The Muslim Council of Britain’s newly elected Secretary General Dr Wajid Akhter has promised radical “open heart surgery” reforms and has vowed to empower Muslims and confront Islamophobia.
Dr Akhter, who beat rival candidate Dr Muhammad Adrees in Saturday’s election, succeeds Zara Mohammed, the first female to hold the position, following her four-year term.
During his victory speech, Dr Akhter unveiled his “Vision 2050” – an ambitious plan to unite, empower and serve the British Muslim community.
He committed to a total review of the entire Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) organisation in order to transform the group, address new challenges, and to establish a direct MCB presence in communities across the UK.
“We have to admit there are many issues which can’t be dressed up with cosmetics, but it needs Open Heart Surgery. As Allah says in the Quran: ‘Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.’ It is time for change.”
Since the MCB was founded in 1997, our community has changed, our country has changed and our challenges and opportunities have changed – as an organisation we must change as well.”
Dr Akhter directly addressed critical issues facing British Muslims, including recent spikes in Islamophobia and right-wing smears.
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“We must shift from seeing ourselves as powerless victims to becoming the powerful, inspirational authors of our own stories. We must sidestep the culture wars that force us into a corner and label everyone who criticises us as racist or Islamophobic.
“We must be willing to engage in good faith with even our most ardent critics. Build bridges, not barriers.”
Islam under attack
Dr Akhter takes the helm at a time of great tension and fear as British Muslims have become a heavily targeted minority in the West.
Over the past year, British Muslims have faced significant challenges and threats amid rising Islamophobia, a traumatising genocide in Gaza and far-right voices being amplified on social media.
Muslims have faced arrest and prosecution while attempting to express their views at pro-Palestine protests following the bloody Israeli war on Gaza after October 7, 2023.
In the summer of 2024, far-right misinformation peddled online relating to the horrific Southport knife attack sparked anti-Islam riots across the UK.
With mosques and Muslim communities attacked across England by thugs who believed the attacker was a Muslim immigrant who arrived to the UK on a boat. Neither of which turned out to be true.
More recently, a grooming gang scandal has rocked British politics amid demands on the ruling Labour government to launch a national enquiry into the vile crime wave.
Right-wing forces have attempted to suggest a major cause of the evil crime of grooming in Britain is linked to the Pakistani or Muslim community despite the fact that most groomers in the UK are white men.
Addressing some of these threats in his speech, Dr Akhter condemned the “unacceptable” attempt to smear all Muslims.
“We’re a community which is struggling with violence in the streets and relentlessly being abused online. We’re a community which is struggling with healthcare issues, social issues, poor education and even worse employment.
“We are a community grappling with so many problems including the horrors we have seen in Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar being live streamed on our phones. We are a community that is misrepresented as being somehow linked to grooming gangs.
“Let me make it crystal clear. One groomer is one too many, Muslim or otherwise. But using the heinous acts of a few to misrepresent an entire faith and an ethnicity is also unacceptable. We will act against both injustices.”
Rebuked by the government
Established in 1997, the MCB describes itself as the UK’s largest Muslim umbrella organisation with more than 500 members, but successive political administrations have followed a policy of non-engagement.
“It was the Southport riots for us that made it really quite alarming. The justification was there, the urgency, the necessity of engagement was there, British Muslims were under attack, mosques were under attack and the largest umbrella Muslim organisation wasn’t being talked to.”
According to the BBC, Ms Mohammed had hopes that engagement would be renewed when Labour entered government last year as she described “strong” and “positive” relationships with Labour MPs.
However, her efforts failed when the policy of non-engagement continued without any explanation.
The BBC quoted a spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) who confirmed there had been no change to the policy of non-engagement with MCB but did not detail why.
“All forms of religious and racial hatred have absolutely no place in our society,” the spokesperson said. “The government engages regularly with faith communities to help foster strong working relationships and we are exploring a more integrated and cohesive approach to tackling racial and religious hatred, including Islamophobia.”
The Labour Party had faced a major boycott effort by large parts of the British Muslim community over their immoral stance on Gaza. Several independent Muslim MPs were elected to Westminster in seats which Labour were expected to win.
