Reply #7: It's the British equivalent of pastor Terry Jones - self-publicist Anjem Choudary [View All]

[muriel_volestrangler]

See here:

Media laps up Muslims Against Crusades stunt

You may have heard of the professional extremist Muslim agitator Anjem Choudhary.

Over the years he has set up various front-groups such as Al-Muhajiroun, Al-Ghuraaba and Islam4UK.

The latest one is called Muslims Against Crusades.
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Is there any other group of 40 extremists who are given so much publicity? I can’t think of one.

http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/11/12/media-falls-for-muslims-against-crusades-stunt-again/

Please don't listen to Anjem Choudary

He has no Islamic qualifications or credentials and his plan to march in Wootton Bassett is just an attempt to grab headlines


First, he announced his plan to march through Wootton Bassett, in Wiltshire, carrying 500 coffins to symbolise the thousands of Muslims killed "by the oppressive US and UK regimes" in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, he is sending letters to the grieving families of fallen British soldiers, telling them he has "no sympathy whatsoever" for their plight, urging them instead to become Muslims to "save" themselves "from the hellfire".

Is there anything Anjem "Andy" Choudary won't do for the sake of a cheap headline? As Inayat Bunglawala wrote on Cif almost a year ago, Choudary and his gang deploy "a simple formula – hold up some offensive placards designed to get people's backs up and call a local reporter to come along and capture some footage – that has reliably generated acres of media coverage for them in recent years".

Our sensationalist and irresponsible media has, in fact, been deeply complicit in the rise and rise of this fanatic, devoting quite disproportionate and counter-productive coverage to his various rantings. Is Choudary an Islamic scholar whose views merit attention or consideration? No. Has he studied under leading Islamic scholars? Nope. Does he have any Islamic qualifications or credentials? None whatsoever. So what gives him the right to pontificate on Islam, British Muslims or "the hellfire"? Or proclaim himself a "sharia judge"? Will he even manage to round up enough misfits to carry the 500 coffins with him? I doubt it – Choudary and co couldn't even persuade enough people to join a "march for sharia" that they had proudly planned to hold in central London in late October, and, at the very last minute, had to humiliatingly withdraw from their own rally. Pathetic, eh?

The fact is that Choudary is as unrepresentative of British Muslim opinion, as he is of British anti-war opinion. Compare the Islam4UK leader with Prestwick protester Marcus Armstrong. The latter went to prison in protest over the British government's alleged collusion in Israel's bombardment of Lebanon in 2006; the former lives safe and sound in a £350,000 house in east London, a recipient of benefits from the same state he so reviles and repudiates.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jan/04/anjum-choudary-wootton-bassett