On November 22, the Guardian’s ‘good samaritan’ Majid Freeman claimed in a tweet that over 500 people (apparently tourists visiting Qatar to enjoy FIFA World Cup 2022) have converted to Islam. Not to forget, Freeman was used as one of the “legitimate” voices during the Leicester violence, where Hindus were attacked for weeks. OpIndia reported how he was accused of fanning violence and was caught spreading fake news on several occasions.
In the tweet, he wrote, “Allahu Akbar! We’ve heard from local daees in Qatar that 500+ people have embraced Islam recently.” Furthermore, he shared a video claiming that a Mexican fan embraced Islam. He added, “Thousands of fans from around the world are there. May they get an opportunity to see the beauty of Islam, and may Allah guide them.”
Though he made such claims, there were no reports in the media of people converting to Islam. Not even the Guardian, which was found of taking his views at face value during the Leister violence, has reported anything that would support his claims.
Interestingly, a Nigeria-based news website, ‘Muslim News’ recently named The Guardian the ‘Most hijab friendly media house’. The website ran a poll to find which media house was the most hijab friendly. The Guardian won the poll and got whooping 75 votes! This is the same portal that had awarded the financial fraud accused Rana Ayyub as the ‘Global Muslim Media Person 2021’.
Freeman is not the only one claiming such conversions on the sidelines of FIFA World Cup 2022. A Twitter user Abu Siddiq claimed in a tweet that 558 people have converted to Islam so far on the sidelines of the world cup in Qatar. He wrote, “With the way things are going, and with the grand entrance of Shaykh Dr Zakir Naik and his team into Qatar, thousands of Europeans will see the light and accept Islam.”
Dilly Hussain, the Deputy editor of 5PillarsUK, whose Twitter handle was withheld by the Indian authorities for spreading fake news, made similar claims. He wrote, “At least 558 people have accepted Islam in one week in Qatar. Alhamdulillah.” Interestingly, no such reports were found on the 5PillarsUK website.
Who is Majid Freeman, and the allegations against him
To understand who Majid Freeman is, we must travel back to 2013 when ISIS activity was at its peak in Syria. In 2013, BBC aired a documentary about the “Aid for Syria” convoy which had “humanitarian organisations” and “activists” travelling to Syria to help those affected by ISIS atrocities. BBC at the time hid the names of the charities involved in the convoy – it was later revealed by analyst and scholar Sam Westrop that those charities were One Nation, Al Fatiha Global, and Aid4Syria.
In 2013, when the Aid For Syria charity was being exposed for its fundamentalist Islamist nature by several scholars, Majid Freeman was in Syria under this banner, with another “aid worker” Alan Henning, who was later abducted and beheaded by ISIS. He was with Henning when he was abducted by ISIS, indicates reports.
Freeman spoke at the memorial service for Henning, calling him a beautiful man who helped when the international community looked away. However, according to a Telegraph report, only two weeks after the beheading, Freeman started posting messages supporting ISIS. In his Facebook post, he asked for “dua” for a British ISIS terrorist Ifthekar Jaman who was charged with a Syrian terror plot. He also posted a video that essentially said that ISIS was a reasonable response to Western policy and said, “This brother hit the nail on the head”.
Majid Freeman, according to the Telegraph report, has expressed support for Al Qaeda terrorists calling them Shaheed, said that Al Aqsa will be conquered by Jihad, and expressed sympathy and support to the Al Qaeda cleric who incited terrorist attacks against non-Muslims.
Interestingly, the Telegraph report also reveals that Freeman was questioned by the police but was not charged with any crime in relation to Aid4Syria.
Majid has, essentially, encouraged European Muslims to “do jihad in Syria,” and has promoted “tributes” to the late Al Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki on his Twitter and Facebook accounts – this screenshot was posted by Sam Westrop in his expose.
Majid Freeman and his links with organisations connected to Al Qaeda, IHH: Is there a PFI connection?
At the heart of this question, are three so-called charities that were ‘working’ in Syria – Aid4Syria, Al Fatiha Global (Aid4Syria’s parent organisation), IHH, Children in Deen and One Nation.
It is pertinent to note that Majid Freeman was travelling in the humanitarian convoy to Syria along with these organisations and is personally involved with others like One Nation and Aid4Syria.
Given the involvement of Majid Freeman in the violence against Hindus in Leicester, the misinformation he spread to instigate Muslims to target Hindus, and his terror-sympathising views and associations, one has to wonder if there is more to the violence than meets the eye. The fact that IHH was involved in the Syrian convoy, of which Freeman was a part, and that IHH has forged an alliance with the banned radical Islamist organisation PFI in India which works explicitly against Hindus (read this vision document to know about their plans to turn India Islamic and subjugate Hindus) raises far more questions than it answers.
Zakir Naik’s Qatar visit to preach Islam
Recently, it was reported that Zakir Naik, the Islamic Preacher from India wanted for financial fraud and other crimes, reached Qatar to preach Islam. A video from 2016 went viral where he was seen converting people to Islam in Qatar. Though the video was old, there are speculations that his preaching on the sidelines of the FIFA World Cup 2022 may be directed at conversions of visiting football fans.