A radical Bangladeshi preacher with a history of extreme and violent invective against non-Muslims and minority Muslim sects has embarked on a speaking tour of the United Kingdom, leading to condemnations from moderate Bengali activists.
Abdur Razzak Bin Yousuf arrived in England in mid-December. After a lengthy speaking tour around the country, he is due to conclude his visit with an address to the “Never Ending Abode Conference” on December 31st, at the Nottingham Islam Information Point.
In videos translated by activist Asad Noor, Yousuf has previously denounced women as “dangerous objects” who are “created only to give peace and satisfaction to their husband.” Yousuf further describes the author of legislation aimed to stopping child marriage as “an animal, he is Satan.”
When the “laws of the Jews and Christians are applied,” Yousuf raves, the people will be “transformed into monkeys and pigs.”
He condemns democracy as a defiance of God and a “fictional idea” of “Christian Abraham Lincoln.” He advocates instead for “Islamic laws,” under which “people are obliged to obey the laws of Quran and Hadith.”
Yousuf reserves particular hatred for Hindus, warning Muslims against attending events with them. He also beseeches God not to show favor to “cursed Jews” or “misguided Christians.” As for the much-persecuted members of the Ahmadiyyah Muslim sect, Yousuf advises Muslims to “stop all relationships with them” and “expel them from the locality through beatings.”
Yousuf explains there are “three categories of people who should be killed.” These include those who commit adultery, as “there is no way to keep them alive in this world.”
Anyone who “criticizes or demeans the Prophet Muhammad,” he elsewhere demands, “deserves to be killed.”
Yousuf is closely involved with the Ahle Hadith sect in South Asia, which shares many ideas with the Salafism of the Middle East.
The hosting organization of the upcoming conference, the Nottingham Islam Information Point (NIIP), is itself closely involved with Ahle Hadith and Salafi causes across the country. In 2023, the British government’s review of its counter-extremism program, named NIIP as an organization of concern, noting that:
NIIP have previously held a fundraising event for Interpal, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group in the US and a registered charity in the UK. NIIP have campaigned for the release of “our brother” Guantanamo Bay detainee Shaker Aamer, determined by the US Government to be a “member of al-Qaeda tied to the European support network” and a “close associate of Usama bin Laden” with “connections to several other senior extremist members”. NIIP have hosted guest speakers such as Abu Usamah At-Thahabi, previously filmed stating that homosexuals should be “thrown from a mountain”, that “the time is fast approaching” when Muslims will win the jihad against non-believers and describing Christians and Jews as the ‘enemies of Islam’. Note that at-Thahabi has publicly stated that his comments were taken out of context, that he encourages Muslims to “peacefully coexist here in the UK with non-Muslims” and that it was the “religious duty of all Muslims to obey UK law”.
Published visa applications reveal that NIIP regularly invites prominent Bangladeshi preachers to the U.K. to deliver lectures and teach.
Yousuf is just one of several hardline preachers to have easily secured a U.K. visa over the past year. In June 2023, FWI reported on the visit to Britain by Anayetullah Abbasi, best known in Bangladesh for advocating the killing of Ahmadiyyah Muslims, Hindus, atheists, Jews, among others.
Asad Noor, a blogger and secularist activist living in exile from Bangladesh, told FWI, “Extremists participate in such events to gain legitimacy – a foreign tour serves to impress their followers back in Bangladesh.”
“Hate preachers such as Yousuf pretend to be reputable during these foreign visits, but their U.K. lectures are designed as a gateway drug. His new followers will subsequently encounter his more extreme teachings: how to be dominating, how to disregard and despise other religions and communities, and how to mistreat women and anybody who doesn’t believe in Islam.”
“The organizers of such events and conferences must be held accountable for whom they invite to Western countries, else the roots of radicalization and terror will continue to spread.”