One of the world’s most respected Deobandi scholars believes that aggressive military jihad should be waged by Muslims “to establish the supremacy of Islam” worldwide.

Justice Muhammad Taqi Usmani argues that Muslims should live peacefully in countries such as Britain, where they have the freedom to practise Islam, only until they gain enough power to engage in battle.

His views explode the myth that the creed of offensive, expansionist jihad represents a distortion of traditional Islamic thinking.

Our followers “must live in peace until strong enough to wage jihad” -Times Online.

The UK is reputed to be a tolerant country where its citizens enjoy freedom of religion, but some Muslims are exploiting that tolerance. Human rights before religious claims is a principle that should limit that tolerance, but with all the confusion created by the Government’s “multi-faith” approach and the proliferation of faith schools, there’s a danger that fundamentalist Muslims will seize any opportunity to make mischief.

Update:

There was more on the Deobandi threat in the Times Online (7/9/07):

Almost half of Britain’s mosques are under the control of a hardline Islamic sect whose leading preacher loathes Western values and has called on Muslims to “shed blood” for Allah, an investigation by The Times has found.

Riyadh ul Haq, who supports armed jihad and preaches contempt for Jews, Christians and Hindus, is in line to become the spiritual leader of the Deobandi sect in Britain. The ultra-conservative movement, which gave birth to the Taleban in Afghanistan, now runs more than 600 of Britain’s 1,350 mosques, according to a police report seen by The Times.

Tags: Jihad, Muslims, Fundamentalism, Islam, Deobandi+Islam, Tolerance