About Birmingham, United Kingdom

“Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the English West Midlands. Birmingham is the largest of England's core cities, and is generally considered to be the UK's second city. The city's reputation was forged as the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, a fact which led to Birmingham being known as ‘the workshop of the world’ or the ‘city of a thousand trades’.

The City of Birmingham has a population of 992,400 (2004 estimate) ^[i] It forms part of the larger West Midlands conurbation, which has a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census) and includes several neighbouring towns and cities, such as Solihull, Wolverhampton and the towns of the Black Country.

The people of Birmingham are known as 'Brummies', a term derived from the city's nickname of Brum. This comes in turn from the city's dialect name, Brummagem. There is a distinctive Brummie-dialect and accent.

Birmingham is an ethnically and culturally diverse city. Around 30% of Birmingham's population is of non-white ethnicity; at the time of the 2001 census, 70.4% of the population was White (including 3.2% Irish), 19.5% Asian or Asian British, 6.1% Black or Black British, 0.5% Chinese, and 3.5% of mixed or other ethnic heritage.”^[ii]

According to the 2001 Census:

• 59.1% of Birmingham's residents identify themselves as Christian, a smaller percentage than the England and Wales average of 71.8%;
• 14.3% of the Birmingham population identified themselves as Muslim. This is significantly higher than the average for England and Wales of 3.0%. Kashmiris from Mirpur in Pakistan form the largest group. Birmingham is home to the centre of the British branch of the puritan Ahl-i Hadith movement and the followers of the important Sufi shaykh of Ghamkol Sharif in Pakistan; [iii] [iv] [v]
• 2.9% of the population of Birmingham identify themselves as Sikh. The average figure for England and Wales is 0.6%;
• 2.0% of Birmingham residents identify themselves as Hindu, about twice the England and Wales average figure of 1.1%;
• 0.3% of the city's residents identified themselves as Buddhist, which is the same as the national (England and Wales);
• 0.2% of Birmingham's residents identify themselves as Jews. This is lower than the average figure for England and Wales of 0.5%. ^[vi]

“Birmingham has a recorded history going back 1,000 years. In this time, it has grown from a tiny Anglo-Saxon farming village into a major industrial and commercial city.” [vii]

It also appears have a recent history of having grown into a center of what some apparently consider terrorist activity in the United Kingdom.

“A journal of a fundamentalist Moslem nature called Al-sunnah, published in Britain, portrays the American offensive in Iraq as a war between Western Civilization and the Moslem Nation, aimed at "'radicating Islam'. In reaction to the challenge presented by the Americans ("the Crusaders") to Islam, Moslem youths are called upon to carry out "suicide operations" and to present a front against the US that will extend 'from Afghanistan via Iraq up to Palestine'. The incitement to use the 'suicide weapon' is not unusual in view of the atmosphere of hostility towards the US that is engulfing the Arab and Moslem world, and in view of similar calls made by radical Islamic elements, but its importance is in that it finds expression in the journal and internet site of an Islamic institution in Britain, the US staunch ally.

The fundamentalist Moslem journal Al-sunnah published in Birmingham, England, preaches suicide attacks against the United States.

The Al-sunnah journal is full of incitement and propaganda against Israel, the Zionist movement and the West, and is published by the 'Center for Islamic Studies' in Birmingham, England and is distributed in Europe (Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden), in North America, in Australia and in Arab states (Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait). The journal is distributed in the Palestinian Authority too and copies of it were captured by the IDF. The 'Center for Islamic Studies' in Birmingham engages, inter alia, in research on Islam, in religious preaching and the dissemination of extremist Islamic ideas in accordance with the Islamic fundamentalist ideology.” [viii]

Birmingham and its links to militant Islam [ix]

By Sam Knight, Times Online, July 27, 2005

Until this morning, Birmingham had been left largely untouched by the London bombings. The only role of its large and influential Muslim community had been to condemn the attacks on the capital, despite a history of extremism in the city…

But over the last six years, radical Islamists from Birmingham's 150,000-strong Muslim community have been linked to a series of attacks in the Middle East.

