British Muslim Forum (BMF)

The British Muslim Forum strongly condemns the planned march by Islam4UK through the Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett and calls upon Wiltshire police to do everything in its powers to ban it under the Public Order Act.

"Everyone has the right to protest and there are different ways and means of protesting but this is certainly not one of them”, said Dr Waqar Azmi OBE of the British Muslim Forum.

“Wooton Bassett has now become a national symbol for honouring British war dead returning from Afghanistan and we must respect those who have died in performing their duty. To march against our dead soldiers is not only disrespectful but un-Islamic”, he said.

“Islam4UK and its leader Anjem Choudary do not represent or speak for Islam or British Muslims but are a "platform" for the extremist movement al-Muhajiroun. There is no room for such kind of people or their organisations in our community or the peaceful religion of Islam”, he said.

Dr Waqar Azmi OBE of the British Muslim Forum is listed in the World's 500 Most Influential Muslims published by the Georgetown University's Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talaal Center and the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan.   

Professor John Esposito of the Georgetown University who co-authored the book said that the aim is to help people understand the different ways Islam and Muslims impact the world today.

"A team of researchers investigated who are the most visibly influential Muslims out there. The issue is not how orthodox they are. The criterion is how influential these people are in their particular area”, he said.

The book, "The 500 Most Influential Muslims", starts with an overall top 50 influential Muslims list, and then surveys the remaining 450 most prominent Muslims in 15 categories, from politics to religion, media, arts, science and development, but without ranking.