 |
| Abbreviation | AoBM (previously, ABM) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1889 [1] |
| Founder | Abdullah Quilliam [1] |
| Location | |
Key people | Daoud Rosser-Owen (Amir), Paul Salahuddin Armstrong (Co-Director), Mohammed Abbasi (Co-Director) |
| Website | aobm |
The Association of British Muslims (AoBM) is an organisation of British Muslims, [1] initially founded in 1889 by Shaykh Abdullah Quilliam. [1]
The Association of British Muslims began in Liverpool, England as the English Islamic Association, founded by Abdullah Quilliam, [1] a 19th-century convert to Islam who opened one of England's first mosques during the same year, [2] at about the same time that the Shah Jahan Mosque was built. AoBM changed their name to the British Muslim Society in 1914 and to the Western Islamic Association in 1924. It declined in the late 1940s, was opposed by nationality-based organisations of British Muslims in 1969, and became the Association of British Muslims in 1975. The name Association for British Muslims was also used for sometime after 1978. [1]
As of April 2010 [update] , Shaykh Daoud Rosser-Owen (1943-2021) was Amir of AoBM. [1] As of February 2011 [update] , Paul Salahuddin Armstrong and Mohammed Abbasi were the Co-Directors of AoBM. As of July 2023, Harry Saul Markham, the President of UCL Friends of Israel Society and Junior Research Fellow at The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy and National Director of World Magshimey Herut, was elected to the role of Head of Research and Policy of AoBM. [3] [4]
In late 2010, the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, which previously opposed executions for several types of discrimination, including sexual orientation, was changed by the General Assembly to no longer exclude sexual-orientation based executions. AoBM criticised the change, stating, "Removing this clause at this time will send quite the wrong signal to those regimes that indulge in these barbaric practices, implying as it does that United Nations is no longer concerned at the maltreatment of people because of their sexual orientation or considers it to be a lesser matter." The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association supported the AoBM's statement. [5]
In February 2011, AoBM criticised homophobic stickers that appeared in East London. Co-director Paul Salahuddin Armstrong stated, "There is nothing in the Qur'an against LGBT people. Allah has honoured every son/daughter of Adam, so such a hateful message is not only morally and ethically wrong but actually unislamic." [3] [6]
In February 2012, AoBM called for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to drop charges of blasphemy laid against Hamza Kashgari for three tweets that he published, stating "Thought crime is no crime at all, ... Any state enforced penalty for perceived blasphemy runs contrary to the true spirit of Islam, and of our Prophet, peace be upon him, who was compassionate even to those who scorned him. ... No one should be legally prosecuted, imprisoned or detained for simply expressing themselves." [7]
Within the Muslim world, sentiment towards LGBT people varies and has varied between societies and individual Muslims, but is contemporarily quite negative. While colloquial, and in many cases, de facto official acceptance of at least some homosexual behavior was commonplace in pre-modern periods, later developments, starting from the 19th-century, have created a generally hostile environment for LGBT people. Most Muslim-majority countries have opposed moves to advance LGBT rights and recognition at the United Nations (UN), including within the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people frequently experience violence directed toward their sexuality, gender identity, or gender expression. This violence may be enacted by the state, as in laws prescribing punishment for homosexual acts, or by individuals. It may be psychological or physical and motivated by biphobia, gayphobia, homophobia, lesbophobia, and transphobia. Influencing factors may be cultural, religious, or political mores and biases.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy in which Sunni Islam is the official state religion based on firm Sharia law. Non-Muslims must practice their religion in private and are vulnerable to discrimination and arrest. While no law requires all citizens to be Muslim, non-Muslim foreigners attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. Children born to Muslim fathers are by law deemed Muslim, and conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and punishable by death. Blasphemy against Sunni Islam is also punishable by death, but the more common penalty is a long prison sentence; there have been 'no confirmed reports of executions for either apostasy or blasphemy' in the 21st century.
William Henry Quilliam, who changed his name to Abdullah Quilliam and later Henri Marcel Leon or Haroun Mustapha Leon, was a 19th-century British convert from Christianity to Islam, noted for founding England's first mosque and Islamic centre.
