Anne Marie Waters UKIP leadership launch: fruitcakes, loonies & not so closet racists

Last week anti-Islam activist Anne-Marie Waters officially launched her bid to become UKIP leader. Her general ideas were very much in the mould of her “hero” Marine Le Pen. A mix of nationalist isolationism hostile to intergovernmental organisations (she not only wants Brexit but an end to the entire EU and her manifesto seems to suggest abandoning NATO) and trade unionist socialism (her second favourite topic is the NHS, she mentioned something on getting rid of tuition fees, and was previously a hard-left strike supporting trade unionist with Labour).

Waters' so called "dream team" ...

Anyway Waters has been complaining on Twitter lately of the use of the term “far-right” to describe her movement. Yet her manifesto launch and the sort of people she was bringing along with her, and moreover her activity over the past couple of years more generally, certainly will not do much in the way of altering that impression of those who may hold that view.

First up chairing the launch event was Jack Buckby, apparently her campaign manager who announced he’s “known Anne-Marie for some years and proud to call her a friend and a colleague”. Buckby is an ex-BNP member who used to pose for photos alongside Nick Griffin who he regarded as “a top bloke”. He since says he left as they became “quite nasty” (a discovery that hardly required Sherlock Holmes), and instead joined another party called “Liberty GB” led by a man named Paul Weston.

However Weston in his own words actually says “I agree with a lot of BNP policy” and describes himself of the “National Front/BNP mould when it comes to the defence of English people”, but was opposed to Griffin on his Jewish/Zionist conspiracy theories.

Weston obsessively talks of “white genocide”, he claims whites who opposed apartheid South Africa had “a mental illness”, his party also has complained of things such as a “negress” winning a beauty pageant in Helsinki. He also actually admits he’s “hoping Islam commits a number of atrocities over the coming years” (a view shared by Buckby who stated after Wilders’ election defeat “only terror can save Netherlands now”) to counteract a “PC long march through the institutions” and even floats the idea of violence and suggests “if we and our children and grandchildren are to survive the 21st century, it will be via physical revolution rather than the ballot box”.

“Liberty GB’s” best known policy was a ban on Muslims holding public office. Also featured on their site include articles pushing conspiracy theories about liberal Muslims such as Maajid Nawaz being an “expert taqiyya merchant” who only deradicalised for money, and glorifications of Radovan Karadzic as “a hero of the West who should’ve been acclaimed not condemned”.

They also want the death penalty reintroduced and applied to “traitor politicians” (Tony Blair is compared to Lord Haw Haw and Hermann Göring). According to Weston on Twitter “Angela Merkel & all Muslim loving Western politicians will one day stand trial before peoples courts charged with genocide” and to “deport the migrants” and “prosecute the traitor politicians/journalists” are the “two steps for European survival”.

As for Buckby he’s more recently best known for contesting the Batley & Spen by-election following Jo Cox’s death (which he first speculated was an “attempted false flag” from the Remain campaign) where his campaign circulated tasteless posts exclaiming “DEATH OF A FOOL”. He’s also part of the alt-right “ProudBoys” where he writes “cuck of the week” articles on people such as Sam Harris, and reportedly also previously wrote posts railing against the “negroid culture” which “goes against respect for oneself dressing suitably and speaking English correctly”, and “a majority of modern women aged 18-25” who “are generally pretentious, stupid sluts”.

Waters, Tommy Robinson &
Paul Weston with PEGIDA

Incidentally Waters is of course co-leader of PEGIDA UK alongside Weston, who previously referred to UKIP as “a racist party” with “an utter contempt for native Britons”, and complains they are “useless on Islam and non-white immigration”, however now is saying he’s thinking of scrapping Liberty GB and joining forces with Waters if she were to win. Buckby meanwhile despite being barred from the party as an ex-BNP member, and previously arguing “UKIP should be boycotted”, attacking Nigel Farage and accusing the party of promoting a “multicultural hate agenda”, has been one of her closest campaign staff and most prominent activists on social media encouraging people to sign up and vote for her.

Anyway, moving on as this was certainly far from the only dubious figure chosen to speak at this event. The next speaker at the leadership manifesto launch was UKIP councillor Brian Silvester, another of Waters most noteworthy activists on social media, but also a man deeply lost in the weird conspiracy land of Infowars, “globalists” and the “Rothschild”, “New World Order” agenda.

