Muslim Council of Britain

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Turning towards Mecca

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The Muslim Council of Britain is a council of Muslims in Britain.^{[citation NOT needed]}

Aims

The MCB website outlines its primary aims:

“”To promote cooperation, consensus and unity on Muslim affairs in the UK. To encourage and strengthen all existing efforts being made for the benefit of the Muslim community. To work for a more enlightened appreciation of Islam and Muslims in the wider society. To establish a position for the Muslim community within British society that is fair and based on due rights. To work for the eradication of disadvantages and forms of discrimination faced by Muslims. To foster better community relations and work for the good of society as a whole.

Controversies

Boycotts of Holocaust Memorial Day

The MCB has repeatedly boycotted Holocaust Memorial Day. In 2001 it did this on the grounds that the ceremony "totally excludes and ignores the ongoing genocide and violation of Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territories [and] includes the controversial question of alleged Armenian genocide as well as the so-called gay genocide", although stressing that the group's members "fully condemn the Nazi Holocaust and sympathise with the families of the Holocaust victims". In 2007 it ended its boycott, partly due to "voices who have been attacking us from day one and trying to misconstrue our non-participation as antisemitism". In 2009, however, the MCB boycotted the ceremony once again, this time protesting Israel's actions in Gaza.

Daud Abdullah

The MCB attracted controversy over the membership of Daud Abdullah, who signed a declaration outlining, amongst other things, "The obligation of the Islamic Nation to regard the sending of foreign warships into Muslim waters, claiming to control the borders and prevent the smuggling of arms to Gaza, as a declaration of war [that] must be rejected and fought by all means and ways."

In 2009 the Labour government severed relations with the MCB in response to Abdullah's support of Hamas. The MCB replied by stating that it "no way supports the targeting or killing of British soldiers anywhere in the world. This is the agreed position of all MCB Office Bearers without exception including the MCB's Central Working Committee."

Salman Rushdie

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary-General of the MCB, has denounced Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses and promoted peaceful protest against it; the MCB website, meanwhile, proclaimed that the group was "disturbed" that Rushdie had been given a knighthood.

External links

• Official website