Teach children to identify as Muslim instead of British, says frontrunner for Islamic body

From the Telegraph

Children in the Islamic community should be taught to identify themselves primarily as Muslim rather than British, the frontrunner to lead the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has said.

Wajid Akhter, who is standing to be general secretary of the MCB, warned in an article that teaching children to identify primarily with their nationality or ethnicity could make them shallow, whereas choosing their faith as their primary identity provided a solid foundation to approach life.

He also called being a Muslim an “act of revolutionary defiance… at odds with the prevailing culture” and condemned new year celebrations as “pagan”, “mixed-gender” and “the first step on a slippery slope”, according to analysis of his speeches and writings by think tank Policy Exchange.

…in 2023, Akhter said Muslims should “organise” and “unite” into a “powerful community” that would “change from the hand that is begging to the hand that is giving.” He said: “We all want Saladin [a Muslim leader who defeated the Crusaders] to come today.” He said he was part of a movement “trying to unite the Muslim world politically,” adding: “If we unite, we can win.”

Dr Akhter, a doctor from Essex, looks set to lead the MCB, an influential body representing the Muslim community. He had a senior role in The Muslim Vote, a campaign at the last election to defeat Labour and Conservative candidates in favour of MPs sympathetic to Palestine, and hostile to UK counter-terror policy.

The only other candidate, Muhammad Adrees, praised “the Iranian Revolution when the great leader [Ayatollah Khomeini] led the nation to its destiny” in a publication linked to the Tehran regime, according to Policy Exchange.

One of the two will be elected to replace the current MCB secretary-general, Zara Mohammed, on January 25.

Khalid Mahmood, a senior fellow at Policy Exchange and Britain’s longest-serving Muslim MP from 2001 to 2024, said: “The views exposed by Policy Exchange are deeply disturbing. That the MCB keeps getting it wrong is no accident – it is a design fault, rooted in its ideology. The Government rightly refuses to engage with the MCB and this demonstrates why that policy should not change.”

In a statement, the MCB said: “The Policy Exchange has a long history of hostility towards British Muslims, including being exposed by BBC Newsnight for fabricating evidence to smear our community. They are consistent in advocating for indirectly denying Muslims equal rights and an equal say in our democracy. ”