British Muslim leaders 'not doing enough to engage with extremist arguments'

30 March 2010

Moderate Muslim leaders are not doing enough to engage with extremist arguments about Jihad, an Oxford University expert has claimed.

Nick Chatrath, a researcher at the University's Faculty of Oriental Studies, said that in the face of growing radicalisation in Britain, Muslim leaders are ignoring extremists' points of view and glossing over some of the more unsavoury parts of Islam's ancient texts.

Mr Chatrath's article, 'Fighting the Unbeliever', will be published in the journal Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in its April edition.

He conducted interviews with Anjem Choudary, the controversial leader of the banned extremist group Islam4UK, and Dr Musharraf Hussain, an advisor to the Muslim Council of Britain, which asked him to go to Baghdad with a colleague to negotiate for the freedom of the British hostage Ken Bigley in 2004.

Following the lines of the discussion, Mr Chatrath then studied 300 years of pre-modern Islamic sources in the original Arabic to assess each interviewee's interpretation of these sources.

He has called today for moderates such as Dr Musharraf Hussain and the Muslim Council of Britain to engage with the arguments of Muslim extremists publicly and openly.

He said: 'Moderate Muslim leaders are doing a poor job of tackling extremism in Britain.

'When I interviewed Dr Hussain, he claimed ignorance of the way in which extremists like Anjem Choudary are using the Qur'an and the ancient texts to justify their actions, and this is a common attitude among British Muslim leaders.

'This attitude must change, as the best way to extinguish extremist arguments is to deal with them out in the open, not just sweep them under the carpet and hope for the best.

'Some recent polls suggest ordinary British Muslims are becoming more sympathetic to extremists, and this could be related to the way moderate Muslims are ignoring the extremist threat.'

An ICM poll for the Daily Telegraph in February 2006 revealed that a fifth of British Muslims surveyed felt sympathy with the July 7 bombers' motives.

Mr Chatrath'sarticle also reveals that extremist Muslims in Britain have misused the Qur'an and pre-modern sources.

Mr Chatrath said: 'Martyrs and would-be martyrs in Britain defend their actions in the name of Islam, and Anjem Choudary justified his views to me with reference to the Qur'an and the texts.

'These views are based on a selective reading of the pre-modern sources.

'Some parts are downplayed and others are exaggerated, all with aim of dismissing less belligerent understandings of Jihad.

'In their different ways, both extremists and moderates ignore the social and political context of the times in which these ancient texts were written, and their views therefore seem out of place in Islam today.'

Mr Chatrath called for moderates not to gloss over the darker aspects of Islamic thought.

He said: 'Moderate Muslims often argue that according to the pre-modern sources, Jihad is only justifiable in self-defence.

'In fact, a reading of the texts cannot sustain the argument that Muhammad never undertook violent campaigns.

'Also, the texts give little indication of Jihad being solely for self-defence.'

He added: 'Moderate Muslims in Britain must stop glossing over truths about Islam which are unpalatable to some sensibilities.

'For example, opening up the study of Islamic scriptures to the same level of academically rigorous discussion which has been applied to other holy texts need not be a problem.'

For more information or to arrange an interview with Nick Chatrath, please contact the University of Oxford Press Office on 01865 280528 or press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk