Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese Islamist Sheik Omar Bakri, which aired on OTV on August 22, 2008
Sheik Omar Bakri: This is true Salafism: Pure and complete religious preaching, and we only brandish our weapons against those who fight us. If we are fought and prevented from calling people to join Islam, a right that everybody has... You call this “freedom of expression,” but I call it a religious duty to preach for the sake of Allah. If I am prevented from performing this duty, I must either defend myself or emigrate. They prevented me from doing this in Britain, so I emigrated to Lebanon.
Interviewer: What is your problem with the British? We all know that you left before they decided you would not be allowed to return, and revoked your British citizenship, even though your family still has citizenship.
Bakri: The problem with Britain is that its law is not the law sent down by Allah. This country says that it implements democracy, freedom of expression, personal liberties, and the right to own property, but when I expressed my belief by preaching to Islam – there was an impressive response in the universities, and George and Michael became Omar and Abd Al-Rahman, and Jane became Hadija... When they saw that Islam was spreading in British universities at an unprecedented rate, and that the non-Muslims – the Hindus, the Christians and the Jews – were accepting Islam at an average rate of 21 people a days, it began to endanger their society. Within 20 years, British society will have a Muslim majority. Of course, this cannot be allowed by this secular regime, which wants to strip society of any religious values connected to Allah. More ...
Sheik Omar Bakri: This is true Salafism: Pure and complete religious preaching, and we only brandish our weapons against those who fight us. If we are fought and prevented from calling people to join Islam, a right that everybody has... You call this “freedom of expression,” but I call it a religious duty to preach for the sake of Allah. If I am prevented from performing this duty, I must either defend myself or emigrate. They prevented me from doing this in Britain, so I emigrated to Lebanon.
Interviewer: What is your problem with the British? We all know that you left before they decided you would not be allowed to return, and revoked your British citizenship, even though your family still has citizenship.
Bakri: The problem with Britain is that its law is not the law sent down by Allah. This country says that it implements democracy, freedom of expression, personal liberties, and the right to own property, but when I expressed my belief by preaching to Islam – there was an impressive response in the universities, and George and Michael became Omar and Abd Al-Rahman, and Jane became Hadija... When they saw that Islam was spreading in British universities at an unprecedented rate, and that the non-Muslims – the Hindus, the Christians and the Jews – were accepting Islam at an average rate of 21 people a days, it began to endanger their society. Within 20 years, British society will have a Muslim majority. Of course, this cannot be allowed by this secular regime, which wants to strip society of any religious values connected to Allah. More ...
Source: MEMRI
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