U.K. Brotherhood Leaders On The Salman Rushdie Affair

In a letter to a British newspaper, twelve leaders of U.K. Islamic organization have just published their position on the Salman Rusdie knighthood controversy. The letter states:

We strongly deplore the recent conferring of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie (Letters, June 21). We see this as a deliberate provocation and insult to the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. The “honouring” of Rushdie at a time when the British government claims to be trying to build bridges with the Muslim community can only be seen as duplicitous. We regard this as a conscious effort not only to offend Muslim sensibilities but also to sow seeds of division. In honouring Rushdie, the prime minister has demonstrated how little regard he has for Islam.

The letter demonstrates the oft-repeated Muslim Brotherhood theme that Islam is being insulted and under attack by the West. Notable signers of the letter include Ahmed Al-Rawi, formerly the head of the Federation of Islamic Organizations of Europe (FIOE) but now for the first time signing as Muslim Association of Britain (MAB); Muhammad Sawalha, a former West Bank Hamas military commander now a leader in the newly created British Muslim Iniative, and importantly Dr Abdul Wahid of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HBT) The Muslim Brotherhood in the U.K. has frequently disavowed their positions but this is not the first time the Brotherhood groups have cooperated with HBT.