At the first meeting of the Muslim Parliament in January 1992, Siddiqui declared that ‘Muslims will oppose, and if necessary defy, any policy or legislation which we regard as inimical to our interests’. He was still giving much the same message just before his death, when, in an open letter to Prime Minister John Major published in Crescent International, he wrote that although Muslims in Britain would not knowingly break the law, they would ‘individually and collectively exercise their inalienable right to do whatever we can to help the cause of Islam and Muslims in any part of the world’. This he said would be ‘in any manner of our own choosing’.
Siddiqui achieved much fame in 1989 by his support for the Iranian fatwa against Salman Rushdie. This year he declared that the death edict remained in force, even though the Iranian authorities are now divided on Rushdie, and many want to take a softer line.
New leader
The new leader of the Muslim Parliament, Muhammad Ghayasuddin, has affirmed that the Parliament will continue Siddiqui’s close relationship with the Iranian government and also his support for the fatwa against Rushdie.