In 1999, five men from Birmingham were arrested in Yemen in connection with the kidnapping of 16 tourists in the country. Four of the tourists were killed in a botched rescue attempt by the Yemeni army and Shahid Butt and Sarmad Ahmed, both from Birmingham, were sentenced to serve five years in prison in Aden.

Four years later, officers from Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch were given a list of men and organisations in Birmingham and the West Midlands by Israeli security forces after Omar Khan Sharif, a 27-year-old from Derby, killed himself in Israel after failing to detonate his bomb in a Tel Aviv bar.

Mr Sharif's accomplice, Asif Mohammed Hanif, from Hounslow, in West London, became Britain's first confirmed suicide bomber when he killed himself and three people the same night in Tel Aviv in April 2003. Both men were thought to have been funded by organisations in the West Midlands.

Birmingham hosts annual conferences every year from the broad and mixed world of Britain's Muslim community.

Along with mainstream groups, radical and fringe sects hold large meetings in Birmingham, including Hizb Ur-Tahrir[x] and al-Muhajiroun, two groups condemned by President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan in a speech last week in which he said "there is a lot to be done in England" to combat Islamic extremism.[xi]

"There is Hizb Ur-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun, who operate with full impunity in that area," said General Musharraf, referring to Britain as a whole. "They had the audacity of passing an edict against my life and yet they operate with impunity."

In 2003, a Hizb Ur-Tahrir conference entitled "British or Muslim?" attracted 10,000 people to Birmingham, prompting the Home Office to commission a study on the group and warn of the spread of fundamentalist doctrine in the region.

Hizb Ur-Tahrir, which calls for a worldwide Islamic caliphate, has been banned from British university campuses by the National Union of Students after holding controversial recruitment sessions.

The fringe group, founded in Jerusalem in 1953, separated into factions in the early 1990's, when Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, the leader of its London branch, broke away to form al-Muhajiroun, which espouses violent struggle in the name of Islam.

Al-Muhajiroun, which has boasted of recruiting British Muslims to fight in the Bosnian war and offering advice to others who seek a role in extremist Islam, was officially disbanded last year.

Moazzam Begg, a Briton from Birmingham, was among four men from the West Midlands picked up by American forces in Afghanistan in 2001 and taken to Guantanamo Bay. The other three were from Tipton, about 20 miles from Birmingham.

The following are excerpts from a very few articles containing information about notable Brummies:

08 February 2006

Treasury Designates U.K. Residents with Libyan Terror Ties [xii]

The U.S. Treasury Department February 8 announced a formal "designation" of five individuals and four organizations as financial supporters of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an organization with links to al-Qaida.

The designation identifies five British residents of Libyan origin as having links with LIFG: Abd Al-Rahman Al-Faqih, Ghuma Abd'rabbah, Abdulbaqi Mohammed Khaled, Tahir Nasuf and Mohammed Benhammedi. In addition, it lists three real estate companies operated by Benhammedi – Sara Properties, Meadowbrook Investments and Ozlam Properties – and the Sanabel Relief Agency, a U.K.-registered charity, as instruments used to funnel resources to LIFG.

The LIFG supports terrorist activities in Libya and has attempted to overthrow Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi.

The Treasury action freezes all assets of the designated individuals and entities under U.S. jurisdiction. (for the full text, follow the endnote link.)

(This is an article about Birmingham’s city council.)

Birmingham council's links to terrorism

12th July 2006 [xiii]

News article filed by BNP news team

Council of UK's second largest city tolerates Islamic race haters

The council of the second city of Britain is shamefully providing support to Islamic terrorists. At a meeting held in the council owned Small Heath community centre on Sunday July 2, an Islamic extremist and apologist for terrorism preached a message of hate against non-Muslims and praised the murderous attacks such as the 2001 Twin Towers attacks and the 2005 London bombings.

Abu Izzadeen who changed his name from Trevor Brooks is a spokesman for the Muslim group al-Ghurabaa, a successor to the notorious and now defunct al-Muhajiroun. He addressed the crowd in the council owned building with an anti-British, anti-Jewish, anti-Christian rant entitled “How Can We Prevent Another 7/7?”

