Many groups presented by the media as “representatives of British Muslims” are actually part of established British Islamist networks with a long history of promoting extremism.
Although the government claimed to terminate its relationship with the Muslim Council of Britain in 2009, successive government departments have continued to collaborate with them.
Ninety-four percent of British Muslims do not, in fact, believe that the Muslim Council of Britain represents their views, as revealed in a 2007 survey.
Perhaps the media could abstain from describing such groups as “disappointing,” and instead just dismiss them as ill-disposed extremists, whose comments serve no one but the Islamist preachers and the lobby groups they represent.
Muslim community groups have responded angrily to a government letter that urged British Imams and mosque officials to challenge “men of hate” who preach extremism.
The letter — written by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Lord Tariq Ahmad — was sent to mosques all over the country: