million Islamic centre in 2004. All well and good - just that the guest of honour was Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais, who gave a speech about "peace and harmony", neglecting to remind listeners of his call for Allah to;

"annihilate the Jews... the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs... These are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption..."

So lets get this straight. The new leader of Britain's "moderate" Muslim community is friendly with a guy who thinks Jews are "the rats of the world"? Maybe a problem? But that's not all Al-Sudais believes.

"Worshippers of the cross" and "idol-worshipping Hindus" ... should be fought.

Great. So that's Jews, Christians and Hindus he hates.

I'm willing to forive Bari inviting a militant West hater to open his new Islamic centre. Maybe he didn't know what Al-Sudais really thought? I mean, I wasn't quite sure whether David Davis was brought up on a council estate by a single mother until I googled him recently.

But I then came across this transcript of a Panorama interview between Bari and John Ware in August 2005. Bari was closely questioned about Al-Sudais' trip to Britain.

Asked whether he shared the view that Hindus were "idol-worshipping", Bari replied;

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari: Well... why are you bringing all this?

John Ware: You, er, I mean you do not regard Hindus as idol worshippers?

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari: Well Hindu... you mean the definition? When it's idol worshipper, different people worship God in different manners.

John Ware: Mmm.

Mmm, indeed. After this highly ambiguous answer from Bari, he went on to question the accuracy of the BBC's facts, despite Al-Sudais' sermon being plastered all over Saudi websites at the time.

Given Bari's refusal to deny association with his guest's comments, and the fact that his Mosque in East London received a £1 million donation from a Saudi Wahhabi group, it doesn't give me the greatest of confidence in his ability to stand up to the enemies of the West.

Does he even hold the confidence of the Muslim community? Probably not, if the loud opinions of Iron_Lady on the Active Ummah blog are to be believed. I quote;

A man who cannot speak english....BARELY! a man who appeared on Panaroma few months back got slated by a hardcore zionist. Now why are such individuals chosen to represent the Muslims? maybe because they are easy to shut up? hmmmm!!!!

Despite the clear irony in her denunciations of his inadequate English, I don't feel wholly confident in his ability to prevent the full ravages of Islamic fascism from disrupting the Western way of life.

I've also unearthed evidence that Bari is in bed with people respectable Britains will find unpalatable. He took sides with Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens), describing his inadmission to the USA as "a slap in the face of sanity". Fair enough, but Yusuf Islam has been linked with militant Islamists in Palestine, but if he considers Hizbollah sane then, of course, he's right.

Bari has also objected to legitimate criticism of Islam, calling it "poisonous hatred." If that's what he describes bringing up the fact of the poor treatment of non-Muslims in Islamic countries, then I'm poisonous and full of hatred too.

I'm not claiming to know Dr. Bari inside-out. Clearly he's quite a complex figure (and perhaps has as many faces as his friend Sheik Al-Sudais). But bear all this in mind when hearing him trumpeted as a new unifying, moderate figure for British Islam. He's undeniably dodgy. And he doesn't keep good friends.