BBC News omits radical aspect of imams’ “moderate” roadshow

BBC News reports on the “imams’ roadshow” in London, a tour of “moderate” influential Islamic scholars giving their views on the Qur’an’s teachings to supposedly steer Muslims away from extremism, in Imams hit road to beat extremism. Not once, though, does the BBC refer to the radical leanings of speakers at the event, some of whom have alarming records of advocating jihadism, as revealed The Daily Standard more than two weeks ago.

* Tariq Ramadan, the Swiss Islamist intellectual who has been barred from entry into the United States. Ramadan has been praised as a moderate by Time magazine and others, but he has been treated with greater realism in Arab media, including the Beirut Daily Star, which noted that Ramadan has "has failed to condemn Palestinian suicide bombers" and that he defended Qatar-based Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a notorious extremist who has also supported suicide terrorism, on a British television talk-show. The Star further quoted Marc Gopin, director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, who said "after closely examining Ramadan's works and positions" he was " 'disappointed in Ramadan's approach' to the crises in the Arab and Muslim world . . . Gopin added [that] Ramadan's message did not provide a real approach to fundamental Islam that would make it 'more peaceful, nonviolent and pluralistic.'"

* Tariq Suweidan, from Kuwait, has also been excluded from the United States. Suweidan preached at a meeting of the Hamas-front Islamic Association for Palestine in Chicago in 2000, "Palestine will not be liberated but through Jihad. Nothing can be achieved without sacrificing blood. The Jews will meet their end at our hands."

* Hamza Yusuf Hanson, formerly Joseph Hanson, who, in 1991, gave a provoking speech about why "Jihad is the Only Way," at an International Islamic Conference held at the University of Southern California. That group is the local unit of the Islamic Circle of North America, a front for the al Qaeda-allied Jama'at-i-Islami movement in Pakistan.

* Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, who is also known for his radical proclivities.

In the BBC News article, one can also read the following.

It is a completely different face of Islam from the angry, banner-waving Muslims seen recently after cartoons satirising the prophet Mohammed sparked outrage in Britain and around the world.

The Muslim prophet Muhammad is here referred to as “the prophet Mohammed”, though the first letter of the term “prophet” is no longer capitalised; will the BBC ever specify that he is the Muslims’ prophet?