TIMESONLINE: A progressive Muslim imam from Oxford has won a libel action against a Muslim newspaper in what he claims is a "watershed moment" in the battle between liberal and extremist Muslims in Britain.
Dr Taj Hargey, who provoked controversy last year when he invited the first ever woman to lead and preach at Friday prayers in Britain, has been awarded a "substantial" five-figure sum in libel damages against the Muslim Weekly, which takes a conservative line on community issues.
In its latest edition, the newspaper urges the Government not to play a "divide and rule" policy over the Muslim Council of Britain. The Government has threatened to cut ties with the council after it refused to sack its deputy leader, Daud Abdullah, who signed a pro-Hamas declaration at a conference on Gaza in Istanbul.
Dr Hargey, who is originally from South Africa, describes himself as a "thorn in the side of the Muslim hierarchy" as a result of his liberal theology and his "integrationist, non-sexist views."
The Oxford institute he founded, the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford (Meco), preaches that women should not wear the niqab or face-covering and that men should not wear beards. He sanctions marriages of Muslim women to men of other faiths and promotes mixed congregations in mosques, where men and women are usually strictly segregated and women are sometimes not allowed at all. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Wednesday, April 8, 2009
THE MUSLIM WEEKLY: Apology to Dr Taj Hargey and MECO over Qadiani connections
The Muslim Weekly extends its sincerest apologies to Dr Taj Hargey and the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford (MECO) for publishing an article last week entitled: "Muslim scholars pull out of Qadiani conference", implicating Dr Hargey and MECO in having connections with the non-Muslim religion of Qadianism.
The Muslim Weekly unreservedly retracts the following accusations and assertions it has since learned were inaccurate and completely unfounded.
Dr Taj Hargey has never subscribed to, belonged to or been affiliated with any sect or minority group, religious or otherwise, be they Ahmadi, Qadiani, Lahori, etc. On the contrary, Dr Hargey has consistently and openly reiterated his unconditional belief in the absolute finality of prophethood in Islam and Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) as God's last prophet and final messenger. >>> The Muslim Weekly | April 10 – 16, 2009
