In his first newspaper interview since being elected, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari suggests this country should adopt more Islamic ways. Alice Thomson meets the new leader of Britain's Muslims
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari was returning from Paris on the Eurostar when he heard the news that a 23-year-old east London Muslim had been shot in a terrorism raid. "I was stunned," he says. "I am chairman of the east London mosque and I come from Bangladesh - I know the families in the area well. The children may squabble in the playground and there are occasional drugs - but not terrorists.
"After 9/11 and 7/7, this area prided itself on being mature. We don't rant and rave."
The day after Mohammed Abul Kahar, 23, and his brother Abul Koyair, 20, were arrested, Dr Bari was voted the new leader of the Muslim Council of Britain. Afterwards he went straight to Forest Gate, where the raid had taken place, and set up a make-shift office in a sari shop. He was shocked by what he heard. |