Ten Islamic positions deemed “extreme” by judge in Imam Shakeel vs BBC libel case

Judge Charles Haddon-Cave stated ten Islamic views which he described as “examples of classic extremist” positions in Imam Shakeel Begg’s unsuccessful libel case against the BBC.

The following ten examples were stated by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave in the Courts and Tribunal Judiciary judgement between Imam Begg and the BBC.

“Ten extremist Islamic positions according to a British Court: The Court highlighted ten examples of classic extremist Islamic positions [118-128], viz:

(1) An extremist Manichean ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ worldview which divides the world into ‘good’ Muslims versus ‘bad’ Muslims or kafir (unbelievers));

(2) Giving jihad an exclusively violent meaning (qital) ;

(3) Ignoring the Qur’anic conditions for declaring qital;

(4) Ignoring the Qur’anic conditions for conducting qital;

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(5) Encouraging Muslims to believe it was their individual religious duty to go off and fight ‘in the name of Allah’;

(6) Any interpretation of Shar’ia (religious law) which requires Muslims to break the ‘law of the land’;

(7) The classification of all non-Muslims as unbelievers (kuffar);

(8) The Salafist Islamism doctrine that the precepts of the Muslim faith negate and supercede all natural ties, of family, kinship and nationhood;

(9) The citing with approval the fatwa (legal opinions) of Islamic scholars who espouse extremist views (e.g. the Salafi-Wahabi scholar, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz), or praising notorious violent, extremist, Islamic ideologues (e.g. Sayyid Qutb and Abdullah Azzam);

(10) Any teaching which, expressly or implied, encourages Muslims to engage in violence or terrorism ‘in the name of Allah.”

Sources close to Imam Begg told 5Pillars that the judge had merely regurgitated what the BBC’s academic “expert” Dr Matthew Wilkinson said, who has been frequently used by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in anti-terrorism cases.

To find out what 150 influential British Muslims believe about jihad, download and read the Normative Islam Report.

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