According to him Emmanuel Macron is a “NWO adherent” and “just another Rothschild stooge”, who is “peddling more the same globalist agenda” and “will finish France it will be an Islamic state”. He also of course is a big fan of Donald Trump for “putting the brakes on the globalist agenda that was being shoved down our throats” and retweets “we will fight against the globalists agenda & attempts to remove Bannon from the White House”.

Furthermore he thinks George Soros “causes civil unrest and violence in multiple countries” and “belongs in jail”, accuses Commons Speaker John Bercow of being a “closet Zionist Bolshevik infiltrator”, and says the “UK should follow what Putin is doing” in “putting interests of his country before international law”.

His timeline is full of retweets for lunatics from the Infowars scene such as Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson, Mike Cernovich, Stefan Molyneux, Roger Stone, or Jack Posobiec (as an aside he’s also retweeted groups like Britain First too). So unsurprisingly he pushes stuff such as the Seth Rich conspiracy, the “Deep State”, or the the “Syria hoax” hashtag from outlets such as the absurd Assadist conspiracy nut “Partisangirl”, Cernovich, and even David Duke, forwarding theories Obama or the BBC were staging a chemical attack to frame Assad, along with more old school conspiracies about JFK repeatedly.

Silvester also is a big fan of Piers Corbyn, the deranged conspiracy weather forecasting brother of the Labour leader Jeremy, and his views on the weather are suitably wacky. According to him “global warming is the biggest science hoax ever”,  he’s forwarded stories claiming “climate change is a hoax developed as part of a secret plot by UN to takeover the world” and “create New World Order”, a scare “orchestrated” by the CIA, or “a geostrategic weapon” used to harm Putin. He thinks Al Gore and Soros (again) should be tried for “crimes against humanity” for this “biggest scam in history”.

This guy is an obvious conspiratorial loon, yet Waters says she was “proud” to have him at introduce her leadership manifesto launch, and he is her most retweeted Twitter account campaigning for her.

Also at this launch were YouTube media outlet Rebel Media best known for their fondness of using Antifa knuckleheads as a prop for puff coverage towards genuinely far-right groups or people. Their British section includes someone who’s used slurs such as “pig jews” and says even “secular Muslims are terrorist enablers”, plus an anti-Semitic Rothschild conspiracist pizzagate enthusiast, whilst the guy who was at the event interviewing Waters thinks Maajid Nawaz’s think tank the Quilliam Foundation are “violent, lying thugs” whose “agenda is terrorism” and “should be classed as a terror group”.

All those people from Rebel Media and Waters herself are good friends with another one of their Twitter activists called “Annie Greek UK lover”. She helped organise the “UK against Hate” march in Manchester last month, which was picked up and promoted by Rebel Media, and spoke alongside Tommy Robinson and co at that event. She also was pictured as part of Waters campaign team at her launch, and been sharing multiple jolly pictures with them at all over the past few months, and has organised another match for September that Waters and the Rebel crew will also apparently all be attending again.

According to her “if you are a Muslim then rape is what u believe”, and she agrees “ALL Muslims who live in Western society need to be interviewed” and “those that don’t speak out should be classified as traitors and shipped to the Middle East” and “non EU citizens should be banned” from the UK to end “ellen culture” (sic).

This woman constantly refers to Muslims as “barbarians”, “inbreds”, “monkeys”, monkey racers” and “monkey looking men”, “dirty monkeys” that “I'm to disgusted to even touch”, or after saying she was being harsh on monkeys “just worthless creatures”. In regards to migrants she demands “those apes should return in the jungle they came from” and posts images of them “practicing their natural monkey climbing skills”.

Also according to her Turkish people are “inbred rapists”, “rapists barbarians”, “barbaric subhumans” and says she refused to be treated by a Turkish doctor and “would rather die”. Meanwhile Somalis are also “inbreds” who “look like monkeys” but “don’t even have a monkeys IQ”. And says she boycotts “Paki curry or Arab kebab” so not to “support their economy”.

