Tuesday, October 10, 2006

MCB U-Turn Over Carols

thelondonpaper has a report regarding a project designed to help community relations. A radio host, Nick Ferrari, had planned to arrange for Muslims to sing Christmas carols for a novelty CD. He had got in touch with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and they were enthusiastic.

The organisers had removed from the list any carol with references to worshipping Jesus to accommodate Muslim beliefs. However, Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra from the MCB decided that the organisation "could not promote the participation by Muslims". Fortunately, though, many Muslims contacted the station to say that they were willing to participate and so the CD may go ahead.

As a side note, Ibrahim Mogra is not exactly moderate. One example is his defence of Tablighi Jamaat. This group was described by French Intelligence as "an antechamber of fundamentalism" but Mogra told The Guardian: "Their aim is to make us better Muslims. They are not interested in politics and are totally non violent."

Here is a photo of the article: