Luton Islamic Centre

The Luton Islamic Centre (officially known as the Masjid al-Gharaaba) is a mosque based in Luton, England.

It has been praised in some quarters for gestures in opposition to Islamic extremism: the mosque supported a protest against al-Muhajiroun and threw out the extremist Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, who would later launch a suicide attack in Stockholm. However, the Luton Islamic Centre's hands aren't exactly clean.

The official website of the mosque is calltoislam.com, which has a number of interesting documents. One article, entitled "Greeting The Kuffaar On Their Festivals", argues that a Muslim wishing a non-Muslim a merry Christmas is committing "as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone".

Another article on the site rails against news reports that a Saudi woman had been sentenced to lashes for being raped. The author stands up for "the good character of the Islamic judges in Saudi Arabia" by arguing that the woman was having an affair. This, apparently, makes her punishment by lashing perfectly acceptable; the article counters Western condemnation of whipping and stoning by pointing out that the Bible also recommends these punishments. "We Muslims are not like the Westerners who are–with a few exceptions–immoral fornicators and adulterers", argues the document.

Also noteworthy is an article with the catchy title of "The Prophesy [sic] Of The Utter Destruction Of The Yahood Will Only Occur At The Hands Of The True Worshippers Of Allaah". For those not up on their Arabic, by "yahood" the writer means Jews; this prophecy of the complete anihillation of the Jews is described in the introduction as "heart warming, hope instilling". "The Zionist expansion grew with the aid of Communist manpower (European Jews) and Capitalist monetary reserves", we are told. "The Zionists strategy will not stop extending its malicious hand, gesturing peace, while simultaneously plotting extermination of those it is courting. This has always been the attitude of the Jews". Similar sentiments are found in an article called The Ideological Attack, in which Shaykh Abdul Azeez bin Baaz argues that "The jews strive their utmost to corrupt the beliefs, morals and manners of the Muslims... spreading destructive thoughts, beliefs and ideologies; such as Freemasonry, Qadiaanisim, Bahaaism, Teejaanism and others". Inevitably, the website also contains a lengthy rant about the evils of homosexuality.

The mosque is chaired by Abdul Qadir Baksh, who says that gay people should be executed and has linked approvingly to an anti-Jewish video by David Duke from his Facebook page.