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Mosque watchdog will vet clerics to tackle extremism
An organisation that will vet imams and tackle extremism in mosques is being launched. The independent Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board will accredit imams, monitor their teachings and ensure recruits are followers of mai-nstream Islamic thought.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 June 28, 2006
London: An organisation that will vet imams and tackle extremism in mosques is being launched.
The independent Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board will accredit imams, monitor their teachings and ensure recruits are followers of mainstream Islamic thought.
It will also advise the government on the suitability of overseas preachers who want to enter Britain and help governing bodies counter infiltration by radicals.
The board is being set up by the Muslim Council of Britain, the British Muslim Foundation, the Muslim Association of Britain and the Al-Khoei Foundation.
Clerics will be expected to have good English and reject extremist views. The board will have no legal power to bar imams.
More than half of British Muslims believe that London's police chief should resign because of an anti-terrorism raid in east London which was apparently based on faulty intelligence, according to a poll published on Tuesday.
Fifty-four per cent of Muslims in the survey said Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair should resign over the raid, while 29 per cent said he should not. Among the public at large, 74 per cent said the police were right to act even if the intelligence was shaky.
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