The former deputy leader of the Green Party has warned that the far-Left are ‘clueless’ about the scale of the threat that Islamist ideology poses to society.
Dr Shahrar Ali, who was deputy leader between 2014 and 2016, spoke to the Daily Mail following the passing of a resolution in the European Parliament pledging to combat Islamist entryism and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood network across the continent.
The resolution, proposed by the European People’s Party (EPP), was adopted by 381 votes to 167, with 15 abstentions.
‘It is notable that certain sections of the Left opposed this resolution,’ Dr Ali said. ‘They betray not only reprehensible cluelessness about the scale of the threat but that they have become the new useful idiots.’
The resolution calls for entities and individuals linked to the Muslim Brotherhood to be put on the EU list of terrorist organisations, and for the establishment of a national list of hate preachers at EU level.
It distinguished between political Islam and Islam as a religion, which ‘is not inherently political or hostile’, adding that ‘the overwhelming majority of those who observe Islam as a religion reject violence against civilians in the name of Islam’.
The strategy of Islamist entryism, however, relies ‘on the organised confusion between Islam as a religion, which falls under freedom of conscience, and political Islam as a societal project, which seeks to produce collective norms, derogatory regimes or community allegiances placed above common law’.
The resolution says Islamist entryism contributes to the development of parallel communities and to practices incompatible with democratic principles, the rule of law and EU values.
Dr Shahrar Ali was deputy leader of the Green Party between 2014 and 2016
Bikers for Palestine members set off smoke flares at Dam Square in Amsterdam, North Holland, The Netherlands, October 11
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march in a rally in support of Gaza in Turin, Italy, on October 10
‘The European Parliament is right to distinguish between Islam as a religion and Islamism as a political ideology that seeks to place religiously derived norms above the common law,’ said Dr Ali, who is a Muslim.
‘The concern is not only security, but the defence of liberal values: equality before the law, women’s full, visible participation in public life, and equal rights for gay and lesbian people.
‘These hard-won principles are not negotiable and should not be compromised by bogus ideals about cultural relativism.’
He identified the growth of Britain’s Sharia councils – often mislabelled as Sharia courts – as another example that warrants scrutiny.
‘While they may not directly challenge the law, they do create parallel systems of social authority that are difficult to reconcile with modern standards of individual freedom and gender equality,’ Dr Ali said.
‘Defending a common civic framework is not anti-Muslim; it is a necessary defence of the liberal democratic values that allow people of all faiths, and none, to live as equal citizens.’
In February 2022, the Green Party removed Dr Ali as spokesman for policing and domestic safety after accusing him of breaching the party’s Spokespeople Code of Conduct.
Dr Ali subsequently sued the party, alleging discrimination based on his gender-critical beliefs under the 2010 Equality Act.
In papers submitted to the court, lawyers acting for Dr Ali claimed that officials in the Green Party ‘collaborated’ to remove him from his post, based on his views about gender, which include the belief that ‘biology is real and immutable’.
The court ruled Dr. Ali’s removal was ‘procedurally unfair’ because the Green Party identified no code breaches at his dismissal. He was awarded £9,100 in damages, and the party was ordered to pay £90,000 to cover his legal fees.
Last September, he launched a fresh legal claim against the Greens over their decision to expel him in September 2024, which he also claimed breached his rights under the Equality Act.
He has previously said he no longer recognises the organisation following a growth in its membership since Zack Polanski became leader last September.
The European Parliament’s resolution was strongly rejected by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), which published a statement following its passing.
‘ENAR condemns in the strongest possible terms the racist and Islamophobic resolution “on the need for an EU strategy to counter Islamist entryism and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood network” proposed by the European People’s Party (EPP) and passed by the European Parliament today,’ the statement said.
‘This resolution is a stain on the European Parliament and marks a profoundly shameful day in Europe’s history.
‘A Parliament that should defend democracy, equality and fundamental rights has instead given institutional legitimacy to a racist politics of suspicion that casts Muslim communities, Muslim-led civil society, organisations combating Islamophobia, and those who defend their rights as inherently suspect.’
But for Fiyaz Mughal OBE, the founder of Faith Matters and the co-founder of Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks), the resolution is a ‘good thing’ and ‘needs now to go a step forward’.
