INTERVIEW: Inayat Bunglawala

[Unaiza]

Inayat Bunglawala is spokesperson at the Muslim Council of Britain. He is taking time out to be our Guest on Sunday 24th September, 7:00pm.. He will be online for approximately 1 hour, and available for any questions that Members may have for him.

Use this thread to post your questions. You may only post if you are an existing member of this Forum.

Please make your questions as clear as possible.

There are likely to be times when your questions are placed in a moderation queue and therefore delayed, PLEASE BE PATIENT. Do NOT keep re-posting the same question.

About our Guest

He is also a co-presenter of the weekly 'Politics and Media Show' on the Islam Channel (SKY 813).

Inayat has been active in UK Islamic organisations since he joined The Young Muslims UK in 1987.

He is the former editor of the muslim youth magazine, TRENDS.

He is also a shura member of the Islamic Society of Britain - the UK's most forward - looking Islamic movement. www.isb.org.uk .

He has written pieces about Islam and current affairs over the past few years for The Times, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Daily Express, The Observer and The Sun.

In August 2005, Inayat was appointed by the Home Office as the Convenor of a working group on Tackling Extremism among young muslims.

[Illuminate]

Inayat Bunglawala In August 2005, Inayat was appointed by the Home Office as the Convenor of a working group on Tackling Extremism among young muslims.

Assalamu Alaikum Warahamtullahi Wabrakatahu


My Question:

Haven't the govt. conveners" for a Home Office task force who were given the responsibilities for tackling extremism, failed in taking any practical and pragmatic steps in tackling extremism among the young and ignorant muslim's in the community - except handing few recommendations to the govt.

To date no practical steps have been put in place to actually challenge the ideology of the radical muslims - surely you can not leave it to the govt. alone to implement these recommendations - but groups like ISB, MCB and others must lead the way.

Many muslim countries, like Saudi, Yemen, Indonesia and so on have taken real steps in rooting out extremism, have the home office task force, had a look at the ways which these countries are rooting extremsim's out – these countries have been very successful, so much so that even former radicals are playing a role in rooting out extremism.

So isn't time, rather than talking the talk, home office task force, along with muslim groups across the country, took it upon themselves to implement its own recommendations, as far as it can - rather than waiting for the govt. to act and lead the way.



Jazakallahkhariun for your time and all the effort you put in serving the muslim community!!


Wa Alaikum Mus Salam Warahamtullahi Wabrakatahu

[FractionMan]

salaam Inayat,

I was looking at your entry on Wikipedia. It seems to have been hijacked by certain parties. It is a similar story with the mpac entry.

Do you have any idea why this is?

[utbah]

1. I believe you was an active Muslim student in your days, what message would you like to give to students like myself and the student community at large.

2. I know MCB don't go to the HMD because it only remembers one atrocity in the world, but isn't it time that Muslims and None Muslims organise another day to remember all atrocities in all political climates such as the Israel ethinic cleansing project, darfur, chechneya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, Tibet and so on.

[saladin1970.5]

should the mcb do more to create muslim institutions to study Occidentalism.
Such as how the real levers of powers work in the judicury and the government.

whether it is within the uk, or within muslim countries (with western muslim knowledge)

p.s if your wiki page has been vandalised, put it on muslimwikipedia.com and link to it at the other wiki site :-)

[anwar aftab]

Day by day we are seeing that coming generations of Islamic countries are leaving their social values and ethics and adopting western culture, it seems that in coming days in our countries Islamic values will be remained only on those villages which are far from the modern cities, whe it is happening

[Damascus]