Threats

During the speech, which was partly filmed [xiv], the 31 year old benefit scrounger from East London can be seen making jokes about a Black lady injured in the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attack on New York. He gloats about how Islamic suicide bombers murdered Spanish commuters in Madrid. He called upon Jews in the UK to condemn Israel threatening that otherwise there might be a repeat of the 7/7 attacks.

A spokeswoman for Birmingham City Council said it was concerned to hear about the allegations and it would “investigate”. So far no action has been taken by West Midlands Police to investigate the hate crimes committed by this apologist for terrorism.

Birmingham City Council has denied the right of democratically elected BNP councillor Sharon Ebanks for the city's Kingstanding Ward to conduct surgeries in any council owned property.

Quotes from the terrorist's friend:

AI: "What I would say about those who do suicide operations, or martyrdom operations - they're completely praiseworthy. If I see Mujahadin attack the UK, I always stand with the Muslims".

AI: "There's always a clash of civilisations, there's always a clash of ideals. And because Islam is not written by a man, I can't change it. But because democracy's written by a man, they can change it to accommodate the Muslims. I'm born here. I have the right to call for Islam, wherever I am. And that's a problem for the British society and establishment; that the community here, the new generation of Muslims, are born in the UK. We have a British passport, and British citizenship but our allegiance is only to Islam."

 

Britain says it foils "mass murder" plane bomb plot [xv]

By Michael Holden and Adrian Croft

Thu Aug 10, 7:59 AM ET

British police on Thursday foiled a plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight between Britain and the United States, and were holding 21 people after overnight raids, senior officers said.

"We are confident we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction," said London police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson. "Put simply, this was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale."…

…The head of London's counter-terrorist police, Peter Clarke, said the plot had "global dimensions." He said the number of flights, destination and timing were still under investigation…

…The security alert comes 13 months after four British Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured about 700 on London's transport network.[xvi]

The nationality of those being held was not immediately known. Arrests were made in the capital London, the southeast of England and Britain's second biggest city Birmingham…

The Birmingham Central Mosque, located at Highgate Birmingham, is run by the Birmingham Mosque Trust. Its construction was completed in 1969 and opened in 1975 as the largest mosque in Western Europe. The Trust’s address is: Birmingham Mosque Trust, 180 Belgrave Middleway, Highgate, Birmingham England B12 0XS.

The mosque’s main prayer halls currently hold between 3,500 and 4,000 people. The prayer area for female members of the congregation is known as the Ladies' or Women's Gallery. It is the area within a balcony located above the west side of the main prayer hall which oversees the entire hall. Female worshippers see and listen to the sermons from the gallery, although in recent times, women have chosen to screen themselves using curtains. [xvii]

The chairman of the Birmingham Mosque Trust is Dr Mohammad Naseem. Dr. Naseem is a medical doctor. [xviii]

Dr Naseem once claimed that Al Quaeda did not exist. [xix]

"Following the 7 July London bombings [xx], comments made by Dr Naseem criticising the security services and Metropolitan Police were widely criticised by politicians including MPs Khalid Mahmood and Shadow Home Secretary David Davis…He was condemned further after he compared Prime Minister Tony Blair to Adolf Hitler [xxi] in the same week [xxii] and has generated national debate over the role of mosque representatives in Britain. When a videotape emerged featuring suspected bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan apparently explaining why he intended to attack British civilians, Naseem said that he suspected the videotape had been doctored:

'We are in the 21st Century. The cows can be made to look as dancing, the horses can speak like humans, so these things can be doctored or can be produced.'" [xxiii]

The Birmingham Central Mosque (from: www.answers.com/topic/birmingham-central-mosque-01-jpg):

There is a “Faith Calendar” at the BBC’s Central Mosque website. It let’s you look-up “Festivals and Holy Days.” The following image is from http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/faith/places_of_worship/muslim/birmingham_central_mosque.shtml.

This religious symbol appears to be missing:

Some Jewish holidays are listed, but no Star of David (“Magen David”) is posted. I could not discover whose idea that was.

Birmingham has found itself again in the news lately. Apparently some of its Muslim residents were interested in beheading other Muslims serving in the British forces. See here, here, here, here and here.