She calls Hillary a “pedophile goddess” and suggests support for her from black people was down to low IQ levels, plus if she won “all white Americans would have fled USA asking for asylum in Europe”. Merkel “the most obvious example” of a mentally ill communist. Whilst Tony Blair is “the ultimate traitor”, deserves the death penalty and should be “publicly executed” along with George Soros. Also “anyone not supporting brexit is a traitor and should be sentenced as one”.

Reminder this is one of Waters most regularly retweeted accounts. Her interactions with her “dear friend” on Twitter include agreeing to get together for their marches, or sharing photos from events with mutual “I love you” messages. It’s hard to believe over a period of months of following her on Twitter and several meetings in person, it could not be worked out that this woman who’s tweeted about “monkeys” or “inbreds” hundreds of times isn’t particularly the sort you want on your campaign team or desire hero worship from.

Also posting pictures alongside Waters at her campaign launch included a fan of David Duke who tweets black crime articles from Daily Stormer and have “joined UKIP for @AMDWaters!! She’s our only hope!” Or a Britain First fan who posts Oswald Mosley interviews and retweets of Nick Griffin and “joined UKIP in order to help elect @AMDWaters as leader”. Obviously she wouldn’t have been aware of this, nor is it a suggestion of holding them herself, but still not a good look for someone complaining of mentions of “far right”.

So just to recap, Waters’ leadership launch went as follows. She invited an ex-BNP member from a party which campaigns for all Muslims banned from public office to chair the launch. Also invited an Infowars conspiracy crank to introduce her to the stage. Posted selfies with campaign volunteers and supporters who are basically fans of Britain First. Had puff coverage from her friends at the ridiculous far-right promoting Rebel Media outlet.

Then topped it all off retweeting endorsements from people who go on Red Ice Radio (where Waters herself has recently been on as well) such as Ingrid Carlqvist (described by Waters as “my friend”) and Anke Van dermeersch (who spoke at Waters “Islam kills women” event last year, and who notably met with the Golden Dawn in Greece last year), and others she regards as “heroes” such as Geert Wilders or Tommy Robinson. Again to repeat, that is not doing much to change minds of those who perceive this movement to be “far-right”.

As an anti-Islam activist Waters has moved in some highly dubious circles, and the list of those Waters has praised, promoted, and/or shared platform with could go on. Many would argue her embrace of various of the characters already mentioned, along with her enthusiastic endorsements of Wilders as “my favourite politician”, Le Pen as a “hero”, the AfD in Germany, along with virtually every other similar European party all commonly associated with the term would be enough to consider her movement “far-right”.

There is an alternative take on this, in that she herself has not put forward views as extreme as some of the people she befriends and associates with, and may not even have been aware of all their views. Although that take also suggests severe levels of ignorance and poor judgement on her behalf and is hard to believe given both the length of time, and quantity of people she has travelled with amongst these circles. She has in fact already been publicly challenged on allying with Weston.

A potential cabinet "liked" by Waters ...

The much more plausible and likely scenario is she has allied with people like Weston, Buckby or Carlqvist for the past few years simply because her own views have moved closer towards them than to others, and does not see her disagreements as deal breakers. After all she must know these people by now, but still clearly allies with them often retweeting them, and has liked tweets suggesting as prime minister she put Tommy Robinson, Katie Hopkins, and Buckby in her cabinet, or that Hopkins and Britain First’s Jayda Fransen are “women that would be great leaders”.

Waters has herself also retweeted stuff using language such as “rapefugees”, “white genocide” and calling the Left “mentally ill” recently. She’s also liked tweets calling Quilliam “just a bunch of taqiyya artists”, plus several calling for Islam to be “eradicated” or “banned” (of course impossible without extreme authoritarian policy), or various views along the lines of or explicitly supportive of “ethno-nationalism”.

Among the "rapefugee" tweets that Waters has retweeted

Also, like Weston, she has mentioned several times of her desire to imprison “treasonous” politicians. She’s tweeted that “it’s lucky for them [politicians] that Blair got rid of treason laws”, tweeted “if only treason was still a thing” in reaction to a story about Sadiq Khan. Plus also stated she wants Merkel tried for treason and thrown in jail, and also retweeted that “there needs to be a modern day Nuremburg trial”.