Dear Mr. Inayat

Why does the MCB give ambiguous statements on suicide bombings. If it happens in the Western Europe you and your Asian Men ONLY Muslim Club (MCB) though a lot of outside pressure condemn them and rightly so. But when it happens in Palestinian, Kashmir, Israel, Iraq the MCB stayed quite and more to the point, you signaled that it was a complicit thing, in the conducting of resistance and at no point did the MCB say it was totally unislamic until 7/7 were you HAD to fully condemn this evil action of suicide bombing and with UK islamic leaders issue a better late then never fatwa. The MCB would say violence is wrong in Muslim land carried out by UK, US, Israel etc, etc But stay silent on the violence carried out by MUSLIM suicidal murders abroad. It is totally wrong to be violent and then claim you are defending innocent Muslim men, women and children when you kill innocent men, women and children in London, New York, Madrid, Baghdad, Basra, Karachi, Mumbai etc, etc But the HYPOCRISY that came from the MCB that only condemned one side but said nothing about the other. Do think this huge mistake by the MCB legitimised in the minds of UK Muslims that it was okay and Islamic for suicide bombings and which were then highlighted as attitude that resembles UK Muslim public opinion in resent polls that said “13% of British Muslims think that the four men who carried out the London Tube and bus bombings of July 7, 2005, should be regarded as “martyrs” “ and “7% agree that suicide attacks on civilians in the UK can be justified in some circumstances, rising to 16 per cent for a military target” and do think the lack of action by the MCB in Muslim communities to address and tackle this issue led to these attitudes? What was the reason for MCB policy change on this issue? And how have the MCB implemented the fatwa and what educational programs to provided for the young and ignorant Muslims within the UK to integrate into society, after many years of being told to stay away from the kafir?

Many Muslims like myself believe that the MCB has done more harm to UK Muslim and non Muslim relations than good. The many ambiguous statements from 911 to 7/7 from the MCB have not helped and have set out to confuse and isolate Muslims even more. Also as an organisation which has been given more air time than anyone else on Muslim and Islamic issue in the UK media you have been a disastrous failure. As my many non Muslim friends and colleagues have said, when a representative from the MCB appears on the news they switch over or heckle the television as they regard the statements as dual messages being peddled and playing towards a non Muslim audience. In other words saying one thing publicly and another in private or one thing on camera and another off it. It is not only the non Muslim who feel that you don’t represent them but many Muslim youth regard your organistion as the embodiment of what is wrong in the UK Muslim community. A decrepit, stagnate and totally inept leadership of people from the MCB, Mosque committees, community leaders, Muslim MP etc, etc, etc who are in charge, who have no respect from the very people they represent and when the youth want to address issues or change something in the status quo they are attacked and labeled Hizb ut Tahir and Al-Muhajiroun. So in future they remain silent and disengage with trying to help the community advance. What is the MCB doing in its 400 affiliates to address this issue of questionable leadership, disenfranchised youth? and more importantly UK Muslims are the most underachieving in education and employment, how does the MCB feel about this and how will it address these issues to the Muslim leadership of the 400 affiliates to do something proactive about it?


The many incoherent English speaking Asian Muslim spokesman you have always take the burden of a whole community and become the sacrificial lamb for the London Bombings, Airport Terror Alerts as the media keep spinning the downing street orders to collectively blame and place the entire guilt on the Muslim community and the MCB rolls and spins for the goverment and follow its line. When will the MCB change from supporting new labour and stop spinning the government line? And when will we see a female spokeswoman and when will we see someone who is not Asian as representative of UK Muslims?

Why is the MCB late in its action alerts for geopolitical issues such as Dafur?
Do you not think that we UK Muslims should grasp the nettle from our distractors and highlight the plight in Dufur. Why do we ordinary Muslims have to force all the so called British muslim organisations (in the best possible way of cause) to address such issue. We need our religious leader issuing fatwa on the murdering of brothers by brothers. The Rape of Muslims Sisters by Brothers. It is total hypocrisy if we don't do anything for them and yet still highlight the Palestinians, Lebanese, Kashmir, Iraqi and Checynans etc, etc We need MCB to be proactive but as usual you only do something when when the Christians invite you. Why does this always happen with the MCB?

Do you agree that the MCB should have a Suggestion and Criticism box in the form of a thread on the MPAC forum, so you can keep in touch with grass roots Muslims and what they think you should do? As one of the many criticism is of the MCB is that its detached for the UK Muslim base.

Do you not think that in the age of the image and representation via the MEDIA that the MCB's Secretary General Dr Abdul Bari should stop putting henna or hair dye on his head and act his age and accept that he's going grey? and do you not think that the MCB should of elected a person who has the ablity to speak eloquent english with NO ASIAN ACCENT as it districts non muslims and they pay little or NO attention to the MCB statements as they are NOT expressing readily, clearly, or effectively conveying any meaning? you could take a leaf out of MPAC's book on this issue. big up Asghar Bukhari!!! Do you not think at the MCB that this is important or are you all aiming for a Knighthood? and So you don't want to rock the boat and portray muslims as educated and eloquent and who can argue their point across, without losing most of it poor broken english.

