Cleric: expel radical preachers

A senior Muslim cleric has claimed that radical preachers such as Omar Bakri Mohammed should have been expelled from Britain "years ago" for advocating violence.

Abu Khadeejah, a prominent Muslim scholar in Birmingham, accused militants in Britain of trying to "shroud" the murder of innocent people by wrongly using verses from the Koran.

Speaking at a conference in Birmingham - Orthodox Islam's War on Terror - he said it was vital to educate young Muslims that suicide bombing was not a glorious death but a theological perversion.

He described Bakri, other radical preachers such as Abu Qatada, and Muslim dissidents behind websites that glorify al Qaeda attacks, as completely irresponsible.

"They really should have been deported from England many years ago and there's a doubt as to whether they should have been allowed into the UK in the first place," he said. "These individuals were allowed to call for the burning down of sovereign states, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan."

His remarks come as ministers prepare a major crackdown on radical Islamist clerics and militant groups such as al Muhajiroun after last month's attacks in London.

Omar Bakri Mohammed, a founder of al Muhajiroun, fled Britain this month as it emerged that police were considering charging him with treason for advocating attacks on British troops.

Abu Khadeejah is a leader of the conservative, highly orthodox Salafi tradition of Islam in the west Midlands area, and has repeatedly attacked radical hardline groups such as al Muhajiroun, which faces being outlawed in the UK after last month's terror attacks in London.

He said groups such as al Muhajiroun, which split this year into two other militant groups, had been preying on disenchanted young Muslims to spread a cult-like message of hate based on politics rather than religion.

Groups like it had corrupted the concept of "jihad", or holy struggle.

"The issue of killing yourself has never been part of jihad in 1400 years of Islamic history - killing yourself as a means of warfare is a 20th-century phenomenon.

"Radicals have no precedence in Islam whatsoever and just because they shroud their message with Koranic verses does not make it

more digestible. The solution is to educate people that integration in British society does not equal selling out your religion."

Speakers at the event said they would welcome attempts to solve political issues in the Middle East, but warned that such efforts might do nothing to tackle the ideology which inspires al Qaeda.

Another speaker, Amjad Rafiq, said many preachers who openly supported Osama bin Laden came to Britain in the early 80s from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Algeria.

Rafiq added: "We have been warning against these people for 10 to 15 years. They use global events as an emotional tool to justify [terrorism] and our aim is to bring Muslims back into the theological area ... These ideologies ... are alien to Islam and they are inherently evil."

- INDEPENDENT