A rightwing thinktank which claimed to have uncovered extremist literature on sale at dozens of British mosques was last night accused of basing a report on fabricated evidence.

The report by Policy Exchange alleged that books condoning violent jihad and encouraging hatred of Christians, Jews and gays were being sold in a quarter of the 100 mosques visited. But BBC2’s Newsnight said examination of receipts provided by the researchers to verify their purchases showed some had been written by the same person – even though they purported to come from different mosques. Several receipts also misspelled the names or addresses of the mosques where the books were supposedly sold.

The report, the Hijacking of British Islam, was based on the work of four teams of two researchers each who visited 100 mosques. They claimed to have found the controversial material in bookshops attached to 25 mosques, including one at Regent’s Park, London, and others in Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Oxford and High Wycombe.

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “Policy Exchange produced a report that was given a lot of publicity, and Newsnight deserve credit for exposing the incredibly shoddy and dubious methodology that Policy Exchange have resorted to. It would seem that Policy Exchange had already decided what they wanted to say about mosques and just went out to find or should I say invent the evidence to justify their prejudices.”

Guardian, 13 December 2007

For Osama Saeed’s comments, see Rolled Up Trousers, 12 December 2007

The Newsnight investigation concentrated on mosques in and around London but, as Osama points out, questions about the credibility of the Hijacking of British Islam report were raised at the time by the Edinburgh Central Mosque – where nobody had come across the literature that Policy Exchange claimed to have discovered on their premises.

For some useful background on Dean Godson and Policy Exchange, see Tom Griffin’s article at SpinWatch.

Sandra Dick interviews Sohaib Saeed and other Scottish Muslims at the Edinburgh Central Mosque, which was accused of distributing hate literature by the notorious Policy Exchange report.

The Scotsman, 12 November 2007

Muslim student leaders have condemned a report published last week which insinuated links between an Edinburgh mosque and hate-literature. The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) branded the report by the right of centre think tank The Policy Exchange as a “PR stunt” which could undermine ongoing efforts to advance interfaith dialogue and community cohesion across Edinburgh.

The report was published after a culmination of a year-long project in which researchers visited 100 mosques across Britain. It claimed that a pamphlet found at the Islamic Centre of Edinburgh, which is linked to the Edinburgh Central Mosque on Potterrow, advocated the killing of Muslims who have turned their back on their religion.

Faisal Hanjra, spokesman for FOSIS condemned the think tank’s report stating: “The Policy Exchange document does nothing more than present single sentences, from often large documents, out of context. The report also fails to adequately define the term ‘extremist literature’ instead applying this label to anything outside of the authors’ own personal realm of social acceptability. Finally, the report arrives at the illogical conclusion that this literature is in part responsible for terrorism, something not supported by the actual contents of the report.”

The Islamic Centre of Edinburgh refused to comment on the allegations but a senior source branded the report as a “smear campaign” which damaged the reputation of the Edinburgh Mosque, widely renowned as being at the forefront of building bridges between the Muslim community and the wider British society. Secular schemes run at the Centre such as the Mosque Kitchen are particularly popular with students.

Student, 8 November 2007

Osama Saeed on the “Hijacking of British Islam” report:

“Right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange’s latest report into the Muslim community has implicated Edinburgh Central Mosque in apparently distributing hate literature. They have said that the material in question called for apostates from Islam to be killed.

“The mosque have not made official comment themselves, but I’ve spoken to people close to them who say that this is not something they stock or distribute. Further, as evidenced during an event at their Islam Festival held during August, their view on apostasy is that everyone should have the right to practice religion as they see fit. This includes leaving Islam.

“I’ve spent half a day fielding calls from the media on what is really a non-issue. Policy Exchange themselves say they only found one offending piece of literature, which was about killing apostates. There have been no killings of apostates in Edinburgh to date. Clearly, if this was something they were promoting, they’re not very good at it.”

Rolled Up Trousers, 30 October 2007