‘Islamism is clearly different from Muslim communities. There are lots of Muslim communities who just get on with their lives. Islamism is the politicised version of that, which wants to implement and promote Sharia and weaken the democratic state,’ he said.
Now, it is the job of Europe to take steps in ‘defining what the Muslim Brotherhood is, with some particular examples’.
He said many European governments, including in the UK, are too hesitant in publicly identifying strands of the clandestine network due to the risk of being sued.
‘Some of these individuals and groups are actually using very good lawyers. The question then is, who is paying them? Where is the money coming from? Institutions are a bit scared of taking on this battle,’ he added.
In response to the criticism levelled at the motion that it promotes Islamophobia, Mr Mughal, whose Tell MAMA organisation records and monitors Islamophobia across the UK, says extremism is an ‘ongoing, live, engrained issue that needs tackling’.
‘There is a growing issue of anti-Muslim hatred, but there is also an extensive and problematic issue of Islamist extremism. We can’t get away from both of these things,’ he said.
Regarding the creation of a national list of hate preachers at EU level, Mr Mughal applauded the idea.
‘Extremism is also about value systems. There are preachers who will carry value systems that advocate for violence, because people speak up against religion.
‘There will be preachers who say women are third rate – not even second rate. That what is happening in Afghanistan is absolutely normal and perfectly natural. That women should not be seen or heard, but in the home. And what is really good is if we start to name and shame those individuals, society starts to see those as the values that underpin extremism,’ he said.
The resolution also deplored the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and ‘condemned attempts to exploit the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to promote anti-Semitic narratives and deepen social polarisation’.
It considered the concealment of the face in public spaces ‘to pose challenges to public security, identification and law enforcement’.
The resolution supported national measures prohibiting full-face coverings, including the niqab and burqa, in spaces and premises open to the public as a necessary step to ensure ‘social cohesion, public safety and the protection of the rights and freedoms of others, in particular women’.
The European Commission has been called on to ensure that the ‘active promotion of Islamist ideologies which advocate the subjugation of women, anti-Semitism or hatred towards Christians’ has legal and administrative consequences.
It has also been asked to ensure that no EU funds can reach or benefit, directly or indirectly, entities linked to networks included on the EU list of terrorist organisations.
The resolution calls for a comprehensive overview of all cases of EU funds awarded to persons and entities suspected of links to the Muslim Brotherhood or political Islam.
Responding to the resolution, Lorenzo Vidino, director of the programme on extremism at George Washington University, told Fox News: ‘This is something that the French and the Austrian governments have been pushing for almost a decade.’
He added that the voting reflects a gap between the Right and the Left, ‘with the Right voting almost entirely in favour of the resolution, and a good part of the Left, although with some notable exceptions, voting against it’.
When asked about the differences between Europe and America’s approach to the Muslim Brotherhood, Mr Vidino said the European way is ‘a bit more nuanced’ than that of Washington, where the Trump administration has already designated the Muslim Brotherhood and its branches terrorist organisations.
He added that Europe sees the Muslim Brotherhood ‘mostly through the lenses of entryism, of subversion, of a group that destroys the fabrics of society… a matter of a threat to democracy, but a lot of the activities of the Brotherhood might be legal if taken individually’.
He doubted whether the resolution would have a ‘major tangible impact’, however.
‘Islamist groups are very good at camouflaging their activities,’ he said.
MEP Céline Imart of France, who sponsored the resolution, called the vote ‘a historic victory because it is a European first’.
‘For the first time, Europe has voted on a text that tackles Islamist entryism and the Muslim Brotherhood,’ she said.
‘This vote is a victory, but it is also a starting point,’ Ms Imart said. ‘The Commission and the Council must now take action, and I will make sure they do.’
‘I’ve broken a taboo that Europe has been dragging around like a chain: this victory signifies a major doctrinal shift in the institutions. Proud to have carried this text through to the end,’ Ms Imart wrote on X.
‘Thank you to the negotiators from the other groups with whom I had the pleasure of working – excluding the socialists and the far Left, who boycotted the text. We were able to transcend partisan divides on a major issue for our societies and our youth.’
Following the vote, the European Council will now decide whether to enact the proposals.
