An iman who says gays should be thrown off mountains and stabbed in the gums by Muslim dentists is to be a lead speaker at a conference in London.
He is among several homophobic Muslim preachers who will be speaking at the Beloved to Allah event at Edmonton Islamic Centre in north London on Sunday (6 October).
Though the event itself is based around a more general Islam theme, some of the speakers hold extremist views.
Among them are Abu Usamah At-Thahabi who has been banned from several universities in the UK and has previously referred to gay people as ‘perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered’.
He was filmed in Channel 4’s Undercover Mosque documentary saying: ‘Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain.
‘They have given them [homosexuals] unprecedented rights, so that your child can be exposed and introduced to lesbians. Now they say “if you discriminate against that, you’re going to jail”. We’ll discriminate, but we’ll discriminate in a way where we don’t get in trouble. The Muslim is a dentist, one of those people come, you want to take a big, big needle and stick it in his gums.’
He defended his statements in a video reply.
Brunel University had come under fire for allowing the homophobic Muslim preacher to speak at an event but at the last minute the event was cancelled because of fears of violent protests.
Abdul Hakeem Quick who has also endorsed the death penalty for homosexuals is also a guest speaker.
Quick in an interview for Voice of Islam broadcast on New Zealand television in 2003, told viewers that AIDS was caused by the ‘filthy practices’ of homosexuals; homosexuals were dying from AIDS and ‘they want to take us all down with them’ and that the Islamic position on homosexuality is ‘death’.
He also said: ‘Muslims are going to have to take a stand [against homosexuals] and it’s not enough to call names.’
Ustadh Murtazah Khan is another preacher who advocates violence against gay people and listed as a speaker.
He has been filmed attacking women for wearing perfume, in support of sharia values and talking about harsh Sharia practices such as flogging.
In an interview about homosexuality Khan also called for gays to be hurled from a mountain
He said: ‘Now what is the punishment? According to the Bible, excuse me, this is a Christian country. Read the history of this country. Christian country. According to the Bible, the Bible says the person should be thrown down from a mountain and then stoned on top of that.
‘That’s what Isa [Jesus] told you people. But they teach “no, you’re homophobic”. And those Christians who stand up against this abominable action, which goes against humanity, then they’re fundamentalists like us as well then.
‘I’m not homophobic. I believe in a natural way of life. I’m repeating you what your Bible tells you. In the hadith you find, “You find the people doing the action of Lot, kill the one who does the action and the one the action is being done to.”’
The campaign group Hope Not Hate have contacted the center to outline their concerns about these anti-gay views to ask them if such individuals should be speaking in their establishment.
They state they ‘believe it is important to be consistent’ in their opposition to hate speech: ‘Just as we would speak out against right-wing homophobes, so too must we voice our opposition to those in any community or faith who vocalise violence and even death against others.’