وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ مَنَعَ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ أَنْ يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ وَسَعَىٰ فِي خَرَابِهَا ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ مَا كَانَ لَهُمْ أَنْ يَدْخُلُوهَا إِلَّا خَائِفِينَ ۚ لَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
“Who could do greater wrong than someone who bars access to the mosques of Allah, preventing His name from being remembered in them, and goes about destroying them? Such people will never be able to enter them – except in fear. They will have disgrace in the dunya and in the akhira they will have a terrible punishment.”
(Al-Baqara, 2:114)
Home Secretary also calls for review into use of Shari’a law and urges British values to be promoted ‘more assertively’ in package of Tory measures for defeating extremism
By Ben Riley-Smith, Political Correspondent
British authorities will be given powers to close down mosques where extremists gather under a future Conservative government, Theresa May has announced.
The Home Secretary also pledged to review how Shari’a law is used in England and create new “extremism officer” roles in prisons to stop radicalism spreading among criminals.
Mrs May also proposed a raft of measures to promote British values “more assertively” by changing visas to ensure visitors follow them and review citizenship laws to ensure effectiveness.
It came as Mrs May revealed the Government’s new counter-extremism strategy and said that only a Conservative majority could guarantee the package of proposals would be implemented.
The package of policies marks the most comprehensive plan for tackling extremism in Britain since the Coalition took office and comes after around six months of analysis at the Home Office.
There will be pressure on the Liberal Democrats and Labour to reveal which measures they would back if they held office after the May 7 election.
It comes amid growing concern about the number of Britons travelling to Syria to join Isil, also known as Islamic State, and returning to launch attacks inside the UK.
Speaking in central London, Mrs May drew a distinction between the principles of Islam, which were “entirely compatible” with British values, and those of Islamist radicals.
She used the long-awaited speech to declare Britain will no longer tolerate the behaviour of Islamist extremists who “reject our values” and outlined a series of measures to tackle the problem.
Authorities should be allowed to issue banning orders on extremist groups to stop them spreading “messages of hate” even if they fall short of being defined as terrorists, Mrs May said.
“We will introduce extremism disruption orders, which are civil powers to be used against individual extremists who incite hatred. And we will introduce closure orders, for premises that are owned or occupied by extremists or are used to host extremist meetings or speakers,” she added.
Mrs May also called for a host of reviews into both the way extremism is policed and promoted.
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary should review how police forces have responded to “honour crimes”, female genital mutilation and forced marriage,” Mrs May said.
An independent investigation into the use of Shari’a law in England and Wales should be commissioned to assess how it is being applied and what are the implications, she added.
The Home Secretary also proposed a review of supplementary schools, which are currently unregulated, to “protect children from extremists” and a “full review of citizenship law” to make sure successful applicants respect British values.
In a speech which mentioned “British values” 13 times, Mrs May said there needed to be a new “partnership” between government, civil society and internet companies to help defeat extremism.
Mrs May finished: “To those people who do not want to join this new partnership, to those who choose consciously to reject our values and the basic principles of our society, the message is equally clear.
“The game is up. We will no longer tolerate your behaviour. We will expose your hateful beliefs for what they are. Where you seek to spread hate, we will disrupt you.
“Where you break the law, we will prosecute you. Where you seek to divide us, we will stand united. And together, we will defeat you.”