Mo Ansar - Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Derek R Bullamore (talk | contribs) at 12:16, 12 December 2015 (Filling in 6 references using Reflinks). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 12:16, 12 December 2015 by Derek R Bullamore (talk | contribs) (Filling in 6 references using Reflinks)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Mo Ansar

Born	England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Voluntary Political commentator

Mohammed "Mo" Ansar is a British Muslim political and social commentator on Twitter. As a self-proclaimed broadcaster and activist, he is apparently a vocal opponent of extremist organisations. He claims to have spoken out against both Islamist groups such as Al Shabab, ISIS and Al Muhajiroun, in addition to far right and political organisations such as the English Defence League (EDL) and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). He is a regular commentator for satellite news broadcaster .

Personal life

Ansar was born on 6 April 1974 in Watford, Hertfordshire. Of mixed Indian and Pakistani heritage, his grandfather fought for the British Army in World War 2 losing two of this brothers in the conflict. Educated at Watford Boys Grammar School, Ansar studied law in Southampton. However there was cause for his law credentials to be called into question by Financial Times journalist, David Green, which ended in Mo admitting that he was not qualified in law. He lives in Hampshire and is married to a Finn. Ansar is an ECB qualified cricket coach.

Life and career

Ansar worked in banking with Lloyds Banking Group and then moved into diversity for the organisation, representing them with Business In the Community. He was fired after refusing to pay back a staffordable loan. Mo tried to sue for discrimination but was called a manipulative liar by the judge, who stated that Ansar could not take instructions from his female bosses. in diversity engaging with organisations such as Stonewall, Race for Opportunity and Business in the Community.

As a community organiser, Ansar has worked with British Muslim communities as a representative with Southampton Council of Faiths, Muslim Council of Southampton and the national umbrella organisation the Muslim Council of Britain where involved with the senior leadership team, he focussed on interfaith, education and the media. Amongst his work with public sector and voluntary organisations, he has supported and advised the transgender charity Chrysalis, being founding Chairman of Hampshire Independent Equality Forum. However evidence my journalist Milo Yiannopoulos shows that Ansar was never a founder and the group nearly closed after Ansar's behaviour as chair. and consulting for the hate-crime reporting group, Tell Mama. Ansar currently serves on the board of the South East England Faiths Forum, runs a charity in the south of England and claims he is a lay imam on rotation at the University of Southampton

Media work and journalism

Ansar has made appearances on Newsnight, The One Show, The Daily Politics, The Big Questions, Sunday Morning Live and Moments in Time. He has been a contributor for several news broadcasters including CNN, Al Jazeera, Sky News, Channel 4 News and BBC News. His radio work includes Radio 2, Radio 4, BBC London and commercial broadcasters such as LBC and TalkSport. He has appeared regularly on satellite channels Press TV, British Muslim TV and the Islam Channel. However Ansar, as predicted by Nick Cohen in his expose´in the spectator "The Russian and Iranian channels may return his calls but apart from that is over" and he has not appeared on any mainstream media since multiple exposures in May 2014. Mo has blog called "Ansar’s On a Postcard" which he writes on regularly and has been published in the Guardian once, New Statesman and sometimes uses his Huffington Post blog page. Ansar met actor, comedian and political activist Russell Brand for an episode of his online Trews current affairs show. The two spent the afternoon at the East London Mosque to discuss Sufism, spirituality and tackling prejudice. After which Brand had to apologise to viewers for having Mo on. Ansar is a public speaker on the subjects theology and pedagogy in lunch lessons at the University of Winchester in Hampshire, although he is known to refer to these as lectures, he has no formal qualifications in these areas. With his Lovell Interfaith talk, Ansar became the first Muslim to deliver a public talk at the Winchester Cathedral in its 900-year history. Ansar has spoken at the Greenbelt Festival and Cambridge Science Festival, who have both since withdrawn him from future events.

Social and political views

Islam and reform

Ansar is a Sunni Muslim following a Sufi tradition and does not follow any particular madhab.

Democracy

On the record as supporting democracy and the democratic processes and he claims he has denounced radical preachers such as Anjem Choudary. Ansar is not a proponent of the spread of shariah law governance in the West and advocates the separation of church and state.

