James Brandon is Head of Research and Communications at Quilliam.
This week, Quilliam, the counter-extremism think-tank, published a report on Islamist extremism on British university campuses, taking London’s City University as a case study.
As our report showed, during the 2009/20 academic year, City’s student Islamic Society (ISoc) repeatedly and openly preached a hard-line Islamist ideology on campus.
For instance, during Friday prayers held on campus during the 2009/10 academic year, the president of City University’s ISoc, one Saleh Patel, was recorded telling his congregation:
“When they say to us ‘the Islamic state teaches to cut the hand of the thief’, yes it does! And it also teaches us to stone the adulterer… When they tell us that the Islamic state tells us and teaches us to kill the apostate, yes it does! Because this is what Allah and his messenger [swt] have taught us and this is the religion of Allah and it is Allah who legislates and only Allah has the right to legislate.”
“When a person leaves one prayer, one prayer intentionally, he should be imprisoned for three days and three nights and told to repent. And if he doesn’t repent and offer his prayer then he should be killed. And the difference of opinion lies with regards to how he should be killed not as to what he is – a kafir or a Muslim”.
“When they say to us that Islam was spread by the sword, and there is no such thing as jihad, we say to them ‘no’. Islam believes in defensive and offensive jihad. The Qur’an is the proof, as is the Sunnah.”
So far, so familiar. However, more surprising to many people will be our discovery of the extensive opposition to the ISoc’s extremism that evolved spontaneously on City’s campus: