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[edit] Background
He was born as Martin Thomson[3] in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, and educated in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and England. Most of his early years were spent in remote locations in the African bush where there was no electricity, gas or piped water. After being awarded an LLB (Hons) in 1972 at Exeter University, England, he worked as a bus conductor in Exeter, Devon, for a year before moving to London where he worked firstly as a labourer building the Piccadilly Line extension to Heathrow and then as an accountant at Luzac & Co, Oriental Booksellers. He embraced Islam on August 13, 1973.[14] After going on Hajj (the pilgrimage to Makka) overland in 1977 [15], Ahmad Thomson completed his training as a lawyer and was called to the Bar of England & Wales on the 26 July 1979.[16]
[edit] British Media and The Next World Order
Thomson first came to public attention in 2001 when he featured in an award winning documentary My Name is Ahmed broadcast on BBC2 on the 14th August 2001 and in Prince Naseem's Guide to Islam broadcast on BBC2 on the 15th August 2001. He subsequently appeared in the first two Shariah TV series[17][18] and 25 May 2004[19] and in April 2005.[20] He also participated in The Muslim Jesus [21] and Celebrity Lives Sharia Style [22]. He has been an occasional guest on the Hassan & HabibahLegal Corner, Legal Forum, Weekly Review and the Hayaat show [23] broadcast on Channel 4 on the 18th May 2004 show, broadcast on Islam Channel.
Following his support of Dar Al-Taqwa’s successful complaint to the Press Complaints Commission[24] concerning a deliberately inflammatory attack by the Evening Standard in July 2005,[25][26] a group of British journalists (including Toby Helm, David Cesarani and Daniel Kahtan) who Mr Thomson claims never to have met, retaliated by alleging that Thomson's 1994 book, The Next World OrderFreemasons and Jews control the governments of Europe and America, and that it was a "big lie" that six million Jews died in the Holocaust.[3][27] (which had, by then, been out of print for several years), contained allegations that
In fact Thomson had simply stated that it is a “big lie” to assert that those whom Arthur Koestler has described as “the thirteenth tribe” are descended from the Tribe of Israel (Jacob the son of Isaac) when in fact they are not descended from Shem, the son of Noah, but from Yapheth, the son of Noah. Thomson had allegedly written that Jews have no right to live in what he called "the Holy Land," because they are not a "pure race," and are therefore not the biblical Israelites. In fact he had simply pointed out that the homeland of the descendants of the Khazars is between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, not Palestine.[28][29]
Elsewhere it was alleged that Thomson has said that Saddam Hussein was used as an excuse for U.S. troops, "including thousands of Jews," to occupy Saudi Arabia[3] that the invasion of Iraq was "part of a Zionist plan,"[30] to realise the publicly declared Zionist aim of establishing the Greater Eretz between the Nile and the Euphrates. and
By using each other as their sources, these journalists created the impression that their articles were thoroughly researched and were therefore eligible to be regarded as “reliable sources” by newspapers and internet bloggers alike.
Asked about Thomson's role as an informal advisor to the government, a government spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph: "We talk to a lot of people, including many whose views we do not necessarily agree with,"[3] – and some whose views are deliberately distorted by the media in order to encourage involuntary disagreement with them from the outset, just in case they might possibly have something worthwhile to say.
Thomson responded to the reports by saying that the story was "grossly distorted." He said that he had not denied the Holocaust and that: "I have always said that one unjust death is one too many."[30] At present only the slaughter of Muslim civilians requires independent verification. He also wrote, “To be anti-Zionism is not to be racist or anti-Jewish”, and, “To be anti-Zionism is not to be anti-Semitic”, and, “To be anti-Zionism is not to be a conspiracy theorist.”[31]
[edit] Views on Islam
Thomson has written that "radical Islam" is a contradiction in terms. "It is not possible to be a true Muslim and simultaneously a violent terrorist."[32] He has also written unequivocally against any form of military-industrial-complex dictated, bank authorized, state sponsored, indiscriminate laser precision bombing (whether this involves the collective punishment of civilians or their decimation or their genocide) or suicide bombing.[33]
Thomson has also been quoted as saying: “Islam is not just a matter of words. As the Prophet said, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘The Shahada is easy on the tongue, but much flows from it.’ Ever since I said Shahada, I have lived every moment of my life finding out what it entails. It is a process that never ends.”[34] The Shahada is to bear witness that there is no god other than Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
When describing his first pilgrimage to Makka, Thomson wrote: “When I had first embraced Islam some four years earlier, I had known next to nothing about it, other than the fact that the community of Muslims whom I had joined were more knowledgeable and radiant and better behaved than any other human beings that I had ever met during my life up until then. I had embraced Islam in the hope of acquiring that knowledge and radiance and courteous behaviour, and as time passed my hopes were gradually fulfilled, as, little by little I learned about and tried to embody the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, may the Blessings and Peace of Allah be on him.[35]
Thomson has also been quoted as saying: “Islam is the solution, not the problem. It’s a wonderful time to be Muslim because we’re at the beginning of a new chapter. Never be afraid to be who you are. Have trust in Allah and He will protect you,” and, “Islam is safety and salvation. It provides us with the courtesy and generosity to step back from such petty disputes in this world, to live our brief lives with nobility and wisdom – and to connect our hearts to Allah and the certain promise of something ever lasting, the peace of the Garden in the next world.”[36]
In 2009 he gave a talk at Cambridge University entitled Shariah Law: A Stairway to Heaven.[37][38]
[edit] Book Reviews
- Qur'an Review Review of the Bewley translation of the Qur'an by Ahmad Thomson
- Review of Zakat - Raising a Fallen Pillar, by Hajj Abdalhaqq Bewley and Hajj Amal Abdalhakim Douglas
- Review of Islam – Its Basic Practices and Beliefs by Hajj Abdalhaqq Bewley
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