Abu Yusuf Riyadh Ul Haq - Allegations of Extremism

Allegations of Extremism

In September 2007, The Times carried a news item by Andrew Norfolk accusing Riyadh ul Haq of being the "homegrown cleric who loathes the British" and a commentary article from the same author claiming there was a "hardline takeover of British mosques" led by ul Haq. In an opinion piece by the same author on the same date there was a claim that ul Haq was in line to become the spiritual leader of the Deobandi sect in Britain, despite allegedly having extreme views. However, the hundreds of hours of recordings of ul Haq's lectures in the public domain may suggest otherwise. Simultaneously, Andrew Norfolk published a further "comment" piece in the Times calling the Deobandis historically anti-British, but also aired the opposing views of Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, the chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain’s interfaith relations committee. Mogra graduated from the same Deobandi seminary in Bury, Greater Manchester, that ul Haq attended. Mogra has a vision of a pluralistic, tolerant Islam "starkly at odds with mainstream Deobandi thinking", believing that for British Muslims "our loyalty to Britain must be unquestionable".

The next day Andrew Norfolk published two more opinion pieces, also in The Times, the first describing two British Muslims in a "sinister" Karachi madrassa of mutually opposing view points, the student there being "desperate" to come home to Yorkshire. The second opinion piece named another world respected Deobandi scholar (Justice Muhammad Taqi Usmani), this time from Pakistan calling for followers to live peacefully in countries such as Britain only until they gain enough power to engage in jihad or battle.

Amongst the immediate responses, The Guardian carried a "Comment is Free" opinion article by Inayat Bunglawala, media secretary for the Muslim Council of Britain, calling Norfolk's work a "toxic mix of fact and nonsense". The Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPACUK) claimed on their own web-site that the Berelvis were coming out in defence of Riyadh al Haq. Two days later, MPACUK called the attacks on ul Haq a "decapitation strategy".