However whilst likely most would disagree on much of the rhetoric and solutions, it is still worth noting some of Waters' grievances do have merit (albeit exaggerated in reference to calling Germany “a violent third-world hell-hole” or that the UN say Sweden will be third world by 2030 which comes from reading too much Breitbart and conspiracy sites) and reading some of her work there is clearly an old school feminist there who in fact genuinely cares for women’s rights.

Her critique of the sort of confused “World Hijab Day” celebrating brand of “feminism” exhibited for instance by the ludicrously stupid “Women’s March” leaders is essentially correct, and her rage against it clearly does not come from the same angles as MRA types, Molyneux, Lauren Southern, or some of her allies amongst her circles who may be closer described as “trad-cons” and regret moving beyond the 1950’s.

But Waters also clearly has an extremely high tolerance for allying with such people and frankly even worse over agreement essentially over Islam and “ethno-nationalism”.

Waters with "my friend" Swedish
Red Ice Radio host Ingrid Carlqvist

Even she would have to concede that some of the people she has promoted, praised or allied with and described as “friends”, events she has attended, the rhetoric of “rapefugees” etc, accusing actual liberal Muslim activists of “taqiyya”, abandoning and tearing up intergovernmental organisations, or talk of putting media or politicians on trial for treason, would not be widely considered remotely near to the centre in the context of British politics.

In fact they’d all be considered commonly held views on the “far-right”. And you suspect Waters surely knows this, considering she must see the wave of Enoch Powell memes and EDL types in her Twitter mentions, and says herself she wants to make UKIP “radical”, which is by definition far removed from the centre.

Regardless of labels though, one thing Waters would admit is she is bringing Le Pen style politics to UKIP and a surge of membership emanating from followers of people like her friends Tommy Robinson or Paul Weston. Odds of her winning the leadership were slashed after a report of 1000 new members signing up believed to be motivated to support her. Win or lose, how this plays out will be interesting.

[Note: If any link goes missing try searching for the URL on archive is.]

Omar Suleiman is not a progressive

American Imam Omar Suleiman has been the recipient of a handful of puff pieces in various media outlets over the past year or so. Most notably he was featured in a BBC online documentary titled “United States of Hate: Muslims Under Attack”, plus recently in articles on Huffington Post, or in local media such as D Magazine which hailed him as “the religious leader Dallas needs right now”.

His act is to present himself to a progressive audience as a gentle, softly spoken, peace loving, and totally benevolent progressive activist with a big grin determinedly battling bigotry. But look beyond the façade of professionally shot profile photos and the progressive platitudes of tolerance across his social media profiles, and you will find a very different figure.

Advocacy for theocracy

First of all it’s clear beyond any doubt Suleiman is an Islamist. When asked about Sharia in front of a progressive audience, he will say that living in a non-Muslim country it merely “means practising my faith” and “so long as the laws of my land don’t stop me from personally practising my faith then I’m actually as a Muslim obligated to obey those laws”. He will then go no further and seemingly sound relatively benign.

However at Islamist conferences he has gone further and has explicitly advocated a caliphate. On an ICNA Shariah Council Panel Q&A Suleiman said “that the Sharia practised on a societal level as was practised by the companions of the prophet” was “a righteous system” and “we do believe this was divine law”.

At a previous ICNA event he stated “we ask Allah to allow us to witness a righteous khilafah (caliphate)”, and expressed disappointment at Arab Spring protesters demanding democracy rather than Islamic rule (although he did also offer the caveat that “at least democracy has its pros in the sense that it allows the best ideas to rise and the people do want Islam”).

Video: Suleiman explicitly advocating a "khilafah" (caliphate)

Defence of hudud punishments

Suleiman also defended the hudud punishments for adultery or theft at these conferences too. He couches these with qualifiers such as to stone an adulterer “you would need four trustworthy witnesses” so it was in effect only so “people would not be able to commit pornographic acts”, or that it was only the “skilled thief” who get their hands chopped off.

Additionally Suleiman’s think tank the “Yaqeen Institute”, via their scholar Jonathan Brown, has defended hudud punishments on the argument that it is the prison system in the West which is in fact the “cruel and unusual punishment” which “brutalises in lasting ways much more so than whipping or lashing or beating”.

