Seite - 104 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 02/01

104 | Elham Manea www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/1, 91–110 Their demands represented their own political agenda, which was to spread their vi- sion of political Islam, but by elevating these individuals to the status of leaders, the government placed them in a position to dictate what their group’s cultural and reli- gious needs were. They were the gatekeepers of the “Muslim minority”. Consider this example. Up until the London terrorist attacks in 2005, the British government treated the Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella organisation, as the sole representative of the Muslim community. The Muslim Council of Britain was founded and controlled by members of an Islamist group, Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI). Cre- ated in 1941 by Abu al-Alaa al-Mawdudi, an Indian-born journalist who later moved to Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami became an indispensable part of the worldwide Islamist movement, comparable to the Muslim Brotherhood. Mawdudi and with him Jamaat- e-Islami set themselves the immediate aim of restoring a state which would apply sharia. Sovereignty accordingly does not belong to the people but to Allah alone and power is only legitimate if it is used according to the commands of God.46 According to Lorenzo Divino, a leading expert on political Islam in the West, the UK Islamic Mission, established in 1962 and headquartered in in the north London borough of Islington, was the embryo of the Mawdudist network in Britain. The mis- sion defined itself as an “ideological organisation” grounded in the belief that “Islam is a comprehensive way of life which must be translated into actions in all spheres of human life”.47 Its official mission statement recorded that the organisation sought to “establish the social orders of Islam for the Muslims and non-Muslims living in Britain”.48 Starting from the 1970s, the UK Islamic Mission created a network of mosques. Concurrently, another Jamaat-e-Islami inspired organisation, the Islamic Foundation, became the main publisher of Mawdudist literature and later ensured that Mawdudi’s books became standard readings on Islam in British schools. The Mawdudists’ ulti- mate “political coup”, to use Innes Bowen’s expression, was its control of the Muslim Council of Britain, created in 1997 and recognised by the British government as the sole representative body of Muslims in the United Kingdom.49 Not surprisingly, as a report of Policy Exchange (a British centre-right think tank) report on British Muslims stated, British government policies of engagement with Muslims made things worse: “By treating Muslims as a homogenous group, the Government fails to see the diver- sity of opinions amongst Muslims, so that they feel more ignored and excluded.”50 Indeed, a 2007 survey of British Muslims has revealed how misguided these policies were. When asked to name an organisation that represented their views as a Muslim, only 6 per cent named the Muslim Council of Britain, while 51 per cent felt that no 46 Kepel 1997, 92; Bowen 2014, 58–59; 75; 80–81. 47 Divino 2010, 116. 48 Divino 2010, 116. 49 Bowen 2014, 84–90; Kepel 1997, 109–111; 118–125. 50 Mirza/Senthikumaran/Ja’far 2007, 6.