Sir Iqbal Abdul Karim Mussa Sacranie, OBE (born 6 September 1951[1] in Malawi) served as Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) until June 2006. He arrived in the UK in 1969. He was the founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (established 1997), and served four further years as Secretary General from 2002 to 2004 and 2004 to 2006. He was honoured with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999, and was Knighted by the Queen in 2005.[2]

During the controversy on Salman Rushdie, shortly after the fatwa by Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini for his book The Satanic Verses, Sacranie stated: "Death, perhaps, is a bit too easy for him his mind must be tormented for the rest of his life unless he asks for forgiveness to Almighty Allah."[3] Sacranie states that this quotation was misinterpreted and that he merely wanted to convince Muslims that they should not kill Rushdie.[4]

On 3 January 2006 Sacranie told BBC Radio 4's PM programme that he believes homosexuality is "not acceptable", and denounced same-sex civil partnerships as "harmful". He said that bringing in gay marriage did "not augur well" for building the foundations of society.[5][6][7]

He was Chairman of Muslim Aid and since 2012 is on the executive committee.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Weekend birthdays". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media. 6 September 2014. p. 50.
  2. ^ "No. 57665". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2005. p. 1.
  3. ^ Murtagh, Peter (18 February 1989). "Rushdie in hiding after Ayatollah's death threat". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  4. ^ Bunting, Madeleine; Panetta, Francesca; Appignanesi, Lisa (13 February 2009). "The Satanic Verses: Banned and burned". The Guardian. London.
  5. ^ "news.bbc.co.uk". BBC News. 3 January 2006. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
  6. ^ "timescolumns.typepad.com". Archived from the original on 5 January 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
  7. ^ Freedland, Jonathan (18 January 2006). "How police gay rights zealotry is threatening our freedom of speech". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  8. ^ "Muslim Aid AGM Elects New Executive Committee". Muslim Aid. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
Titles in Islam New creation Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain 1997–2000 Succeeded byYousuf Bhailok Preceded byYousuf Bhailok Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain 2002–2006 Succeeded byMuhammad Abdul Bari
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