Timothy John Winter, also known as Abdal Hakim Murad, is an English academic, theologian and Islamic scholar who is a proponent of Islamic neo-traditionalism. His work includes publications on Islamic theology, modernity, and Anglo-Muslim relations, and he has translated several Islamic texts.
Glasgow Central Mosque is located on the south bank of the River Clyde in the Gorbals district of central Glasgow. The website "Muslims in Britain" classifies the Glasgow Central Mosque as Deobandi.
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear and may sometimes be related to religious beliefs.
The East London Mosque (ELM) is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate East. Combined with the adjoining London Muslim Centre and Maryam Centre, it is one of the largest mosques in Europe accommodating more than 7,000 worshippers for congregational prayers. The mosque was one of the first in the UK to be allowed to use loudspeakers to broadcast the adhan.
El-Farouk Khaki is a Tanzanian-born Muslim Canadian of Indian origin who is a refugee and immigration lawyer, and human rights activist on issues including gender equality, sexual orientation, and progressive Islam. He was the New Democratic Party's candidate for the House of Commons in the riding of Toronto Centre in a March 17, 2008 by-election. Khaki came in second with 13.8% of the vote.
The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain or CEMB is the British branch of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims. It was launched in Westminster on 22 June 2007.
Abdallah bin Mahfudh ibn Bayyah is a Mauritanian Islamic scholar, politician and professor of Islamic studies at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who serves as the chairman of the UAE Council for Fatwa.
Quilliam was a British think tank co-founded in 2008 by Maajid Nawaz that focused on counter-extremism, specifically against Islamism, which it argued represents a desire to impose a given interpretation of Islam on society. Founded as The Quilliam Foundation and based in London, it claimed to lobby government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and on the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world whilst empowering "moderate Muslim" voices. The organisation opposed any Islamist ideology and championed freedom of expression. The critique of Islamist ideology by its founders―Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali and Ed Husain―was based, in part, on their personal experiences. Quilliam went into liquidation in 2021.
Muhammad Arshad Misbahi, or Allama Maulana Hafiz Imam Muhammad Arshad al-Misbahi is the Chair of Al-Karam Scholars Association and has served at Manchester Central Mosque from 1997 to 2015 as the Khatib, Imam and Headteacher. He is a graduate from the Islamic Seminary Al Jamiatul Ashrafia. He is considered by many to be among the knowledgeable scholars of his time.
The Liverpool Muslim Institute was founded by Abdullah Quilliam in 1887.
Hamza Kashgari Mohamad Najeeb is a Saudi poet and a former columnist for the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Bilad. In 2011, he was on a Mabahith watchlist of pro-democracy activists.
Abu al-Fadl Abdullah bin Muhammad bin al-Siddiq al-Ghumari was a Muslim preacher, scholar of hadith, jurist and theologian from Morocco.
Sonja Albertine Jeannine Eggerickx is a Belgian secular Humanist who was president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), now Humanists International, a position she held for nine years until stepping down in 2015. In 2016 she was awarded the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award 2016 for her ground-breaking work in secular education and ethics.
This is a list of individual liberal and progressive Islamic movements in Europe, sorted by country. See also Islam in Europe and Euroislam.
Capital punishment for offenses is allowed by law in some countries. Such offenses include adultery, apostasy, blasphemy, corruption, drug trafficking, espionage, fraud, homosexuality and sodomy, perjury, prostitution, sorcery and witchcraft, theft, and treason.
Shitta-Bey Mosque is a mosque, religious learning centre and one of the oldest mosques in Nigeria. The mosque is located at Martins Ereko Street, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria. It was established in 1892 and designated as National monument by Nigerian Commission for Museums and Monuments in 2013. The mosque, considered one of the most important historical legacies of Nigeria, Shitta-Bey Mosque was named after its founder Sierra Leonean-born Nigerian, Mohammed Shitta Bey, who was an aristocrat, philanthropist and businessman.