Abu Eesa Niamatullah

Background

Abu Eesa was born "Niamatullah" in Barking, East London. He currently resides in Manchester UK and is affiliated with the AlMaghrib Institute.

Views

Niamatullah has been criticized for tweeting "crass jokes" about women on International Women's Day in 2014. He later apologized for those comments and fellow Al-Maghrib faculty Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi wrote a lengthy apology on his behalf.

The Telegraph states that Niamatullah is critical of “the inherent weakness of democracy” because “it’s all down to the masses, to the people, to decide what is right and what is wrong”. According to The Telegraph, Mr Niamatullah has described the people of Britain as "animals" stating, "there is very little difference between our behaviour and the behaviour of dogs or animals and that’s why Sharia is so noble” and that “the Creator [who] is the one who should decide what the laws should be”.

Niamatullah also controversially stated that, "Women should not be in the workplace whatsoever. Full stop. I simply can’t imagine how we will safeguard our Islamic identity in the future and build strong Muslim communities in the West with women wanting to go out and becoming employed in the hell that it is out there". and that "...carrying money in your pocket is entirely unacceptable from a fiqhi [Islamic law] point of view since there are pictures of a non-mahram [forbidden] woman – the Queen – on the banknotes".

In an interview with Bloomberg during Davos 2009 on the topic of the global recession, the Imam criticized bankers, saying, "Bankers don't want redemption for the moral wrongs they've committed against humanity ... Redemption is a heavy word for Davos Man because remorse must come with sincerity and the desire to atone for the transgression. There are no sincere acts of sorrow in Davos."

He calls for increased political participation for Muslims as well as minority groups and women, yet is critical of what he sees as "over-kill" in continuing integration debate.

Niamatullah has advocated for the release of Alan Henning.

Current activities

Abu Eesa is the director of the non-profit educational institute "Prophetic Guidance".

Abu Eesa teaches the Islam Channel televised class "al-Adab al-Mufrad" (The Book of Manners).

Politically, he was considered an active Liberal Democrat campaigner for his personal friend Patsy Calton, the previous MP for Cheadle who was succeeded by Mark Hunter upon Calton's death from breast cancer. His political involvement with the Government has been criticised, more so when he joined part of a select group of religious leaders invited to attend monthly round-table dialogues with MPs at the House of Commons organised jointly by Sadiq Khan MP and the Muslim Weekly Newspaper.

Awards and nominations

In January 2014, Niamatullah was nominated for the Religious Advocate of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.