Furthermore Brown in another video for the Yaqeen Institute has stated “that in my opinion […] the Islamic death penalty for apostasy […] is punishment for who really publicly leaves Islam”. According to Suleiman this man “writes great stuff”.

Video: Yaqeen Institute scholar Jonathan Brown's opinion on punishment for apostasy

Hateful homophobia

On the topic of homosexuality, Suleiman has written Facebook posts expressing disgust at increased tolerance towards gays.

Asking “when Allah describes homosexuality as a repugnant shameless sin and details his punishment of a people that practiced sodomy, how can anyone who believes in Allah not find it immoral?” and further adding that “if as Muslims we don’t take a clear stance on this, we will be forced to conform and watch this disease destroy our children”.

Previously Suleiman also stated on Facebook that “I am opposed to legalizing gay marriage because it destroys the fabric of our society”, and wrote a message to “applaud” an ICNA press release that “expressed dismay at President Obama’s support for same-sex marriage” arguing it “can only lead to the deterioration of […] society as a whole”.

Defence of Islamic sex slavery

According to Islamist Watch Suleiman has defended Islamic concubines and sex slavery. Whilst Jonathan Brown (again) also caused controversy earlier this year over a piece for Suleiman’s Yaqeen Institute defending sex slavery as well.

Retrograde attitudes towards women and sex

Suleiman has also done talks such as one titled “Fighting Zina” where according to Peace & Tolerance he preached women must not take off their hijabs in front of their cousins, being too close to their brothers may lead to incest, and should never be alone with a man outside of her family. He also has done other talks stating men and women “cannot be friends”.

In his advocacy for the hijab, he compares non-hijab and hijab wearing women respectively to “a bag of chips” and “a mink coat”, the latter being “preserved [...] hidden and concealed” and “that shows me this is a thing of value”.

Video: Suleiman compares non hijab and hijab wearing women to "a bag of chips" and "a mink coat"

Meanwhile Suleiman has written Facebook posts warning of “sinful or degenerate” nudity “creeping into” TV shows and that “pornography, even in its unrecognized forms, is destroying us as individuals, families, and communities” and not to “unashamedly make reference to these shows publicly”.

He’s also posted quotes such “if you want to destroy any nation without war, create [...] nudity common in the young generation”, praised an organisation called “Purify My Gaze”, and even forwarded a weird post from somebody who thinks his daughter’s death was caused by him watching pornography saying “Allah showed me the result of my disobedience to him”.

Other joyless austere religious social conservatism

Suleiman’s austere religious preaching ranges to trivial matters too. His contributions to the “Hadith of the Day” website include recommending that time spent watching movies “should be limited as much as possible” and avoiding playing chess is “safer for one’s faith”, both “wind and string instruments are haram (forbidden)”, that “having a beard is mandatory for men” and “it would be sinful and punishable to shave”, if spaying pets “can be avoided then it should be”, or that sandwich making jobs that may touch ham “clearly falls into the prohibited category”.

He also advises parents that public school is not an option as “the system encourages haram” it is “too risky to ever put your kids in that environment” and only to go to either “Islamic school or homeschool”.

Anti-“Zionist” hatred and conspiracy

Unsurprisingly much like every Islamist Suleiman is extremely anti-Israel. He frequently has referred to Israel as “JSIL” (Jewish ISIS), and compared them to both Nazis and the KKK.

In his own words “the Zionists are the sincere enemies of God, His Messengers, sincere followers of all religions, and humanity as a whole”, and in reference to Israel has stated that “may Allah destroy the oppressors”.

He’s also pushed classic conspiracy of how “Zionists” are controlling the world. Including forwarding posts from Yasir Qadhi saying “how servile America is to the interests” of Israel, himself called the US government a “Zionist pawn”, and said that celebrities and politicians are “afraid of Zionist influence”, and complains of “the Zionist media”.

However he’s merely just an “anti-Zionist” of course...

Anwar al-Awlaki

Anwar al-Awlaki was “our beloved Imam” and “so beloved to our community”

As a member of the ICNA Shariah Council, Suleiman authored a condemnation of senior Al Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki following his praise for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.

However Suleiman’s condemnation also stated that prior to his release from Yemeni prison in 2007, al-Awlaki had been “our beloved Imam”, “who once seemed so level-headed”, and “was so beloved to our community”. That his arrest “brought many of us into a state of shock and depression”, and he recalled how “ecstatic Muslims around the country” were on news of his release.

