Ghayasuddin Siddiqui is an

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

. He was born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

, India, migrated to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in late 1947 and moved to the UK in 1964. He has been leader of the

Muslim Parliament of Great Britain The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain is a Muslim organisation founded in 1992 in London by Kalim Siddiqui, Director of the Muslim Institute, based on a proposal published in July 1990 under the title ''The Muslim Manifesto''. The Muslim Parliam ...

, which he co-founded in 1992, and director of one of the oldest Muslim think-tanks in Britain,

The Muslim Institute The Muslim Institute is an intellectual organisation based in London, United Kingdom. Established in 1973, the organisation was re-launched in 2009 as a fellowship society and was modelled on "futawwah" clubs, groups that promoted a virtuous life ...

, which he co-founded in 1973. Siddiqui claims to have met

Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the parti ...

(whom he considered "charismatic") and much of the early

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses f ...

and

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassa ...

leadership. Rejecting their methodologies, he forged a close relationship with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

and met the more radical

Ayatullah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

and other members in the revolutionary Iranian leadership. This explains some reports that the Institute wa

funded by the Iranian government.

Support for fatwa against Salman Rushdie

Siddiqui supported the death sentence placed on

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and W ...

. In 1998, despite an apparent relaxation of the

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist ...

against the author, Siddiqui remained a supporter of the decision, criticising the Iranian leadership by saying to the

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

that it had no authority to revoke the fatwa, and "the position of the Muslim Parliament is independent of what may or may not happen in Tehran". His support for the fatwa issued by Khomeini continued as late as the year 2000, as

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

and the Press Association reported. He said "We support the fatwa but at the same time we have always said that Muslims in this country should abide by the law and not carry out the killing." And added: "It has always been the situation that the fatwa remains in operation and valid."

Post-9/11 views

Today, Siddiqui pursues Muslim social issues such as an end to forced marriages. He was the first Muslim leader to join the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group established on 21 September 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, to campaign against what it believes are unjust wars. The Coalition has c ...

, joining its inaugural Central Committee. Siddiqui is patron of the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission, and a commissioner on th
Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia
He is a founding trustee of

British Muslims for Secular Democracy Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (''née'' Damji; born 10 December 1949) is a British journalist and author, who describes herself as "a leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim...person". A regular columnist for the ''i '' newspaper and the ''Eveni ...

.www.bmsd.org.uk
/ref> Siddiqui criticises Saudi Arabia and Saudi-sponsored institutions, accusing them of having destabilised the world by working with the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

against the Soviet Union during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. His so

is

Asim Siddiqui Asim Siddiqui (born 1976 in Kettering, England) is a British Pakistani chairman and a founding trustee of the City Circle, a network of young British Muslim professionals established in 1999. In addition to running local educational and welfare p ...

, Chairman of

The City Circle The City Circle is a network body of mainly young Muslim professionals located in England and is a registered charity (Reg. N1088931. On 7 November 2006, The City Circle announced that it had appointed Yahya Birt as its first Director with effec ...

References

External links

The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain

The Muslim Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddiqui, Ghayasuddin Living people Muhajir people British Muslims English people of Pakistani descent Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 1939 births British academics of Pakistani descent