Newham councillor Alan Craig last night accused Tablighi Jamaat, the controversial Islamic sect behind plans for a giant mosque near the site of the 2012 Olympics, of breaking its promises about keeping local people informed.

He called on them to “immediately come clean with their plans”.

Tablighi Jamaat has also come under fire from moderate Muslims. Dr Taj Hargey, of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford, accused the group of espousing a virulent intolerant form of Islam that will “generate social friction rather than community cohesion”, whilst Dr Irfan al-Alawi, of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, accused the group of being linked to terrorist activities in Pakistan and Britain.

“Tablighi Jamaat is a secretive global missionary sect from South Asia that wants to build its international headquarters mosque here in London,” said Cllr Craig. “Yet they will not enter into discussions or explanation of their plans. This silence is not golden. It represents yet another false claim and broken promise by Tablighi Jamaat.”

Christian Today, 12 August 2008

Craig has evidently decided that direct personal association with the promotion of hysterical nonsense about Tablighi Jamaat’s non-existent association with terrorism – which has been a central plank in his campaign against the Abbey Mills mosque – is likely to discredit him. He now leaves that irresponsible scaremongering to a so-called “moderate Muslim” like Irfan al-Alawi.