For the record, al-Awlaki was hardly a moderate before 2007. In 2002 due to his frequent links to Jihadists, al-Awlaki was added to an early version of what is now the federal terror watch list. In 1998-99 he had served as vice-president for the “Charitable Society of Social Welfare”, an organisation later identified by the FBI as a “front organisation to funnel money to terrorists”. The 9/11 commission report stated two of the hijackers had “reportedly respected [al-Awlaki] as a religious figure and developed a close relationship with him”. He also published articles such as one titled “Why Muslims Love Death” praising Palestinian suicide bombers.

To portray al-Awlaki as being someone who had been up until 2007 “so beloved to our community” is fairly astonishing.

As an aside, Suleiman also praised in that “condemnation” how al-Awlaki “very clearly denounced the attacks of 9/11”, which doesn’t give the whole picture, as he also wrote on 17 September that Israelis may have been responsible for them and that the FBI “went into the roster of the airplanes and whoever has a Muslim or Arab name became the hijacker by default”.

Aid al-Qarni: “one of the greatest scholars and thinkers in the world”

Elsewhere Suleiman has described Saudi cleric Aid al-Qarni as “one of the greatest scholars and thinkers in the world” and “our beloved teacher”. This is a man on the US “do not fly list” and has a long record of extreme statements.

According to MEMRI in 2004 al-Qarni praised Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi and criticised Muslims who are “incapable of taking action, of being useful, of harming the Jews” and said “I pray to Allah […] he will destroy the Jews and their helpers from among the Christians and the communists and that he will turn them into the Muslims’ spoils”.

He then moved onto praising jihadist opposition to American troops in Iraq stating “I praise Jihad, sacrifice, and resistance against the occupiers in Iraq. We curse them, all of them, every night and pray that Allah will annihilate them, tear them apart, and grant us victory over them”. Plus that “the Jihad in Fallujah is a source of pride […] downing their planes, destroying equipment, slaughtering them, taking them hostage, and proclaiming 'Allah Akbar' from the mosques”.

Before finally finishing off his tirade violently by saying “throats must be slit and skulls must be shattered this is the path to victory, to shahada, and to sacrifice”.

Video: Aid al-Qarni on jihad against Jews and American troops 

Furthermore al-Qarni is also on record saying “women driving cars is a sinful thing” arguing the consequences of allowing it in Saudi Arabia would include “the spread of corruption, women uncovering their hair and faces, mingling between the sexes, men being alone with women and the destruction of the family and society in whole”. He’s also referred to Jews as “the brothers of apes and pigs” and compared them to Hitler.

Reminder this is a guy Suleiman says he regards as “one of the greatest scholars and thinkers in the world” ...

“How awesome is this!”

Suleiman also ecstatically posted “how awesome is this!” in reaction to al-Qarni and a Kuwaiti preacher Muhammad Al-Awadi sharing one of his videos. There isn’t much online about Al-Awadi in English, but a brief search of his Twitter shows he posts images from the anti-Semitic holocaust denying lunatic “conspiracy artist” David Dees of a Jewish octopus around the White House.

Others who Suleiman has celebrated “how awesome” it is they are sharing his videos include Syrian preacher Mohammed Rateb al-Nabulsi, who has reportedly written on his website “all the Jewish people are combatants”, that “the wicked Jews are a collection of defects and imperfections, and a hotbed of evils [...] the worst enemies of God”, plus endorsed suicide bombings.

As well as Saudi preacher Salman al-Ouda, who was recorded by MEMRI in 2012 saying “the role of the Jews is wreak destruction, to wage war, and to practice deception and extortion” and promoting the Jewish blood libel.

Video: Salman al-Ouda on Jews, the holocaust, and drinking human blood

Suleiman seems to be a big fan of this man as he has posted videos and quotes from him numerous times, refers to him along with another well-known anti-Semitic Islamist Yusuf al-Qaradawi as “true scholars”, and gave him a “special note of thanks” for “inspiring” some of his work.

Both al-Nabulsi and al-Ouda were recently in May banned as hate preachers from entering Denmark.

