Leaflet ‘handed out at east London mosque’ tells Muslims to kill all who insult the prophet

Walthamstow again. 10 minutes walk from my old home. From the London Evening Standard

Police today launched a hate crime probe after literature saying those who insult Islam “must be killed” was allegedly handed out at a London mosque.

A Standard investigation has uncovered claims that the booklet, which says “any Muslim should kill” those who insult the Prophet Mohammed, was distributed at a gathering in Walthamstow.

It points to a classical manual of Islamic law to justify killings without waiting for court judgments and says apostates “deserve to be assassinated”.

After the Standard alerted police to the booklet, Scotland Yard today said it was probing the literature “to establish whether a criminal offence has taken place”.

One worshipper who was given the booklet told the Standard: “The event was a few months ago. I took one, but other people took them as well. I think more than 100 people were at this event. It was at Giyarween Shareef [a holy gathering]. “Two or three people delivered the leaflet. Unfortunately, I am shocked. I think it gives a bad impression. Islam teaches when you live here you obey the law and the rule of law, but this is not doing that.”

The Standard has learned that the leaflet carries the name of preacher Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani on its front cover. It came to light after it was allegedly handed to some worshippers at the Dar-ul-Uloom Qadria Jilania mosque in Walthamstow, where Mr Jilani is an imam.

Mr Jilani, who once landed a British-Pakistani TV network in trouble after it showed a live sermon with him allegedly “advocating violence”, denies writing the booklet despite his name being on the cover and his picture appearing on the back.

The mosque is also home to the International Muslim Movement charity, for which Mr Jilani is a trustee.

Watchdog the Charity Commission today said it was also “urgently” looking into the material and poised to launch its own investigation.

Mr Jilani was also at the centre of controversy when broadcasting regulator Ofcom fined Islamic station DM Digital £85,000 in 2013. Mr Jilani reportedly said Muslims were under a duty to kill those who insulted the Prophet Mohammed during an on-screen sermon.

According to Land Registry records, Mr Jilani co-owns the mosque with three others. He told the Standard: “I do not agree with the booklet’s contents. I am not aware of if, why or how, the booklet was distributed in Dar-ul-Uloom Qadria Jilania. If it was distributed… then this was done without any authorisation by either me or any member of the  committee of Dar-ul-Uloom Qadria Jilania.”

Regarding the Ofcom fine he said: “Ofcom made a decision against DM Digital TV, not me. Ofcom has failed to understand the speech in the context in which the referenced comment was made.” 

He told the Evening Standard that his remarks were in response to a question about Islamic law as applied in Pakistan.

I took this picture outside the Dar-Al-Uloom mosque in April 2009, but I think they need the services of the pest control more than ever. This was before they had completed the extension work you can see in the Standard’s Google Streetview picture. The extension (one into the roof) breached planning regulations at one point and had to be torn down and redone to the approved lower height.