This is what Frank O’Donnell A Former Fox News Producer says on Image and representation via the MEDIA:

What they’ll try to put on the appearance of being
balanced, but really kind of a mismatch. You’ll have a
Hannity And Colmes Show where Hannity
is a really, a good-looking, kind of clean-cut
all-American kind of guy and, and his counterpart is a little squirrelly looking,
frankly. And you kind of say he’s the liberal? Well,
maybe he’s not so smart after all and it, and it, and it sends a subtle message,

Mr. Inayat what kind of subtle message do you think you and the MCB are projecting to the UK's non muslims everytime your on TV or Radio?

Please Mr. Inayat get the MCB's Secretary General Dr Abdul Bari to also read the question on this forum.

[Graham]

Do you agree with the 911 Comissions findings, or do you think there needs to be a re-investigation of 911?

[vegael2003]

Dear Mr. Inayat

What is the meaning of British Muslim? Is the British Muslim different than other (Philippine, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and all third world country) Muslim? Muslim is the religion community and Nationality is the culture of nationalism, so can you differ the Muslim community by the Nationalism?

But we do it always because we tell Arabian Muslim, Iranian Muslim, Pakistani Muslim etc. and our enemy takes the chance on this point.

[Friend]

Salaam brother Inayat,

May Allah bless you for your good work.

The media and politicians are constantly reffering to terorrism by Muslims and Muslim terorrists as "Islamic terorrism" and "Islamists" or "Jihadists", respectively. These terms obviously implies that terrorism and terorrists are part and parcel of our Islamic religion, and it does not do any good to distance Islam from this evil.

Is there a campaign being waged by the MCB to get the media and politicians to stop using such terms to describe the terorrists and terorrism?

How plausible do you think it is that Muslim organisations could manage to get these terms banned in the media?

JazakAllah khayr in advance for your answers and may Allah keep you active in His path.

Salaam

[ish264u]

Salam brother

What is MCB doing about the plight of Darfur?

[abu_ali]

1. why did you say on radio that its allowed for the muslims to join the british army even though they might kill muslims as long as you feel its ok then its ok..

where did you get this hukm from.. when we all know its haram to fight and spill the blood of a fellow muslim?

2. Has the governemnt fallen out of favour with the mcb.. they are now looking to sufi council..

[watchthevideo]

Rep. Curt Weldon – Vice Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Ten-term Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania.

Press conference transcript 9/17/05: Regarding the 9/11 Commission Report "There's something wrong here, something tragically wrong. The American people, the families, the country and the Congress need to know the truth, the whole truth, the complete truth. And so far we haven't gotten it. … Somebody's got to connect the dots and answer the questions. If the 9/11 Commission won't do it, then Congress has to do it."

Morgan Reynolds, PhD – Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Labor under George W. Bush 2001-2002. Former Director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis. Professor Emeritus, Economics, Texas A&M University.

Video: "I first began to suspect that 9/11 was in inside job when the Bush-Cheney Administration invaded Iraq. … We can prove that the government’s story is false."

Paul Craig Roberts, PhD – Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury under Ronald Reagan, "Father of Reaganomics", Former Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. Currently Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Essay: "We know that it is strictly impossible for any building, much less steel columned buildings, to "pancake" at free fall speed. Therefore, it is a non-controversial fact that the official explanation of the collapse of the WTC buildings is false."

Essay: "There are not many editors eager for writers to explore the glaring defects of the 9/11 Commission Report. One would think that if the report could stand analysis, there would not be a taboo against calling attention to the inadequacy of its explanations."

Catherine Austin Fitts – Assistant Secretary of Housing under George H.W. Bush. Former Managing Director and Member of the Board of Directors of the Wall Street investment bank, Dillon, Read & Co.

Audio Interview: Regarding 9/11 "The official story could not possibly have happened. … It’s not possible. It’s not operationally feasible. … The Commission was a whitewash."

Essay: "The first category of people who benefited were those who are guilty and complicit in designing, implementing and financing the 9-11 operation. On such a sophisticated and successful covert operation, the people responsible would have had budgets and financing and would have organized the operation to maximize their political and financial benefits."

Major General Albert Stubblebine, U.S. Army (ret) – Commanding General of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), 1981 - 1984. Also commanded the U.S. Army’s Electronic Research and Development Command (ERADCOM) and the U.S. Army’s Intelligence School and Center. Former head of Imagery Interpretation for Scientific and Technical Intelligence. 32-year Army career.