Politics

Ansar claims he is a left wing commentator and social libertarian, whilst holding very conservative views.

Counter-extremism

Ansar reported as having worked with the British government leading on the counter-extremism PREVENT program and the development of the Channel program, however no evidence of this actually exists. He has subsequently become an ardent critic of both PREVENT and the government’s counter-extremism policy.

BBC film with the English Defence League

In April 2012, Ansar met then English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson when both men participated in the BBC programme The Big Questions. At Ansar's invitation, they began a dialogue about their opposing views which became the subject of a BBC documentary. Ansar was the first Muslim to engage with members of the English Defence League (EDL) At the end of the documentary, Robinson left the organisation and to Ansar's upset to went onto work with Quilliam (think tank) Who he later cited as being the people who facilitated his exit. At the end of the program Ansar is shown being barred from the press conference after dropping everything and rushing to London. Robinson stated that he didn't want Mo taking any credit for his EDL departure.

Death threats

In October 2013, Ansar claimed that police and security services alerted him that he and other prominent Muslims in the UK appeared to have been threatened in a propaganda video by Al-Shabaab. However Al-Shabaab later told Channel Four News that they had not in fact threatened anyone and that the message in the video had been misunderstood.

Muslim civil rights

In 2013, Ansar gave a speech at the University of York on the ‘Muslim Civil Rights Crisis’ where he claimed that there existed a broader societal problem and a tangible civil rights crisis for Muslims, not only in the UK but in many countries in the Western world. In his paper on ‘Islamophobia and the Muslim Civil Rights Crisis’ Ansar has outlined an "Islamophobia Test" consisting of five myths and three recognisable behaviours to measure anti-Muslim prejudice and discriminatory behaviour. On Islamophobia in America, Ansar has claimed that there is a ‘burgeoning industry provoking non-Muslims in Europe and in the US’ which is causing a rise in attacks on Muslims and creating social schisms

Ansar wrote a blog about Islamophobia on London Railways following the removal of billboards promoting and a Muslim charity

Apostasy

Ansar believes that apostasy in Islam should not be punishable by death. He states it is not applicable in Islam today as it is a matter of personal spirituality distinct from a conflation with state treason in antiquity. However during questioning by Maajid Nawaz on the documentary When Tommy Met Mo, Mo failed to answer if in an ideal islamic state, with all the sharia conditions met, if stoning should be a punishment.

Criticism

In May 2014, Ansar was criticised by a number of journalists including radio presenter, Iain Dale, and author, Jeremy Duns regarding his views and his conduct. In May 2014, journalist Nick Cohen wrote a highly critical article about Ansar in The Spectator in which he questioned Ansar's credentials, reiterating Dale's view that Ansar had "invented himself as a rent-a-quote commentator" and said Ansar had a Twitter alias account that denigrated those he disagreed with. Which was later proved by Jeremy Duns to be true Jamie Bartlett wrote that Ansar's "language of tolerance and moderation" belied his stance on homophobia and amputation of limbs in Islamic states and that he had fabricated claims about his professional experience – including falsely claiming he was a lawyer. Haras Rafiq, former director of CENTRI, a counter-extremism organisation, described Ansar as a "Frankenstein's monster that's been created by the media" who "lies blatantly". Douglas Murray, of the Henry Jackson Society, described him as a "fraudulent faux-moderate" who "makes stuff up", referring to Ansar's claim that Muslims had been trading with Native Americans centuries before Christopher Columbus came to America.

Ansar was questioned on the BBC politics program The Daily Politics about his debate with Tom Holland over slavery in antiquity during which he had claimed 'If salves are treated justly with no oppression whatsoever, who could possibly object, Tom'.

Once Ansar had fallen out with the leader of counter-extremism think tank, the Quilliam Foundation, Maajid Nawaz Ansar became a vocal critic and has questioned their influence over UK government policy and strategy.

In May 2014 journalist Nick Cohen wrote a highly critical article about Ansar in The Spectator in which he questioned Ansar's credentials. Author Douglas Murray accused Ansar of having extremist ties with the Muslim Council of Britain and supporting slavery.