It wasn’t just me...

I wasn’t the only one who thought that Muslim spokesman was talking bollocks. Apparently, the guy (Dr. Mohammed Naseem) is the chairman of Birmingham’s Central Mosque. That’s astonishing, because he looked frankly grubby, but it is definitely the same bloke who was talking mince on BBC News 24 yesterday, although apparently I didn’t hear some of his more bonkers statements.

This is what he said on BBC Radio WM about Al Qaeda:

“I don’t think al-Qaeda exists because we Muslims all over the world have not known this organisation,” he said.

“The only information about this organisation is coming from the CIA. Now, the CIA is not known for telling the truth.”

I can’t help thinking this guy is about as in touch with reality as David Icke.

One of the local MPs, Khalid Mahmood, has called for Naseem to resign as chairman. The BBC quotes him as saying:

“What he has done is brought into disrepute the role of the chair of the Central Mosque and the Muslim community in Birmingham.”

Yes, I think that is fair comment. In fact, I couldn’t help thinking of something a Muslim who used to work with rhionnach said in 2001, not long after the attacks on New York and Washington. At that time, there was a stream of Muslims interviewed on news programmes who were, in his words, “nutters”. He said he wanted to cover his face and hide whenever they appeared, because they didn’t represent most Muslims, and their comments were likely to cause trouble for most Muslims.

Some other thoughts were provoked by Naseem’s comments... but I have no time to go into that now. Maybe later.