Video: "One of my experiences in the Army was being in charge of the Army’s Imagery Interpretation for Scientific and Technical Intelligence during the Cold War. I measured pieces of Soviet equipment from photographs. It was my job. I look at the hole in the Pentagon and I look at the size of an airplane that was supposed to have hit the Pentagon. And I said, ‘The plane does not fit in that hole’. So what did hit the Pentagon? What hit it? Where is it? What's going on?"

Raymond L. McGovern – Former Chairman, National Intelligence Estimates, CIA, responsible for preparing the President’ Daily Brief (PDB) for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. 27-year CIA veteran.

Video: "I think at simplest terms, there’s a cover-up. The 9/11 report is a joke. The question is: What’s being covered up? Is it gross malfeasance, gross negligence, misfeasance? … Now there are a whole bunch of unanswered questions. And the reason they’re unanswered is because this administration will not answer the questions. … I just want to reassert, what Scott [Ritter, former Major in the U.S. Marines Corps, former Chief Weapons Inspector for the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq] said and this is the bottom line for me, just as Hitler in 1933 cynically exploited the burning of the parliament building, the Reichstag, this is exactly what our President did in exploiting 9/11. The cynical way in which he played on our trauma, used it to justify attacking, making a war of aggression on a country that he knew had nothing to do with 9/11. That suffices for me, I think Scott is exactly right, that’s certainly an impeachable offense."

Col. Robert Bowman, PhD, U.S. Air Force (ret) – Director of Advanced Space Programs Development "Star Wars Program" under Presidents Ford and Carter. U.S. Air Force fighter pilot with over 100 combat missions. (PhD in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering, Cal Tech).

Video: "A lot of these pieces of information, taken together, prove that the official story, the official conspiracy theory of 9/11 is a bunch of hogwash. It’s impossible. … There’s a second group of facts having to do with the cover up. … Taken together these things prove that high levels of our government don’t want us to know what happened and who’s responsible. … Who gained from 9/11? Who covered up crucial information about 9/11? And who put out the patently false stories about 9/11 in the first place? When you take those three things together, I think the case is pretty clear that it’s highly placed individuals in the administration with all roads passing through Dick Cheney. I think the very kindest thing that we can say about George W. Bush and all the people in the U.S. Government that have been involved in this massive cover-up, the very kindest thing we can say is that they were aware of impending attacks and let them happen. Now some people will say that’s much too kind, however even that is high treason and conspiracy to commit murder."

Col. George Nelson, U.S. Air Force (ret) – Former U.S. Air Force aircraft accident investigator and airplane parts authority. 34-year Air Force career.

Essay: "The government alleges that four wide-body airliners crashed on the morning of September 11 2001, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 human beings, yet not one piece of hard aircraft evidence has been produced in an attempt to positively identify any of the four aircraft. On the contrary, it seems only that all potential evidence was deliberately kept hidden from public view. …

With all the evidence readily available at the Pentagon crash site, any unbiased rational investigator could only conclude that a Boeing 757 did not fly into the Pentagon as alleged. Similarly, with all the evidence available at the Pennsylvania crash site, it was most doubtful that a passenger airliner caused the obvious hole in the ground and certainly not the Boeing 757 as alleged. …

As painful and heartbreaking as was the loss of innocent lives and the lingering health problems of thousands more, a most troublesome and nightmarish probability remains that so many Americans appear to be involved in the most heinous conspiracy in our country's history."

Michael Meacher – Former Under Secretary for Industry, Under Secretary for Health and Social Security, Minister for the Environment, and Member of the House of Commons (Parliament) (UK).

Video: Regarding the 9/11 Commission Report "It was a 580-page avoidance of any serious explanation. … The official investigative report says the US has never been able to find the sources of financing for 9/11. And then they say this "That after all is a matter of no great importance."

General Leonid Ivashov – Former Chief of Staff of the Russian armed forces on 9/11/2001, and Department Chief for General affairs in the Soviet Union's Ministry of Defense.

Essay: Regarding 9/11 "Only secret services and their current chiefs – or those retired but still having influence inside the state organizations – have the ability to plan, organize and conduct an operation of such magnitude."

