Quilliam Foundation

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The Quilliam Foundation is a group founded by ex-Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamists that describes itself as "a specialist think tank and campaign group that believes that Western Muslims should revive Western Islam, our Andalusian heritage of pluralism and respect, and thereby find harmony in West-Islam relations." [1] The foundation takes its name from William Abdullah Quilliam, a convert to Islam who was influential in advancing knowledge of Islam in the British Isles.

Contents

[edit] Criticism

[edit] Rejecting Dialogue with Islamists while challenging them to debate

Ed Husain, the director of the Quilliam Foundation, has been criticised for not taking up the opportunity to have a dialogue with current members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in the UK. This has been seen as contradictory as the Quilliam Foundation claims to want to "reach out to extremists" in its manifesto entitled "Pulling Together to Tackle Terrorism".[2] They also state that "The Quilliam Foundation openly challenges Islamist groups to public debates. Our first challenge is to Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT)...".[3]

When the opportunity was recently given for this on BBC's World Have Your Say programme Ed Husain declined the offer to challenge a Hizb ut-Tahrir member live on air, claiming that he did not want to give a platform for Islamists.[4]

[edit] Credibility

It has also been suggested that Ed Husain has little or no credibility with Muslim youth and that he only speaks at events for non-Muslims - he has yet to hold an event for a majority Muslim audience which would include those grassroots elements that he and the Quilliam Foundation claims to want to reach out to.

[edit] Support from the anti-multiculturalism movement and right-wing writers

Ed Husain has also come under fire for his support of both the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. He further does not consider these wars as a cause for extremism. Ed is also a member of the New Labour party, specifically to the right of the Labour party, where he has received considerable support from pro-zionists such as Nick Cohen, Martin Bright, Melanie Phillips, Michael Gove, David Aaronovitch and Denis MacShane.[1] [2] [3]


[edit] Kuwaiti Funding Withdrawn

The financial backers, based in the Gulf, cut off funding incensed at Ed Husain's criticism of Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The Kuwait financial backers of the Quilliam Foundation withdrew support of the foundation in May 2008 due to Ed Husain's negative campaigning. Ed Husain is now seeking new sources of funding from Muslims based in the UK and blames a variety of Muslim organisations for mounting "a character assassination attempt" on his organisation and for allegedly intimidating its advisers.[5]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Quilliam Foundation, about us
  2. ^ Pulling Together to Tackle Terrorism Manifesto
  3. ^ Quilliam Foundation - Our Open Challenge
  4. ^ Are there some people we shouldn't invite onto WHYS?
  5. ^ Quilliam Foundation: The beginning of the End!

[edit] External Links

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