A video showing an altercation at a Chester mosque before Friday prayers last week is receiving growing attention from mainstream and social media.
Police were called to de-escalate the confrontation between numerous members of the congregation at Shah Jalal Jame Masjid, The Chester Chronicle reports.
Mobile phone footage shows worshippers shouting whilst pushing and shoving each other. Nobody was injured during the disturbance.
Police were forewarned about potential trouble and had been on standby outside. At around 1.45pm they decided to enter the mosque to restore order as aggressive behaviour developed.
The officers, both male and female, had to intervene in the prayer area with their shoes on.
In the video a police officer commands the Muslims present “to have respect for each other.”
The jummah prayer eventually went ahead but everyone was instructed to disperse immediately afterwards. No arrests were made.
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A meeting has been set up between police and local Muslims to address the problem.
Abdun Noor, owner of Chester Tandoori restaurant, said the row erupted as he was about to make an announcement over the microphone. Mr Noor said he had been asked to call a meeting in a bid to form a new management committee and constitution.
He said: “Like every other community we have arguments from time to time. Somebody called the police because there were so many people in the mosque. There was no fight. It was just an argument. We have never had anything like that before. It’s really, really sad the police had to come.
“It’s about a community issue. We don’t have a committee for the mosque. I want to have a proper committee. Some people agree and some people disagree. I want the mosque to be open and transparent and to invite in the wider community. It’s in our interests.”
He added: “We are a close-knit community so we will sort it out because we need to move forward.”
The Chester Chronicle reports that a member of the community claims Noor is trying to seize control of the mosque. Mr Noor denies this. He commented: “I have no ambition whatsoever to become mosque chair or anything like that. I have lots of other things to do.”
In 2004 Abdun Noor resigned as chairman of Cheshire’s Racial Equality Council – a police authority – whilst being investigated by the Standards Board for England for bringing the council into disrepute. Two weeks prior to his resignation a raid by immigration officials revealed he’d employed five illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in his Chester Tandoori restaurant.
In 2006 the investigation concluded: “Noor’s flouting of the law harmed his perceived ability to fulfil his role as a member of the police authority, and reduced public confidence in the authority and his office.” It continued: “Mr Noor failed to comply with the Code of Conduct by bringing his office and authority into disrepute.”
Footage of the mosque disturbance has caused outrage amongst Muslims on social media and raised the issue of leadership in the Muslim community.
Khalil Mitchell, from the Muslims of Norwich, said: “Incidents like this have been happening all over the UK for decades. The problem clearly goes beyond misunderstandings between groups of individuals. The foundation of 95% of UK Muslim communities have missed key Islamic teachings. How mosques were set up from the start needs to be brought into question. It all goes down to one issue: emirate.”
He continues: “Where on earth did the false notion of mosque committees replacing single community amirs come from? We as Muslims recognize the need for amirs when travelling in groups of three or more. Why within mosques of hundreds, even thousands, has the correct practice of following an amir been sidelined? It has to be followed and taught from the start, from when the first group of three or more Muslims sit down to begin planning on how to go about building a Muslim community.”
