Haitham al-Haddad

Haitham al-Haddad is a British Muslim television presenter[1] of Palestinian origin.[2][3][4] Al-Haddad sits on the boards of advisors for Islamic organisations in the United Kingdom, including the Islamic Sharia Council. He is the chair and operations advisor and a trustee for the Muslim Research and Development Foundation.[5] Some of his views have been considered controversial, including remarks on Jews, homosexuality and female genital mutilation.[4][6][7][8]

Educational qualifications

Haitham al-Haddad gained a PhD at SOAS, University of London[9] and is a Saudi-trained Imam.[10] In Medina he studied with a student of the influential Salafi scholar ibn al Uthaymeen, while he also obtained a civil engineering degree in Sudan.[11] His PhD thesis from SOAS, submitted in 2010, was on Islamic law and entitled "A critical analysis of selected aspects of Sunni Muslim minority fiqh, with particular reference to contemporary Britain."[12]

Controversial remarks

In 2001, Haitham al-Haddad allegedly said "I will tell you the truth about the fight between us and Jews who are the enemies of God and the descendants of apes and pigs".[7] He later said that "this is the translation of what has been attributed to me" and that it had been incorrectly translated from Arabic to English.[7]

A journalist for Radio Netherlands Worldwide wrote, "Strikingly, the cleric omits the definite article "the" before "Jews." In the Arabic language, this omission could be taken to mean he was not speaking about Jews in general but only about those Jews who are enemies of God and descendants of apes and pigs.[7]

Haddad was also accused of praising Osama bin Laden in 2011 following the latter's death;[13][14] an allegation[15] for which he successfully claimed libel and a retraction from The Times.[16]

In an article called ‘Standing up against Homosexuality’, Haddad wrote of “the scourge of homosexuality”, which he calls a “criminal act”.[17] On women, he declared that “a man should not be questioned why he hit his wife, because this is something between them”.[18] In addition to this he has also claimed that “the most honourable and worthy role for a woman is striving to be a fine wife...this role does not only secure the best for a woman in the hereafter, but also fits perfectly with her natural disposition”[19] He has claimed that there is a "proper" way of performing FGM,[9] further saying "it is consensus of all the scholars that female circumcision is sunnah [proper]".[20]

Controversial events

2012 Netherlands visit

In February 2012, the Dutch parliament majority tried to prevent Haddad speaking at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The university subsequently cancelled the event. Haddad blamed the opposition to him on a Jewish lobby.[4][21]

London "mega-mosque" project
Main article: Abbey Mills Mosque

Haddad called[22] for a 15,000-people march to put pressure on Newham council to permit building of a large mosque in West Ham, London Borough of Newham, which would have been three times the size of St Paul's Cathedral.[23][24] Opposition to al-Haddad and the mosque project as a whole was led by a local councillor, Alan Craig, who eventually in 2014 would join UKIP.[25]

University of Westminster

In February 2015, the University of Westminster postponed a talk by al-Haddad after it was revealed that Mohammed Emwazi, known as "Jihadi John", became radicalised at that university. Over 3,000 had signed a petition for him to be banned from campus, stating that his presence could endanger LGBT students.[26]

University of Kent

In March 2015, the University of Kent postponed a talk by al-Haddad, hosted by the university's Islamic Society as part of "Discover Islam Week". The university's Vice-Chancellor cancelled the talk after controversy spread among some students regarding al-Haddad's messages.[27][28]

Cases against the media

Libel case against 'The Times'

In August 2015 al-Haddad successfully claimed for libel against The Times newspaper. Following the settlement the Sunday Times published a correction (16 Aug, 2015) clarifying amongst a number of false allegations, that al-Haddad had not praised Osama bin Laden, and neither had he been banned from speaking at the London School of Economics nor London Metropolitan University.[16]

Libel case against 'Telegraph Media Group'

In June 2019 al-Haddad settled a claim against the Telegraph Media Group. The Sunday Telegraph had published a series of articles during 2015, which it continued to publish online, which variously claimed that Dr Al-Haddad had described Jews as “the descendants of apes and pigs”, and the “brethren of swine and pigs”.

