Britain's most powerful Islamic body has admitted that it had failed to carry out even basic checks for extremism among its affiliated groups. The Muslim Council of Britain, which represents more than 400 outfits across the country, said it "assumed" that potential members were moderates and therefore did not investigate their literature or views, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Responding to reports in a British Broadcasting Corporation Panorama programme broadcast on Sunday night that affiliated members had aired extremist views, a council spokesman attacked the programme as "manifestly dishonest" in its editing and accused the reporter of pursuing a "vicious vendetta" against Muslims. Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the council, said affiliates were not asked if they had renounced extremism. Neither their membership nor literature was investigated.
"We do not have time to check the websites of every organisation," Bunglawala said. "As long as they sign a statement saying they agree to abide by the constitution and pay the fee, they are free to join. We can't control what our affiliates say; we are not a policing organisation."
Panorama suggested that the council was "in denial" about sectarianism in the Muslim community. The programme, called 'A Question of Leadership', also raised questions about another affiliated group, the Islamic Foundation, based in Leicester. It was said to promote the books of Sayid Maududi, the founder of the political movement Jamaa'at Islami and whose ideal state would have "no trace of western democracy", the daily reported.
Bunglawala, who has been appointed by the home office as a campaigner against extremism, wrote to the BBC to complain of a "pro-Israeli" bias to the documentary and yesterday accused the reporter, of pursuing a "vicious vendetta" against the nation's Muslims. He said that quotes had been shortened to manipulate meaning. "The programme is deeply unfair. It tries to portray the scholars we admire as loonies."
However, the BBC rejected any allegation of personal, programme or institutional bias and said it was confident "that the programme is a timely contribution to the debate in Muslim communities."
