The controversial Birmingham cleric, Nahiem Ajmal, commonly known as “Mufti Abu Layth” has used vile sexual profanities in Urdu against scholars and students of knowledge who criticise him and his followers, which has been revealed in a leaked audio recording.
Ajmal is also renowned for attempting to normalise minority and fringe Islamic opinions, which include:
- Pre-marital masturbation is permissible at all times for personal pleasure;
- It is permissible to have tattoos;
- It is permissible for Muslims to celebrate Halloween and Christmas;
- Rejecting the coming of Prophet Jesus and the Dajjal (Anti-Christ) in the build up to the Day of Judgement.
In addition to Ajmal’s unorthodox theological views, the former schoolteacher has been marred by numerous controversies and a criminal conviction:
- Ajmal was one of the early advisers of the much-despised Quilliam Foundation think-tank;
- He received a positive character reference from Dr Usama Hasan of the Quilliam Foundation;
- He is known to be good friends with Rashad Ali, a former founder of the Quilliam Foundation who has close ties with Islamophobic neoconservatives such as the Henry Jackson Society;
- He was arrested and charged with possessing extreme pornography in February 2014 to which he pleaded not guilty. The type of pornography he got caught with isn’t the normal adult porn which is legal in the UK and other countries around the world. The outcome of this case is unknown;
- Ajmal was jailed for six months for his role in a plot involving a disgraced West Midlands Police officer who tried accessing restricted information about the location of another man’s wife.
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