Imam at Scotland’s biggest mosque praises Islamist assassin

I fear that the Muslim who murdered the neighbourly Glasgow shopkeeper on Thursday will be found to have spent too much time listening to this man at Glasgow’s biggest mosque. From the Herald Scotland

The spiritual leader of Scotland’s biggest mosque has praised an Islamist assassin amid fresh concerns about the threat of radicalism at the Muslim centre of worship.

Habib ur Rehman, the imam of Glasgow Central Mosque, said extremist Mumtaz Qadri was a “true Muslim”…

He made his remarks last month as he protested the execution of Qadri for the 2011 murder of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab who had championed the rights of Christians (in particualr Asia Bibi) being persecuted under blasphemy laws. Mr Rehman’s views, expressed to a small group on messaging service Whatsapp – have sent a chill through Scotland’s Islamic community as news of them spread among his congregation. Progressive figures in Scotland’s Muslim community are concerned that what they called the Old Guard – the conservatives who are desperately fighting to control the mosque – are failing to stamp down on ultra-orthodox or extremist views.

words came as liberals and conservatives fought a brutal turf war for control of the Mosque amid an investigation by Scotland’s charity watchdog.Independent accountants, as revealed by The Herald, have warned the Mosque is vulnerable to money-laundering.Liberals, meanwhile, have questioned a loan to the ultra-orthodox group Tablighi Jamaat, which is legal in the UK and which has been banned from preaching in Punjab educational institutions.