In a refreshing departure from the usual scripted British media fare, TalkTV’s Peter Cardwell did what too few interviewers dare: he pressed a senior imam with direct, uncomfortable questions instead of nodding along to comforting platitudes.
Asim opened with a strong public condemnation: “We have been appalled by this violent attack on Golders Green, on two British Jewish citizens.” He described reaching out to Jewish leaders, joining solidarity walks, and issuing statements with other imams. On the surface, the textbook interfaith damage control after another grotesque act of “murder jihad.”
But Cardwell didn’t stop at the press release. He drilled down, and the responses quickly revealed the familiar pattern of partial truths, context-dodging, and doctrinal anesthesia designed to calm non-Muslim concerns while protecting the state narrative on Islam.
The Scripted Spin Meets Reality
Asim repeatedly framed jihad as mere “struggle”, either physical, financial, spiritual, or mental, and insisted violent interpretations are “twisted” by “Islamists,” not reflective of orthodox Islam.
He claimed passages like Quran 9:29 are strictly historical/contextual to 7th-century battles, with no bearing today.
Risibly, he asserted that the “overwhelming majority” of British Muslims “do not condone anti-Semitism in any form or shape,” blamed rising hatred on social media and “populist leaders,” and pushed a two-state solution while insisting Israel “already exists” and Muslims must protect Jewish dignity.
Cardwell pushed back by asking about common slogans used frequently during Muslim anti-Israel demonstrations, such as “Jihad now,” “from the river to the sea,” “globalize the intifada,” and more, and asked if Hamas and certain imams fan the flames of antisemitic hatred, which leads to attacks like Golders Green. Asim hedged: ‘education, dialogue, heart-and-minds work’.
He acknowledged some bad actors exist but insisted the vast mainstream rejects antisemitism and terrorism.
This is the standard post-attack anesthesia: Quick condemnation of the specific incident to signal moderation, followed by minimization of doctrinal roots, deflection to “extremists” or external factors, and calls for more dialogue, all while avoiding any real acknowledgment of Islamic sources.
Authoritative Islamic Sources Tell a Different Story
For a clear counter to the “just contextual struggle / no enmity toward Jews” line, look no further than one of Sunni Islam’s highest modern authorities: Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi (Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, 1996–2010).
In his 700-page work, Jews in the Qur’an and the Traditions and his tafsir (Quranic commentary), Tantawi explicitly endorsed classical antisemitic readings:
- Jews as possessing “degenerate characteristics”, killing prophets, corrupting scriptures, and consuming wealth frivolously.
- Eternal enmity: Jews as “enemies of Allah,” “descendants of apes and pigs” (referencing Qur’an 2:65, 5:60, 7:166).
- On Qur’an 9:29 (“Fight those who do not believe… from among the People of the Book, until they pay the jizya willingly while they are humbled”), Tantawi and classical exegetes treated it as a command for subjugation or combat against Jews and Christians.
Andrew G. Bostom’s The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism documents this extensively, showing Tantawi was no fringe “Islamist” but a mainstream pinnacle of Al-Azhar scholarship, reinforcing Quranic and hadith-based Jew-hatred as immutable, not merely historical.
Bostom and others compile tafsirs from Tabari, Ibn Kathir, and others demonstrating the same pattern: doctrinal hostility toward Jews as a group, tied to rejection of Muhammad, with jihad as the mechanism for dominance.
This directly contradicts Imam Asim’s portrayal of jihad as a benign “struggle” with no ongoing application, or antisemitism as marginal/social-media-driven rather than rooted in sacred texts that remain authoritative.
The Anesthesia Strategy
Asim’s performance fits a recognizable post-jihad pattern:
After an attack (be it 7/7, Manchester, or the endless low-level antisemitic violence), moderate-sounding spokesmen emerge to condemn the act while administering rhetorical anesthesia, reassuring the public that it’s “not Islam,” blaming “twisted interpretations,” and calling for unity/dialogue.
This dampens potential “backlash” (i.e., scrutiny or pushback against Islamic doctrine and migration) while preserving the community’s position. The transcript’s hedging on slogans, insistence on majority moderation despite polling and attack patterns, and appeals to “context” are textbook examples.
Cardwell’s willingness to ask “But where is it coming from?” and probe specific phrases was a welcome break from the script. Too often, the UK media treats such interviews as a propaganda effort for the Muslim community rather than any attempt at determining the truth of the situation.
Britain faces a real surge in antisemitic incidents. Pretending the problem is solely “Islamists,” in fact, even just using the word “Islamists” instead of Muslims or even jihadis on any broadcast platform is working for the enemy.
Soft-pedaling scriptural foundations and the real, and frankly obvious, communal attitudes of Muslims, solves nothing. Any kind of potential mitigation or solution requires confronting the source, not anesthetizing the public after each outrage.
The full interview posted above is worth watching in full. Rare moments like this deserve amplification precisely because they are so uncommon.
https://rairfoundation.com/rare-moment-backbone-cardwell-grills-prominent-uk-imam/
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