“No one is more beloved to me than my teachers”

According to a biography of Suleiman, he also “sought knowledge and studied” under Salah al-Sawy and Hatem al-Haj, who are both scholars on the “Fatwa Committee” at the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America.

Among the contributions to AMJA from al-Sawy include stating that repentance for insulting Allah or His Messenger “shall not be accepted” or “lift up the set punishment” of execution because the Prophet is” not alive to practice his right to forgive” and “no Muslim is ever entitled or authorizes to forgive on the Prophet’s behalf”.

On the topic of Islamic law al-Sawy preaches that “not ruling by Shari`ah is the reason for all that the Ummah is afflicted with […] misfortune, neediness, adversity and disaster” and that “if only they would uphold the Book of Allah and apply His Divine Law […] Allah would remove from them the humiliation which has enveloped generations and which has grabbed them by the throat”. He also bemoans that “the Devil” has “deceived them into believing that the Shari`ah is not appropriate for every time and place” and that “applying the hudud” is “harsh and barbarous”.

He has also stated the situation in Gaza should be used by Muslims to “revive the obligation of jihad”. His answer to somebody asking about FGM is that it is “neither obligatory nor rejected” but is “considered an honourable thing for females” and that “it is good if you do it”.

Suleiman eulogises al-Sawy saying “I have not seen anyone in the West who parallels his knowledge” in a video urging Muslims to study under him, and posted a picture grinning alongside him saying “After Allah, His Messenger, and my family, no one is more beloved to me than my teachers”.

Video: Suleiman eulogises Salah al-Saawy and urges Muslims to study under him

As for Hatem al-Haj, who is best known for a controversy around him advocating “female genital cutting”, his contribution to AMJA includes fatwas saying the punishment for apostasy is death. Suleiman also refers to al-Haj as “my mentor and beloved teacher”.

Additionally AMJA have other fatwas such as one responding to a question about whether there “is such a thing as marital rape?” which states “as for the issue of forcing a wife to have sex, if she refuses, this would not be called rape” and “there is a great sin upon the wife who refuses”. Suleiman endorses this group as “a very qualified fatwa issuing body” and has forwarded people towards them for advice.

Suleiman with Abu Eesa Niamatullah
and Muhammad Alshareef

The Al Maghrib Institute

Suleiman also works an “instructor” at the ultra hardline Islamist Al Maghrib Institute, which is led by its founder and president Muhammad Alshareef, who’s authored a paper titled “Why the Jews are cursed” and endorsed stoning as a punishment for adultery among many other things.

Also among Suleiman’s colleagues at Al Maghrib include Kamal El Mekki, who has stated his belief that drug dealers should be beheaded, thieves have hands cut off, and described why apostates are killed in an Islamic state.

Abdullah Hakim Quick, who decries “filthy” Jews and kaffirs, and pushed hatred towards gays calling them “sick” and referencing the Islamic position being “death”, along with apparently some wacky New World Order theories.

Abu Eesa Niamatullah, who has a record of advocating Sharia law, complained of advances in gay rights, pushed the death penalty as punishment for blasphemy, plus expressed extremely anti-Semitic, misogynistic views, and regards liberal secular Muslims as a kind of fifth column.

Abdul Nasir Jangda, described by Suleiman as “awesome” and “a beautiful person”, who defends Islamic slavery, and teaches people drinking alcohol publicly should be beaten; thieves have hands cut off, and advises on when adulterers or apostates should be killed.

Suleiman with Yasir Qadhi

Then there is of course Yasir Qadhi, the best known figure from Al Maghrib with numerous vile views on the topics such as homosexuality and barbaric punishments.

Suleiman has referred to all of these as people as “my dearest Teachers and Brothers” and promoted their articles, videos, or speaking events, and posted grinning photos alongside them on social media hundreds of times.

Praise for various other Islamists

Others from the American Islamist circuit Suleiman has praised include Siraj Wahhaj, who has a 30 plus year record of espousing vile views including endorsing various hudud punishments such as lashes for drinking alcohol, stoning adulterers, or chopping off the hands of thieves, and also a big supporter of notorious anti-Semitic lunatic Louis Farrakhan.

