Australian National Imam Council

09.05.2015 La rédaction

The Australian National Imam Council is almost completely controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood. Created in 2006, the Council seeks to mediate between the State and the Muslims.

250 imams are part of this Council which publishes Fatwa and appoints the Mufti of Australia. The first Mufti was Taj al-din al-Hilali. He was elected in 1988 to avoid being expelled by the Australian government. He is known for his extremist sermons, and has compared unveiled women with unwrapped meat.

“If you place unwrapped meat and leave it on the street, in a garden (…) without any cover on it and cats come and eat it, whose fault is that? Cats or unwrapped meat? Unwrapped meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her house, wearing her hijab, there would have been no problem.” (Sermon, October 2006)

Taj al-Din al-Hilali then decides to go into politics without much success. He will mostly be remembered for authorizing the concept of “Burkini”.

Following his resignation, the Australian National Imam Council replaces him by Fehmi Naji who will resign in turn for health problems.

Elected in 2011, the current great mufti is Ibrahim Abu Mohamed who is known for being a man of dialogue and peace. At least until 2012, when he starts to defend the Hamas movement, which is considered by Australia as a terrorist organization.

During his stay in the Gaza Strip in 2012, he said

“I am happy to be on a land of Jihad and to learn from its sons.”

Or

“We came to learn from Gaza … We will make stones, trees … to learn sacrifice and the right to defend ourselves.”

During the terrorist attacks in Sydney, the Council and its representatives repeatedly appear on all televisions. They explain that terrorism has no connection with Islam, and condemn “unequivocally” the murder of innocent people. Due to this type of intervention, the Council appears as a peaceful body for the Australian population.

Yet one of the Council main activities is to delay anti-terrorist measures.

The Australian National Imam Council mobilizes against anti-terrorism laws, which it deems dangerous for freedom of expression. Ibrahim Abu Mohammad thus explains that the criminalization of the “defense of terrorism” is an infringement of his freedom of expression. According to the Mufti, reading certain excerpts of the Koran can be seen as “defense of terrorism”. He also mentions jihad in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.

When the Australian government decides to penalize hate preachers like the Hizb ut-Tahrir group, the Council of the Australian Imams and Ibrahim Abu Mohammad rush to their rescue.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir is not against the freedom of expression. On the contrary, they are strong supporters of the freedom of expression. They are even exercising this freedom. Those who are against freedom of expression are those who try to prevent Hizb ut-Tahrir from expressing their opinions. “

This position was described by the Australian Prime Minister as “not very useful”.

The Council is also up against anti-terrorism laws. It is heard by various governmental and parliamentary committees. On several occasions, the Muslim Brothers even went so far as to read excerpts from the Koran to convince decision-makers that banning the apology for terrorism can result in forbidding faith.

This post is also available in Français and العربية.

An Nour Mosque (Montigny-Lès-Cormeilles)

28.04.2015 La rédaction

The An Nour mosque is expanding. Officially, it is under construction, but since 2010, it has regularly organized conferences, some of which were attended, among others, by executives of the UOIF.

On the site of the mosque, whose page is followed by more than 4000 fans on Facebook, one can read:

“The mosque of Montigny-Lès-Cormeilles is under construction, Inchallah. It will be located in a wooded environment, on an area of approximately 1700 m², near the Esperance district. This important project for our community will be examined by the architect J.SKALLI. (…) This dignified and ambitious project that we want to develop on Montigny is also yours! It represents our spiritual and cultural heritage. This new place of worship will be a place of spirituality, of prayer but also of encounter, sociability and exchange … Everyone must participate in it, so as to create a concrete, solid and effective project. For that purpose, you can support us in different ways: by helping the mosque volunteers during functions or by making donations.”

Concerning the attacks of January 2015, it read: “An Nour Mosque associates itself with the national solidarity movement spreading across the country since yesterday, with the gathering in tribute to the victims of 7 and 8 January attacks.

Except that the attacks lasted from 7 to 9, and claimed the lives of 9 Jewish victims at Hypercasher.

This post is also available in Français .

El Fath Mosque (Saint Dizier)

24.04.2015 La rédaction

The El Fath Mosque, in Saint Dizier, claims to follow the Mosque of Paris.

Yet several elements suggest a rapprochement with the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 2015, the El Fath mosque organized a bus trip to Le Bourget to attend the UOIF Conference.

For Valentine’s Day, the Mosque published a text on its Facebook account prohibiting any celebration of lovers’ day.

“It is not allowed to observe lovers’ day (…) this futile behavior is contrary to the path of our ancient pious predecessors. It is not permitted to observe the rites marking the celebration of that day, whether through meals, drinks, outfits, exchange of gifts or the like. The Muslim must remain proud in his religion, and avoid unconsciously responding to any call“.

Another post suggests that one must choose between the love of the Koran and the love of music.

The competitions of the Institut de Chateau Chinon were also distributed.

This post is also available in Français .

Jemaa Islamiyya and Tawassoul (Mauritania)

13.04.2015 La rédaction

In the 1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood recruited families fleeing the countryside.

The first association that claimed to follow the Muslim Brotherhood is Jemaa Islamiyya.

In August 2007, the current Muslim Brotherhood grouped itself into an authorized political party known as National Rally for Reform and Development (Tawassoul).

The leader of the Islamist party, Mohamed Jemil Mansour, has long lived in exile, in Belgium. He then explained to his Egyptian colleagues that the situation is peculiar and that he will not make the error of his elders – which was commented by Cridem blog as follows:

“Indeed, in such overly secular and open States, it is next to impossible to establish an Islamist regime advocating Sharia as a fundamental law, due to the deep-rooted Western culture in which societies resemble, in all aspects of their life, to those of libertine countries”.

Tawassoul signed cooperation agreements in 2011 with several political parties, notably with the Syrian Baath Party and with Hezbollah. To those astonished at this alliance, let us remind them that some members of the Muslim Brotherhood are favorable to the Mullahs regime and great admirers of Hezbollah. As for the Baath party, before the Syrian revolution and the Baath denunciation by Youssef Al Qardhawi, it has long supported Muslim Brotherhood branches abroad.

Mohamed Jemil Mansour, like many Muslim Brothers, is very skilled with words when explaining the relationship of his movement with the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We do have things in common with the Muslim Brothers of Egypt, but we are different from the Salafist currents. We are a political party, which is active in the field of politics. We are certainly inspired by successful models such as the Turkish model, Morocco PJD, or other political and Islamic parties with an open-minded experience respectful of Islamic principles, yet open to modernism, politics and people aspirations”.

In 2012, Tawassoul received the support of Rached Ghannouchi who came to support MB candidates at their conference. He was received as a head of state by the government.

A coalition of democratic parties demanded in 2012 the departure of President Aziz, and all these movements agreed to boycott the elections. All, except Tawassoul.

A position that was justified by Jemil Mansour:

“A revolution is the outcome of a situation. If conditions are met, no one can prevent the revolution. If they are not, this revolution cannot be forcibly imposed”.

Taking advantage of this situation, the Muslim Brotherhood now appears as the second strongest party of the country.

This post is also available in Français and  العربية.