Salma Yaqoob (born 1971) is the leader, and former vice-chair, of Respect – The Unity Coalition and a Birmingham City Councillor. She is also the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a spokesperson for Birmingham Central Mosque.
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Background
She was born in Bradford but grew up in Birmingham. Despite differing views within her local community, her father was determined to support his children's education.[1] She studied psychology at University of Oxford and became a psychotherapist.[1]
Activism
In her youth she was concerned about the treatment of women in countries such as Pakistan, and even considered converting to Christianity. However she concluded that the Qur'an gave women more rights than the Bible, and began wearing the hijab at 18.[1]
Yaqoob became more politically active after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. She made a memorable appearance as an audience member on the political BBC programme Question Time just days after the attacks, which became a somewhat infamous episode due to the large number of Muslim activists in the audience who made explicit reference to the widely held view that 9/11 was tied in with the American government's foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East region. The BBC eventually apologised to the American ambassador for his treatment on the programme. Yaqoob was spat at in the street in the days following the attacks.
It has been suggested that she played a crucial role in inviting Muslims into an anti-war movement previously dominated by Marxists. She has argued against the idea, put forward by what she calls religious fundamentalists and sectarian right-wingers, that Muslims and non-Muslims cannot work together, as well as against what she claims are calls for Muslims to "keep their heads down" from within the Muslim community.
Yaqoob had very little experience of politics prior to September 11 although she had been involved in the 'Justice for the Yemen Seven' campaign after her family became embroiled in the proceedings. This campaign was to support seven (later, eight) British Muslims who were accused by the Yemeni authorities for terrorist activities in its capital Sana'a in December 1998. After their conviction, protests and lobbying in Britain eventually resulted in release of most of them.[2]
At the Clash of Civilisations conference, organised by Ken Livingstone on 20 January 2007, Salma Yaqoob described the 7/7 terrorist attacks on London as "reprisal attacks".[3]
Politics
In the 2005 general election, she stood as the Respect candidate for the Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath constituency against Labour's Roger Godsiff MP, with the backing of the Muslim Association of Britain. She finished in second place, ahead of the Liberal Democrat and Conservative candidates, and with 27.5% of the total vote. During the campaign, Yaqoob had faced harassment and death threats from al Ghurabaa, a takfiri Islamist group later banned under the Terrorism Act 2006. Al-Ghurabaa claimed that it is an act of apostasy for Muslims to participate in Western democratic elections, and its members defaced her election posters with the word 'Kafir'.
Yaqoob was elected with 49.4% of the vote in the Sparkbrook ward of Birmingham City Council in the 2006 UK local elections. She claimed that her election "challenged the traditional conservatism that denies leading public positions to women, and challenged the old order, which treats our communities as silent voting fodder. And it was only possible because we united people around a progressive message of anti-racism and social justice".[4]
References
- ^ a b c "Islam unveiled". Channel 4. http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/I/islam_unveiled/voices.html#2. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
- ^ "Press Release from Justice for the Britons in Yemen" (doc). http://web.archive.org/web/20000829193944/www.angelfire.com/mb/justice/images/Pressp9.doc. Retrieved 208-06-07.
- ^ Sunny (2007-01-23). "The mayor, Daniel Pipes, Salma Yaqoob and others". Pickled Politics. http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/973. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
- ^ Salma Yaqoob (2006-05-13). "The women won it". Comment is free, Guardian Unlimited. http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/salma_yaqoob/2006/05/women_were_at_the_heart_of_the.html. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
- Solidarity in Practice, Salma Yaqoob (Page 60, Stop the War:The story of Britain's biggest mass movement, Andrew Murray and Lindsey German, ISBN 1-905192-00-2)
- Support from the Muslim Association of Britain
- Salma Yaqoob:Respect Due: Long interview with the MAB's student paper
Articles
- Global and local echoes of the anti-war movement: a British Muslim perspective, Salma Yaqoob
- Hijab: a Woman's Right to Choose, Salma Yaqoob
- On the streets and on the doorsteps, Red Pepper
- Our leaders must speak up, The Guardian
- The SWP takes a step backwards, International Viewpoint
External links
- Birmingham Respect - Salma Yaqoob news
- Salma Yaqoob reference gallery
- The Guardian, Comment is Free: Salma Yaqoob
- Interview with Democracy Now! June 2006
- War Is Muted as Issue in Britain, but Not for Its Muslims New York Times, April 2005
- Women’s rights, political islam and secularism Weekly Worker
- Is Islam Endangering 'Europeannesess?' ABC News, Dec 2004
- Salma Yaqoob speaking in Manchester about the need for an anti-war Unity Coalition. Video clip
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