Plus Wahhaj has ties to actual jihadists having served as a character witness for Omar Abdel-Rahman (aka “The Blind Sheikh” convicted of a terror attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that killed 6 people and injured thousands) where he called him a “respected scholar” and “bold, as a strong preacher of Islam”. He’s also been recorded asking for donations for the Benevolence International Foundation, an Al-Qaeda front which was designated in 2002 as a “financier of terrorism”.

Audio: Siraj Wahhaj on stoning, lashing, and chopping off hands.

Suleiman calls Wahhaj “my beloved Imam” and a “legend”, plus said “every time I meet him I feel like a little child meeting his hero [...] he is truly the Imam of America”, and encouraged his followers to attend his events or “get a hold of some of those old Imam Siraaj Wahhaj tapes and Abdullah Hakim Quick tapes!”

Then there’s Jamal Badawi, who has for decades expressed his belief in Islam’s superiority to “man-made law”, and repeatedly spoken in support of Palestinian terrorism. Suleiman praises him (along with Siraj Wahhaj and Abdullah Hakim Quick) “for inspiring so many people to dedicate themselves to the cause of Allah”.

Suleiman also seems to like Bilal Philips, who endorses the killing of apostates, and other hudud punishments, says there is no such thing as rape in marriage, and is banned from entering numerous countries. He’s tweeted “give my salaam to him”, and attacked an article critical of Philips urging his followers “to write to the paper expressing your dissatisfaction with their biased reporting” (for the record the article in question merely seems to be quoting the awful things he’s said about homosexuals).

Suleiman with Ismail Menk

And Ismail Menk, a gay bashing cleric who says they are worse than “the dogs and the pigs”, plus also defends hudud punishments such as for adultery (“the Sharia says such a person should be stoned to death, that is there, there is no doubt, no debate”), preaches that music is haram (“there is no scholar on earth who allows you to listen to Beyoncé or Michael Jackson”), and promotes gender segregation, and is friendly with various reknowned extremists including Zakir Naik. However Menk is described by Suleiman as “a wonderful individual and great scholar” and “who embodies love and peace in so many ways”.

The British Islamist circuit

Suleiman has praised some of the vilest figures on the British Islamist circuit too. He describes Hamza Tzortzis, a Hizb ut-Tahrir linked Islamist who has endorsed apostasy and blasphemy punishments, as “awesome” and promoted his classes, posted “beautiful” speeches from Haitham al-Haddad one of the ugliest Islamist preachers in the country, posts pictures grinning alongside Zahir Mahmood who is known for praising Hamas “as freedom fighters”, and of course he’s a supporter of Moazzam Begg and his despicable Caliphate advocating group CAGE.

 

The Aafia movement

Finally Suleiman is also a supporter of Aafia Siddique (another cause that unites the worst of Islamists), named by the FBI as “an Al Qaeda operative and facilitator” and serving an 86 year prison sentence for an attempted terror attack. Suleiman has posted Facebook messages that he is “praying for Dr. Aafia Siddique to be freed”, and has forwarded petitions from the “Aafia movement” (whose site is full of the same sort of foul anti-Semitic ramblings Siddique herself was known for) urging people to sign it.

The Yaqeen Institute

Suleiman is President of the “Yaqeen Institute” a think tank he founded last year. It has already published dubious content via their scholar Jonathan Brown on the topics of apostasy, hudud punishments, and sex slavery as referenced above.

Also listed as part of the Yaqeen Institute team are one of the world’s best known Islamists Tariq Ramadan (recently in the news for criticising critics of FGM), and another very well known figure Dalia Mogahed.

Also there’s Hatem el-Haj from AMJA (see above). Hatem Bazian who’s social media feed asks questions like “should Jews have to pay reparations for slavery?”, speculates Benjamin Netanyahu might have been behind terrorist attacks in France, and has been involved in numerous controversies around anti-Semitism over many years. And Mohammad Elshinawy, who thinks women who don’t wear the hijab will be condemned to hell fire and are likely to get breast cancer.

Another Islamist Daniel Haqiqatjou, who frequently complains of gay rights and also endorses hand chopping and other hudud punishments, has contributed to the think tank too. These are the people Suleiman hand picked for his “Yaqeen Institute”.

[Note: Suleiman has a habit of deleting relevant tweets or posts when attention is drawn to them. If something is missing try searching for the URL on archive is.]