PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, 21 July 2004 — An Islamic scholar in Trinidad wants to establish Muslim villages in the Caribbean country to protect people from homosexuality, alcohol, crime and fornication.
Imran Hosein made the comments during a lecture Sunday, the Trinidad Express newspaper reported. Hosein declined to comment to The Associated Press on Monday, but one of his supporters who attended the lecture, Siddiq Nasir, confirmed the remarks.
Hosein gained attention in March when the country’s largest Muslim organization banned him from speaking at their mosques, saying his lectures could incite terrorism. He has spoken out against US policies, including the war in Iraq, and written that the Sept. 11 attacks were likely the result of a Jewish conspiracy.
The Express reported that Hosein told the audience that establishing Muslim villages could protect Islam from adultery, homosexuality and alcohol.
The villages would have 200 to 300 families, and non-Muslims would be accepted if they follow the rules, he said. “Muslim schools would not accept any state funding, hence would not be subject to any state control,” he said.
Muslims account for about 6 percent of Trinidad and Tobago’s population. Banning Hosein from most of the country’s mosques in March sparked debate among Trinidad’s Muslims about how their faith should be taught. Many say anti-American pronouncements should play no role in Islamic lectures, while Hosein and his supporters argue that Muslims should not close their eyes to what is happening around them.
The organization that banned him, Anjuman Sunnat Ul Jamaat Association, dismissed Hosein’s suggestion as ridiculous, saying it amounted to segregation. Muslims are free to practice their religion in Trinidad, so there was no need for separate villages.
“We are a minority in a plural society,” said Yacoob Ali, the association’s president. Setting up a village is “isolationist,” he said.
Police have investigated Hosein, who studied in Pakistan and has lived in New York, but said they found no reason to believe he was involved in terrorism. Hosein defended himself at the time, issuing a statement saying he denounces United States “oppression,” yet does not urge Muslims to respond by committing terrorism.
Nasir, who said more than 100 people attended Sunday’s lecture, said the villages would simply be a group of people choosing to live with the same morals. They would still adhere to the country’s laws, he said.