MANY MORE IN LINK:http://www.patriotsquestion911.com/

Have you or MCB made any public statements where you question the official version of 9/11..?

If you or MCB havnt made any public statements can you give reasons for NOT doing so.

[Salaam]

Assalamu Alaikum,

Question one:

What can MCB do to ensure provisions are made in the mosques across the UK to allow muslim females to carry out their worship in these holy places? How can we change the mentality of the asian men who refuse to allow a woman entry into the mosque and yet have no problem with their women going out to work, shop and socialise in public?

Some would argue (and maybe rightfully) that a woman's place of worship is in her home. But we're living in times when muslim women can be found out and about a lot and it seems a downright shame that they are denied the basic right to pop into any one of the many local mosques and offer their obligatory prayers on time.

Question two:

In a recent press release (Dailymail, 11 Sept 2006) Dr Abdul Bari was quoted to have said that if muslims in this country continue to be treated as terrorists then Britain could have upto 2 million terrorists on her hands...

Do you think it's sensible of brother Abdul Bari to have made such a sensationalist statement? To me this would seem to be the kind of comment the BNP and other islamophobic entities would love to hear.

[Rehaam]

As Salaam Alaykum Brother Inayat,


Seeing that MCB hopes to represent British Muslim what measures are being taken to generate publicity for the organisation and developing a forum on the website so that the general public has an opportunity to learn about Islam, Bme communities and allow interaction between muslims and muslims and non muslims etc?
One of the things the above would achieve is for the younger muslim/non muslim generation to be more active with MCB and allow wider representation of British muslims.


Having access to a wide muslim national audience in the UK of varying age, race and profession how can these resources be used by MCB to overcome some basic problems that muslim communities are facing. For example, with regards to women not being allowed into mosques can there be a body of representation (made of members or using resources that members have) that would use the appropriate channels to challange such exclusion which is stopping the community from communicating, working togeather and moving forward?

What is MCB doing to develop services and grow as an organisation to represent and meet the needs of the muslim community ensuring that there is integration with the wider community at the same time. For example, guidelines on how muslims should deal with the police, or with discrimination for wearing the hijab or take steps to promote education within muslim communities?

What does MCB do to support reverts who may no longer have their family/social support system to integrate with the muslim community who can often be closed and unresponsive?

Apologies if these questions have been answered previously and thanking you for your time in advance.

[uptownsinclair]

Mr Inayat,

I abhor violence in all of its forms...mainly it serves as an indice of " a lack of imagination".


I'd be willing to wager a $200 US bet to charity that the MBC would get a lot more mileage by convincing Hezbollah to ask Israel to join in a disarmament calling on both sides to destroy their stockpiles of "30 mm cannon shells with proximity fusing".....you know, the kind of shells Israeli Mirage fighters used in the attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967.

Also, ask your pro-Zionist friends... just exactly what photo recon aircraft units Israel had during the Six-Day War against the surrounding Arab states???

Ask them...no!!! demand that they show you a photo recon snapshot of Egyptian airfields with the shadow of a delta-winged Mirage fighter

...in fact, insist on seeing delta-winged shadows next to Moshe Dayan eating lunch, showing he could not have ordered the attack on the USS Liberty

[PhoeniX]

Salaam Alaikum,

I have heard alot about the Muslim Council of Britain.

How does one get to work for the MCB?

Briefly, what does your organisation do?

And as a European how can I go about doing something similar in other countries?

[antioch]

Why are there so many organisations that claim to represent muslims in this country? Do they all fall under the umbrella of the MCB? If not, why isn't there some consolidation so muslims in britain have a more coherent voice?

[dancer]

Here's what I learnt of what POLITICS isn't - One doesn't learn politics at university by studying Political Science.

"There's no science in politics. No 'political scientist' has ever been succesful in politics." (A leading North American politician)

Personally I tend to agree with the above opinion one hunderd per cent. I am eager to know your views.

[Highlanderess]

Why has the Muslim Council of Britain never spoken out and enlightened the
community to the desperate plight of the Muslim men who are detained without
charge or trial in British prisons. Does this silence infer that my friends
and their families are not considered part of the Ummah?

I ask this question of Mr. Bunglawala as my friends have suffered
indefinite detention or exceptional bail conditions since 2001 and there is
only a deafening silence from Muslim organisations. Perhaps I am mistaken
but I can say with certainty that these men feel abandoned by their brothers
in Islam.