LONDON – In a serious blow to the anti-Muslim lobby in Britain, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) concluded that there was no legal ground to prosecute prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi who will continue his current visit to Britain as planned.
“The CPS has reviewed the material submitted by the Metropolitan Police in relation to interviews with Youssef al-Qaradawi broadcast in this country.
“We have advised the Metropolitan Police that there is insufficient evidence that a criminal offence has been committed,” reported the BBC News Online Saturday, July 10, quoting a CPS statement.
The swift decision of the CPS indicates that the so-called dossier of evidence submitted by the Metropolitan police commissioner Sir John Stevens did not contain grounds for legal action, said the Guardian.
The British daily described the decision as “a setback for the Board of Deputies of British Jews which initially sent the material to the police.”
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police argued that Qaradawi pulled out of an education conference co-sponsored by the force, to be held Sunday, July 11, in Wembley, north-west London.
However, Hasan Mueenuddin, spokesman for the conference, said: “I am certain that he is going to speak at the conference.”
Welcomed
While welcoming the CPS decision, British Muslims expressed disappointment at the vicious campaign aiming at tarnishing one of the most moderate Islamic figures who enjoys great respect worldwide.
“All along there wasn’t anything to be found. Because of the immense pressure of the rightwing and pro-Zionist lobby, we have missed a valuable opportunity to forward interfaith relations,” Anas Al-Tikriti, former president of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
The activist added that Qaradawi’s visit accorded a chance to offer a more favorable image of Britain to the Muslim world, after it had been tarnished by its participation in the US-led wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.
“This vile campaign led by the Sun and the Mail has scuppered that opportunity.”
However, the Jewish lobby criticized the CPS decision.
“We regret the decision by the CPS,” Henry Grunwald QC, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
He claimed that “Al-Qaradawi is being very careful about what he says publicly whilst he’s in the UK.”
Read First
Sheikh Qaradawi, for his part, condemned those who judged his works without having read them.
Addressing 3,500 worshippers during Friday prayers in London’s Central Mosque, the scholar said he was being misrepresented.
He further accused some parties of the press of deliberately distorting his views without trying or even caring to read any of his books and lectures, or watching his frequent TV appearances.
“Do they know me? Have they read my works?”
“If they are really after the truth, and think they are fair, why don’t they find the truth about me, instead of indulging in this attack on me.”
Qaradawi had earlier said that he himself was amazed at the statements and the whole row.
“It is not the first time I have visited London. It is not the 10th time or the 100th time. For over a third of a century I have been visiting London. London is an open city, so why is there this row when I visit London today?”
His Friday sermon centered around tolerance and the need for Muslim communities in the West to positively integrate in their new societies.
“You can love other religions as long as they don’t cause any trouble to you; you must not hate them or dislike them (for their views),” Qaradawi told worshippers, reported the BBC.
He further reminded the British Muslim community of their obligations to other faiths and that it was Muslims’ duty not to condemn others for the way they live their lives and practice their religion.
Qaradawi’s current visit to Britain turned into a political storm when a British parliamentarian, known for her staunch support for Israel, urged Home Secretary David Blunkett to deny the renowned scholar access to London.
Louise Ellman, Labour member for Liverpool Liverside, is a member of the Labour Friends of Israel group and had delivered several speeches before Israeli groups in London like Poale Zion.
Last December, she sparked a furious row by using parliamentary privilege to claim that the MAB supports terrorism and promotes anti-Jews hatred.
“Zionist Ellman is well known for her campaign to find the lost tribes of Israel, or what she calls ‘The Forgotten Jews’, to bring them to Palestine where they would dispossess more Palestinians of their lands and homes,” MAB had said in an earlier press release.