'We will replace the Bible with the Koran in Britain'
...........................................
'We will replace the Bible
with the Koran in Britain'
Islam and the West: Observer special
Paul Harris and Burhan Wazir in London Jason
Burke in Peshawar
Sunday November 4, 2001
The Observer
On a brisk Thursday night outside Finsbury Park
Mosque in north London, Abdul Qassim and his friend
Mohamed Salim were talking of war. They look like
typically articulate and casually dressed young Asians.
But they want to fight for the Taliban.
'I'd never have previously considered going off to fight.
But this is serious. Very serious. And something has
to be done,' said Qassim.
Qassim, 26, and Salim, 22, are members of
al-Muhajiroun, followers of firebrand Islamist Sheikh
Omar Bakri Mohamed. They had gathered at the
mosque along with 50 other young Asian men to hear
their leader speak.
Fiercely uncompromising in their interpretation of
Islam, the members of al-Muhajiroun are dedicated to
their faith. But there can be a price to pay. Last week
the group announced the death of at least three of its
British members in Afghanistan. It said they had
joined the Taliban to defend Islam, but were killed by
an American bomb.
Qassim and Salim walked into the mosque and
began to wash before prayer, removing their socks
and shoes at a sink. Salim looked approvingly at the
bearded Bakri, dressed in white robes and seated by
the microphone.
'I have pledged myself to what he says. It's a promise
and one that I intend to keep. I'd do anything he'd ask
me to,' he said. The duo listened as Bakri began to
condemn, with characteristic flair, Britain's war
against terrorism.
'The British Government has to be stopped,' said
Bakri. 'Blair knows that he is wrong. And he will pay
for it. We will remodel this country in an Islamic
image.' Waiting until his followers stopped giggling at
the vision of an Islamic state of Great Britain, Bakri
continued: 'We will replace the Bible with the Koran.'
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