The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), an umbrella group dominated by the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood, has responded to an article in a British newspaper in a manner which illustrates how the global Muslim Brotherhood responds to its critics. Reacting to an article about a new think-tank started by new ex-members of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, the MCB Assistant Secretary-General responded with a letter which stated in part:
If Maajid Nawaz and Ed Husain are the yardstick by which you now define those who are ‘moderate’, then I am afraid that the vast majority of British Muslims will find themselves labelled as extremists. As you must know, both Ed Husain and Maajid Nawaz have been lauded by neo-conservative groups. Ed Husain is on record as supporting the war against Iraq, smearing leading Islamic institutions in the UK, denying the phenomenon of Islamophobia, advocating the banning of Hizb ut-Tahrir, urging the police to ‘stop pussyfooting around’ in their dealings with Muslims, and supporting the government’s refusal to grant Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi a visa to visit the UK for medical treatment. These are not positions that I believe most British Muslims would recognise as being ‘moderate’.
Accusations of “smears”, veiled anti-Semitism disguised as criticism of “neo-conservatives”, “Islamaphobia”, and support for Yuussef Qaradawi, are all themes commonly employed by the global Muslim Brotherhood.