Tower Hamlets council has rightly come in for a fair degree of stick for providing platforms to people who don’t really fit the community cohesion agenda. Not only did it give Preventing Violent Extremism money to members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, via the Cordoba Foundation, in February 2008, but it also has a track record renting out public buildings to others who are even more hardline.
Past guests put up courtesy of the town hall include Omar Bakri Mohammed and the Yemen-based terror fugitive Anwar Al-Awlaki.
In fact, it was after the outrage caused by the latter’s video-linked appearance at the Brady Arts Centre in Whitechapel in April 2009, that the council realised it needed to tighten its controls. Worryingly, as late as last November, their new checking system seemed to be a touch rusty when Anjem Choudary’s loony mob managed to book Collingwood Hall for an “Islamic Revival” event.
However, things are now looking better.
Today, around 150 Tower Hamlets mums turned up to the Brady Centre to hear a series of lectures about how to raise their children. The women-only Raising A Nation conference was organised by the Tayyibun Institute and was billed as the “key to a victorious Ummah”.
One of the men enlisted to advise on child-rearing techniques was Abu Abdissalam. Believed to be aged in his 30s, he was born in Coventry and raised in London. He gained a degree in Computer Science from City University and then went to study Islamic Studies in Saudi Arabia.
He doesn’t much like the West (and who can blame him after drunken excesses of last night!); in fact he appears to be brimming with anger.
Full details about him can be seen on the Harry’s Place website here. He makes references to the stoning to death of adulterers, chopping off the hands of thieves and to Ali Al-Timini, the US cleric convicted for plotting terrorism in the wake of 9/11.
When asked if he would be turning up to today’s event, the organisers merely said that “something had come up” and that he was being replaced by another speaker.
Isn’t being honest an essential ingredient of child-rearing?
Here’s why he wasn’t there: someone at Tower Hamlets council had done their research on Abdissalam and demanded his name be removed from the list of speakers as a condition of hire.
A council spokeswoman said: “Mr Abdissalam was on an original list of speakers for this event, but was flagged up in our booking protocols (the Conditions of Hire) as someone of concern. The organisers were therefore asked to remove him from the list of speakers, which they did, and the event went ahead without him today.”
I don’t often get to say this, but well done, Tower Hamlets council. What other New Year resolutions should they be making?
Trial by Jeory 
“What other New Year resolutions should they be making?”
Sort out the council ‘East End Life’ rag. Ideally by getting rid of it and putting useful info into monthly flyers rather than a full paper delivered regularly. Also, develop some kind of standard for advertisers in East End Life to make sure it is not being used by extremists to publicise their events.
But, to be honest, nobody at TH council has the ability to make sure that extremists aren’t using the council rag. Indeed, they’re probably not even aware that it’s an issue.
I always knew that Lutfur would come good!
I do not believe this has anything to do with Lutfur Rahman at all.
G,
Are extremists using East End Life? This is a complete scandal. Tell us more.
Wow Ted
Is that the first kind of positive thing you have ever written about the council and possibly indirectly Lutfur! Well done. Good to have different perspectives sometimes.
“Speakers will be fully segregated from the audience” – doesn’t sound like there’s much to celebrate there. Did you go along?
A curtain separated the audience from the speakers. The speakers were then filmed behind the curtains and they were relayed to the audience by a video screen. A bit cumbersome really.
This is an act of their religious beliefs in an venue privately hired and organised by themselves, if you do not like such setups then at least respect their beliefs. We would not like for them to criticize our practices in Judaism nor Christianity.
How depressing that 150 women turned up to this event. It’s not even the presence of Abdissalam which is the most offensive thing – the message of Tayyibun / Al muminaat is that women are the property of men and need training in how to obey their masters. Far-right nonsense that unfortunately has some purchase locally. Thankfully most Muslim women I know think this is a load of crap.
That’s ridiculous. I wonder – in all seriousness – what the many readers of this bloke who support Lutfur Rahman and critcise your coverage of the IFE as Islamophobic – will make of this? In fairness to Rahman I can’t see him endorsing that sort of meeting – who knows? – but I would be genuinely interested to know.
Shurley Ted would not hash up the English language given his previous infantile post on the mayor’s use of twitter?
Could some one point out, maybe even Ted himself whether the article’s title is correct “Tower Hamlets council starts to gets a grip?”
Please stop taking the mickey out of my accent.
Thanks for pointing out the typo.
“Tut tut! What an example to set the children of Tower Hamlets…” So said Ted of Lutfur, yet when a journalist makes a mishtake it’s a typo?
Also whilst on the subject, would you like to amend your own Twitter bio given that you were so critical of Lutfur’s? Reprinted below for your benefit:
“Bio Journalist, accountant, east London politics geek and Whitehall Editor, Sunday Express.”
You need a comma after ‘also’, Steve, aka ‘Democracy?’.
Not sure you’d make a sub, but keep trying.
I must say I am aware of this organisation Tayyibun and have seen much good of them in their community work and I was delighted to meet and discuss issues with the Director in our bi monthly community consultation meetings a very polite, nice humorous chap I must say.
Theres always two sides to a story, I will be raising this post with them to understand the full picture…
I believe in consultation, dialogues and discussions, not labelling and just plain accusations, I believe these type of pressures and false accusation lead to extremism.
Not all Moslems are extremists, its time some of us to wake up and smell the coffee.
Dr Mike Gold
“Not all Moslems are extremists, its time some of us to wake up and smell the coffee”.
Agree with this. Very few are ‘extremists’, that’s the point. I don’t think people should make the mistake of confusing reactionary practices of Tayybun/al Munimaat with the religion of Islam.
By the way I feel just as free to criticise practices of the far-right Lehava who I don’t think represent Judaism or Pastor Terry Jones who I don’t think represents Christianity. Just because someone or some group says they speak for their entire religion doesn’t mean it is true.