alliance, be it natural or otherwise, with the brutal, cunning and oppressive anti-terrorism workforce. In light of this, I urge Tawfique Chowdhury to publicly and unequivocally retract his irresponsible and reckless speech, in order to save himself and his institute from disrepute. The failure in doing so will only reaffirm the public sentiment in the UK that he has clearly taken side with the enemies of Islam the Muslims. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind the scholars, preachers and Imams that their silence is consent. Tawfique Chowdhury is not the first to fall into disrepute and controversy, and he certainly would not be the last, unless and until they fulfil, and not betray their covenant with Allah, like those of whom Allah makes mention in His Book: “(And remember) when Allah took a covenant from those who were given the Scripture to make it known and clear to mankind, and not to hide it, but they threw it away behind their backs, and purchased with it some miserable gain! And indeed worst is that which they bought. Imam Shakeel Begg of Lewisham and Kent Islaamic Centre.” BBC’s submissions 162. The BBC submitted that the Claimant gave a false and deliberately misleading characterisation of Mr Chowdhury’s speech in five respects, viz. Mr Chowdhury did not: (i) declare himself “an ally of the West” either expressly or by implication; (ii) “lure” the anti-terrorism officers into “using him and other religious leaders against the Muslim community”; (iii) “sign[] a deal with the devil” in the form of the “brutal, cunning and oppressive anti-terrorism workforce”; (iv) make “an irresponsible and reckless” speech which brought “him and his institute into disrepute”; or (v) “take sides with the enemies of Islam the Muslims” or “betray” his “covenant with Allah”. Claimant’s case 163. The Claimant has been a long-term self-confessed critic of the UK government’s antiterrorism policies. In particular, he was very critical of the government’s “PREVENT” strategy which he says targets Muslim communities (see further below). The Claimant admitted that he was “angry” with Mr Chowdhury for what he saw as his support for the government’s anti-terrorism policies but said he “regrets” the type of language which he used. He said his trenchant criticism of Tawfique Chowdhury was simply based on his belief that Mr Chowdhury was supporting PREVENT. Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhury’s 2008 speech to counter-terrorism officers 164. In order accurately to judge and calibrate the nature and validity of the Claimant’s response, it is first necessary to set out and examine Sheikh Tariq Chowdhury’s speech in detail. The title of the speech was “Muslim scholars – West’s natural allies in fighting scourge of terrorists”. 36