A Muslim preacher named Ali Hammuda at the British Al-Manar mosque had been secretly recorded by an undercover reporter during a religious study gathering telling a group of teenagers that it is permissible in Islam to capture women as sex slaves. The event was publicized by posters fringed with drawings of sports equipment, also saying “Brothers Only, Ideal age 13-18. Followed by indoor football.”
In the recording Hammuda tells the boys “[It is prophesied that] towards the end of time there will be many wars like what we are seeing today, and because of these wars women will be taken as captives, as slaves … And then her master has relations with her because this is permissible in Islam, it’s permissible to have relations with a woman who is your slave or your wife.”
The recording was made in 2014, soon before reports of ISIS atrocities where more than 5,000 women and girls were abducted in northern Iraq where they were enslaved, raped, or executed. The recording was only recently made public.
Undercover reporter Rizwan Syed, who made the recording, also found a range of extremist literature in the mosque, including books preaching “..brutal violence, sexism, homophobia, aggressive physical jihad, dismemberment and capital punishment implemented by the state.”
Many of the most notorious British jihadis who have joined the Islamic State in Syria have worshiped at the Al-Manar Mosque, including the trio of the “Cardiff jihadis” who appear in an ISIS recruitment video, of which Reyaad Khan was killed in an RAF drone strike.
The Mosque has also hosted many extremist visiting preachers, including Muhammad Mustafa Al-Muqri, an Al Qaeda ally and ex-leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
See this Daily Mail UK article about this issue.
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NOTE: 8/14/16— ALI HAMMUDA’S REBUTTAL
Hammuda issued a lengthy and indignant response to the allegations made against him by the Daily Mail, but ultimately he failed to convincingly convey why the words he spoke in the recording were taken out of context as he claimed them to be.
The primary claim of Hammuda’s rebuttal is that the recording is of him speaking about an Islamic writing known as the “Narration of Jibril”, which he says is “known to pretty much all Muslims verbatim.” However he doesn’t explain why talking about that particular text would somehow make the words he spoke be taken out of context.
He goes on to say that he considers the taking of girls as sex slaves to be an “abhorrent abomination”, and cites statements that he made at a public event on November 11, 2015, where he mentioned being opposed to the activities of ISIS including their taking of sex slaves. He made those statements at the event in response to allegations that his Mosque was radicalizing youths to fight for ISIS.
Hammuda also claims that he has expended much time speaking out against the evils of ISIS in his lectures, but nonetheless he didn’t voice a negative opinion about what he was talking about when he was recorded speaking to the boys in private.
Also despite the length Hammuda’s response, he didn’t reply to the allegations of extremist literature being found in the mosque.
Some other points Hammuda mentioned are as follows:
— He claims the word “slave” as he used it was taken out of context, saying “the description of ‘slaves’ in the Western sense is a million miles away from the Islamic notion.”
— He acknowledges that the Daily Mail did mention that he has refuted ISIS, but he said that it was “sandwiched in the small print between big, angry slogans and pictures, explicitly painting lies…”
— He said one of the three “Cardiff jihadist” Reyaad Khan actually didn’t attend Cathays high school as the Daily Mail article claimed.
— He argued that since the lecture in question was an hour in length and the recording is only 56 seconds, then “it therefore goes without saying that the snippet has been decontextualized from the message and purpose of the overall lecture itself.”
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MUSLIM COUNCIL OF WALES SUPPORTS HAMMUDA AFTER ALLEGATIONS
Recently the Muslim Council of Wales (MCW), a Muslim umbrella group including the Imams of all mosques in Wales, had issued a written statement backing the Imam Ali Hammuda who recently made headlines being secretly recorded preaching to teens that it is permissible in Islam to take women as sexual slaves.
In their statement they said, “Hammuda’s comments have been misrepresented and are slanderous and untrue, as Ali Hammuda has himself clarified clearly and unequivocally,” also saying that Hammuda’s positions against extremism, racism, and bigotry are well known.
They also mentioned that the Al-Manar Mosque is vocal and committed to countering the ideology of ISIS and radicalization, and said, “All mosques and Muslim institutions in Wales are committed to teaching morals and values of the Islamic tradition, compassion, forgiveness, the sacredness of all human life, and the equality and personhood of every individual, male and female.”
