Abu Eesa Niamatullah

Abu Eesa Niamatullah
Born Niamatullah
Barking, London
Residence Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Greater Manchester
Ethnicity British-Pakistani
Title Imam
Religion Salafi Islam[1]
Website http://www.PropheticGuidance.co.uk

Abu Eesa Niamatullah (Arabic: أبو عيسى نعمة الله‎, also known as AE) is a British Imam and lecturer of Pakistani descent. Niamatullah is described by The Intercept as an "influential Salafi."[2]

Background

Abu Eesa was born "Niamatullah" in Barking, East London. He currently resides in Manchester UK and is affiliated with the AlMaghrib Institute. [3][4]

Views

Niamatullah has been criticized for tweeting "crass jokes" about women on International Women's Day in 2014.[5]

The Telegraph states that Niamatullah is critical of “the inherent weakness of democracy” because “it’s all down to the masses, to the people, to decide what is right and what is wrong”.[3] According to The Telegraph, Mr Niamatullah has described the people of Britain as "animals" stating, "there is very little difference between our behaviour and the behaviour of dogs or animals and that’s why Sharia is so noble” and that “the Creator [who] is the one who should decide what the laws should be”.[3]

Niamatullah also controversially stated that, "Women should not be in the workplace whatsoever. Full stop. I simply can’t imagine how we will safeguard our Islamic identity in the future and build strong Muslim communities in the West with women wanting to go out and becoming employed in the hell that it is out there".[3] and that "...carrying money in your pocket is entirely unacceptable from a fiqhi [Islamic law] point of view since there are pictures of a non-mahram [forbidden] woman – the Queen – on the banknotes".[3]

In an interview with Bloomberg during Davos 2009 on the topic of the global recession, the Imam criticized bankers, saying, "Bankers don't want redemption for the moral wrongs they've committed against humanity ... Redemption is a heavy word for Davos Man because remorse must come with sincerity and the desire to atone for the transgression. There are no sincere acts of sorrow in Davos."[6]

He calls for increased political participation for Muslims [7][8] as well as minority groups and women, yet is critical of what he sees as "over-kill" in continuing integration debate.[9]

Niamatullah has advocated for the release of Alan Henning.[10]

Current activities

Abu Eesa is the director of the non-profit educational institute "Prophetic Guidance".[11]

Politically, he was considered an active Liberal Democrat campaigner for his personal friend Patsy Calton, the previous MP for Cheadle who was succeeded by Mark Hunter upon Calton's death from breast cancer. His political involvement with the Government has been criticised, more so when he joined part of a select group of religious leaders invited to attend monthly round-table dialogues with MPs at the House of Commons organised jointly by Sadiq Khan MP and the Muslim Weekly Newspaper.[12]

Awards and nominations

In January 2014, Niamatullah was nominated for the Religious Advocate of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.[13]

See Also

External links

References

  1. ↑ "'I'm a Muslim woman, here's why I don't wear a veil'". walesonline. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  2. ↑ "The Tsarnaev Trial and the Blind Spots in "Countering Violent Extremism"". The Intercept. 5 March 2015. Among ultra-conservative Salafi Muslims, religious figures have often expressed fear about broaching topics of conflict and radical politics even when feeling pressure to engage on these issues by their followers. In 2011, Abu Eesa Niamatullah and Yasir Qadhi, two influential Salafis, shelved a potential course discussing the fiqh (jurisprudence) of warfare in Islam in response to repeated questions posed to them by students of their religious institute. Explaining the decision at the time, Niamatullah said, “Picture two bearded guys talking about the fiqh of jihad. We would be dead. We would be absolutely finished.”
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Andrew Gilligan (22 Mar 2015). "The baroness, Islamic extremists and a question of free speech". The Telegraph.
  4. ↑ http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/04/hastag-activism-muslim-tweet-20144710331799868.html
  5. ↑ http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/04/hastag-activism-muslim-tweet-20144710331799868.html
  6. ↑ "Davos Delegates in ‘Denial' as $25 Trillion of Wealth Vanishes". Bloomberg. 2009-01-29.
  7. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8568010.stm
  8. ↑ http://www.q-news.com/VotingisHalal.pdf
  9. ↑ Mona Eltahawy (August 16, 2006). "Backstory: What it means to be Muslim". Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  10. ↑ Tabatha Kinder. "British Imams Using Isis Video Techniques to Tell Them to Free Alan Henning". International Business Times.
  11. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/10065280/Muslim-leaders-stand-against-gay-marriage.html
  12. ↑ "Voting ... the Greater of the Two Evils". Missionislam.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  13. ↑ "British Muslim Awards 2014 winners". Asian Image. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
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