Muslims Against Crusades

Muslims Against Crusades (abbreviated MAC) is a banned Islamic group in the United Kingdom. The group was founded in 2010 by Abu Assadullah.^[1] Professional boxer Anthony Small and Islam4UK spokesman Anjem Choudary are associated with the group.^[2][3][4] The group strongly opposes what it considers to be man-made laws in Britain and views man-made laws as the biggest threat to the progression of mankind.^[5]

Muslims Against Crusades believe that Muslims are not "obliged to obey the law of the land in whatever country they reside".^[6] In 2011, the group proposed that Muslims should set up independent emirates in select cities in the UK, operating under Sharia entirely outside British law. The group suggested the towns of Bradford, Dewsbury, and Tower Hamlets in the East End of London as the possible first testbeds for these entities.^[7] The group has often clashed with the English Defence League.^[8][9] Home Secretary Theresa May banned the group from midnight on 11 November 2011, making membership or support of the group a criminal offence.

Rallies

MAC is responsible for a number of incidents including protests outside the Royal Albert Hall and in Kensington on 11 November 2010, when two large plastic poppies were burned during the Remembrance Day silence.^[1]

Throughout 2010 and 2011 there were various protests against the imprisonment of Muslims, with calls for their release; and calls for a withdrawal from Muslim countries. There was a protest against Pastor Terry Jones during the Quran burning incident in Florida in early April.

They applied to stage a demonstration in London to disrupt the Royal Wedding on 29 April 2011, but were rejected by Scotland Yard.^[10][11] They planned to burn effigies of Prince William and Kate Middleton on the wedding route through central London.^[12] They later cancelled their protest due to a "Possible danger to life"^[13][14]

On 7 May, hundreds of UK Muslims and MAC members held a pro-Bin Laden rally outside the U.S. Embassy, London and staged Salat al-Janazah (funeral prayer) for Bin Laden. Protesters clashed with police when they tried to storm the embassy. Anjem Choudary—a British national of Pakistani descent,^[15] who organised the protest, predicted an attack similar to the 7 July 2005 London bombings in response to bin Laden's death.^[16]

On 30 July, around 50 members of MAC and Waltham Forest Muslims marched for two hours from Leyton Tube station to Walthamstow town square calling for democracy to be replaced by Sharia law and chanted slogans such as ‘democracy—hypocrisy’, ‘Sharia for UK’ and ‘Secularism go to hell’.^[17] In August, members of Muslims Against Crusades held a demonstration denouncing the Shia denomination and "anti-Islamic" Shia regimes of Syria and Iran. ^[18][19] To mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, around 100 men linked to the group protested outside the U.S. embassy in London, burning U.S. flags and chanting through megaphones. The protest could be heard by mourners in the September 11th Memorial Garden near-by, where a minute's silence was being observed to mark the first plane hitting the World Trade Centre in New York City. ^[20]

On 10 November 2011, British Home Secretary - Theresa May banned the the group after it planned to repeat the poppy burning demonstration. Membership of Muslims Against Crusades would effectively be made illegal after midnight on that day.^[21]

On 2 December 2011, over 20 individuals believed to be associated with MAC were arrests at a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy in London, who were reportedly protesting against the NATO and US drone attacks in Pakistani territory especially the recent US lead attack on Pakistani Army post which resulted in killing of 26 Pakistani troops.^[22]

See also

• Crusades

References

External links

• Official website