"Hard Talk" on BBC on 8th August 2005, featured a half-hour chat Stephen Sackur had with Anjem Choudry, ex-head of the Al-Muhajiroun group in Britain. Apparently, the man is of Asian origin (a Pakistani, I think) born and brought up in the UK. Here is what they generally said.
Sackur asked Choudry what were his first reactions to the 7/7 London bombings and the killing of innocent citizens, some of them Muslim, and whether he had suspected the hand of Muslim terrorists; also if he viewed them condemnable. While not actually replying in the negative, Choudry parried by mentioning the apparently large numbers of Muslim civilians being killed in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan because of Britain's misconceived foreign policy. Sackur repeated his question, asking Choudry to restrict himself to the question asked. Choudry again referred to Iraq and Afghanistan in response to the first two parts of the question, and went on to state that he would never, ever condemn a brother-Muslim. That, he said, was Allah's privilege; if the Muslim brothers had acted in accordance with the shariah, Allah would reward them and if they had acted against it, He would punish them. It wasn't his place to judge or condemn.
Did Choudry approve of the killing of innocent persons on 7/7? According to Islam, Choudry said, only one who is Muslim can essentially be "innocent"; those who aren't, cannot be regarded innocent simply because they have not surrendered to Islam. The earth belongs to Allah and everyone must follow the religion - Islam - given by Him. (He implied, tacitly, that unless the surrender to Islam was total, they had no right to exist upon it.)
Did Choudry feel no allegiance towards the country that gave him his birth, infant nurture, education and livelihood? No, said Choudry. He felt no allegiance towards Britain, her Queen, parliament or people simply because they were not Muslim. He respected nothing except the Quran and associated scripture. He was a Muslim first, last and always, irrespective of his citizenship or current place of residence.
Nowhere in the world, he said, was Islamic law - the shariah - implemented in letter or spirit, and it became the duty of every good Muslim to work towards its universal supremacy by every means possible. In that sense, the whole world was dar-ul-harb, or land of warfare for Muslims, referring to certain ayats from Surah 9 that prescribe dominance of Islam. Britain fitted into a concept called 'dar-ul-fitna' or land of improper response to Islam (this is how I view the term and will stand corrected if my notion is incorrect). Choudry felt bin Laden would be the clear winner in any election held in a Muslim-majority country.
When Sackur cited 40 Islamic clerics and organizations that had unequivocally condemned the London bombings, Choudry said these people had sold themselves to governments. A thousand condemnations of this kind would not change things, he held. So long as the West, especially Britain in the context of the chat, persisted with its present foreign policy, the attacks were going to continue.
At one point, Choudry almost invited Sackur to become Muslim. Other matters were discussed along the same lines.
While current world opinion would
deem the man's thoughts archaic, bigoted and detrimental to peace, if not
also ludicrous, what he said was strictly in keeping with pristine Islam.