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A recent documentary aired in the UK aims to highlight the ideological differences between ‘ordinary Muslims’ and those – a minority -- who sympathise with militants and spread extremism in the name of religion.
Channel 4 documentary The Jihadis Next Door featured a group of extremists who staged a series of protests outside mosques in London and how they were countered by a majority of Muslims.
The documentary showed footage of a protest outside Southall Mosque on Pakistan's Independence Day (August 14), which featured extremist preachers expressing their wish to see Sharia Law implemented in the UK.
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The video showed a protester shouting, "Death to Pakistan ... What did Pakistan do for the Muslims?" Another protester was filmed warning passersby that “Sharia is coming to the UK”, and that the black Islamic State flag “one day is going to be on 10 Downing Street”. However, the group of protesters was countered by another group of ‘ordinary’ Muslims, who called them out for their extremist views.
Preacher, Abu Haleema“This guy is not a Muslim, he’s giving Islam a bad name,” a man near the mosque shouted.
The group went to several locations to carry out protests but received the same reaction from many Muslims. Elders outside the Southall Mosque were also seen criticising the group for misleading people in the name of Islam. The elders tore IS flags and pro-militant banners.
Abu Heleema, one of the members of the group, who could be seen laughing at IS execution videos in the documentary, picked up a microphone to tell everyone on the street to "stop worshipping this false God democracy and come back to worshipping Allah."
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The documentary further revealed that members of the group are aware of the hatred the Muslim community has for them; hence, they avoid preaching at mosques.
Upon being asked, “why don’t you go to the Mosque”, one of the preachers said, “we’ll get more hate there brother.”
Though the group denied supporting IS, it reportedly admitted to having 'sympathies' with the militant organisation.
“This is IS. This is what you see on your television. IS,” a passerby on Edgware road shouted, pointing at the group.
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Other protests across London evoked similar reactions. One said, “This is a front for recruiting people for IS, who are terrorists, who are killing people in hundreds and thousands in Syria and Iraq.”
The video was shared on Facebook over 109,000 times and received over 50,000 likes.
The Muslim Council of Britain said on Facebook, “Well done to Channel 4 News for highlighting what is known by ordinary Muslims: We have no time for idiot extremists…”
This article originally appeared on Independent
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