As part of the terms of settlement, the Telegraph contributed £62500[29] towards al-Haddad's legal costs, published a statement withdrawing the allegations, and apologised[30].

gollark: Hmm, it seems to have half-loaded now.
gollark: So can you explain this "locally confluent" thing?
gollark: I was going to check Wikipedia, but it seems to be broken and I don't have a copy saved any more.
gollark: Basically just descending the tree of ingredients for a recipe until it finds stuff it has, or something.
gollark: I had *an* approximation which was pretty computationally simple. It just wasn't very good.

References
  1. "Islamic Network TV - Now Broadcasting Live Every Day". www.islaam.net. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  2. "Haitham Al Haddad". Huda (TV). Archived from the original on 7 March 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  3. "Our Speakers. He grew up in Makkah Saudi Arabia Peace TV". Peace TV. Archived from the original on 2014-01-11. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  4. Radical cleric determined to debate in Amsterdam | Radio Netherlands Worldwide Archived 2012-02-18 at the Wayback Machine. Rnw.nl (2012-02-16). Retrieved on 2012-05-10.
  5. Muslim Research & Development Foundation – Welcome to the MRDF website Archived 2019-01-09 at the Wayback Machine. Mrdf.co.uk. Retrieved on 2012-05-10.
  6. Hasan Afzal: Is FOSIS Training the Violent Extremists of Tomorrow? Archived 2012-05-04 at the Wayback Machine. Huffingtonpost.co.uk (2012-02-03). Retrieved on 2012-05-10.
  7. Cleric did say “Jews are descendants of apes and pigs” | Radio Netherlands Worldwide Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine. Rnw.nl (2012-02-17). Retrieved on 2012-05-10.
  8. Muslim Council: women cannot debate wearing veil Archived 2018-05-19 at the Wayback Machine. Telegraph (2011-04-16). Retrieved on 2012-05-10.
  9. "Anger as preacher who supports FGM speaks at SOAS campus debate - London - News - London Evening Standard". Standard.co.uk. 2014-02-19. Archived from the original on 2015-03-01. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  10. James Brandon, Salam Hafez, Crimes of the Community: Honour-Based Violence in the UK, p 91. ISBN 1903386640
  11. John R. Bowen, On British Islam: Religion, Law, and Everyday Practice in Shariʿa Councils, Princeton University Press (2016), p. 59
  12. Record on E-Theses Online Service
  13. "UK Plans to Silence Hate Preachers With ASBOs [VIDEO]". Ibtimes.co.uk. 2013-12-22. Archived from the original on 2015-02-26. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  14. Hines, Nico (2013-05-13). "Radicals who spread message of brutality, hate and intolerance". The Times. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  15. Sheridan, Danielle. "University allowed extremist to preach to students".
  16. "Dr Haitham Al-Haddad v Times Newspapers Limited". 2015-08-17. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018.
  17. "Standing up against Homosexuality and LGBTs". Islam21c. 2012-03-20. Archived from the original on 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  18. "YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2015-02-09. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  19. "A Vision for Muslim Women in the West". Islam21c. 2012-03-12. Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  20. "Preacher Haitham Al-Haddad, Who Supports FGM, Speaks At SOAS University". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 2014-02-19. Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  21. Lipshiz, Cnaan (2012-02-22). "UK-based Palestinian extremist speaks at... JPost - International". Jpost.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  22. "Urgent message from Sheikh Haitham Al-Haddad about 'Mega-mosque' in London". YouTube. 2012-11-27. Archived from the original on 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  23. Else Kvist. "Socalled mega mosque fuels protest fears ahead of Newham council meeting - Crime". London 24. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  24. Hough, Andrew (2012-12-05). "Plans for new east London 'mega-mosque' rejected by local council". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
  25. "Muslim group to campaign for London "mega mosque"". Reuters. 2008-03-06. Archived from the original on 2018-10-10.
  26. Gander, Kashmira (26 February 2015). "'Jihadi John': Talk with anti-gay scholar postponed at university where Mohammed Emwazi studied". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2015-02-28. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  27. "University bans talk from extremist preacher". 2015-03-16. Archived from the original on 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  28. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-12-25. Retrieved 2017-02-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. "Telegraph apologises and pays out in Dr Al-Haddad "apes and pigs" libel claim". Saracens Solicitors. 2019-06-27. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  30. "Haitham al-Haddad - clarification & correction". The Telegraph. 2019-06-22. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
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