The new head of the Birmingham mosque has cast doubt on the number of victims of the Hamas massacre

The new imam of a Birmingham mosque suggested that 9/11 was a case of a “thug” getting a “bloody nose” and appeared to cast doubt on the idea that hundreds of Israelis would be killed on October 7.

Abdul Haqq Baker, executive director of the Green Lane Masjid and Community Centre, also compared the situation in Gaza to the Holocaust and suggested that Hamas treated the Israeli hostages well.

Mr Baker is a former chairman of London’s Brixton Mosque, who was announced last month as head of Birmingham’s Green Lane Mosque, a charity.

In a YouTube video recorded in 2021 to mark the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, he recalled that on the day of the attacks he ran into a friend who compared her to a thug who bloodied her the nose – a metaphor he used. in a sermon a few days later.

Mr Baker said: “When I came out of the station I saw one of my old school friends. He knew I was a Muslim, he was not a Muslim. And he looked at me and said “how are you”… I said “it’s shocking isn’t it?” He says “yeah the thug has a bloody nose”.

“Now this stuck with me so much that when I gave my khutbah (sermon) on Friday… I mentioned this at the beginning of my khutbah and referred to my friend. I said “as one of my non-Muslim colleagues said, the bully has a bloody nose.”

Mr Baker also made a series of controversial statements following the October 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent military action in Gaza.

“Atrocious Parallel”

In a video recorded on October 28, a day after Israel launched its full-scale invasion of Gaza, he compared the situation in the territory to the Holocaust.

“We know about the atrocious — and I say this word — atrocious holocaust that took place, World War II, Nazi Germany,” he said. “We are witnessing another parallel now in the 21st century.”

In the video, he also appeared to question whether hundreds of Israeli civilians were killed on October 7.

Comparing the casualty figures to a claim – which has never been verified – that 40 babies were beheaded by Hamas, he said: “The beheading of 40 children – no evidence. Hundreds of Israelis killed. Since then only three or four funerals have been seen.

“How many Palestinian funerals have I seen?…How many Palestinian funerals have I seen compared to Israeli funerals? Are you going to say “oh they’re really private so they have private ceremonies”. What we know about the Zionists… when we look at the Zionist propaganda, they are very quick to market, to advertise, to advertise.”

The current estimate is that approximately 1,200 Israeli citizens and foreigners lost their lives during the attack. In a subsequent video recorded in January, Mr Baker said he did not “deny” there had been “serious casualties” on October 7.

In the October 28 video, Mr. Baker also appeared to suggest that Hamas had treated the Israeli hostages well. “Many of us have heard of the elderly Jewish woman who was brought out of captivity when she was released.

Others have heard of those when the occupied territories were invaded, “that they were polite to us, they were good to us”, they said “we are Muslims”… we hear this a lot, that statement when people say “we are Muslims “. “and immediately there should be a code of conduct, an ethic, when someone hears ‘we are Muslims.’

The Green Lane Mosque is no stranger to controversy. In November 2023, The Telegraph reported that its lead imam, Zakaullah Saleem, told a congregation to pray for Allah to “destroy all those who oppress our brothers and sisters in Gaza”.

On another occasion, in August 2023, a video of Mr. Saleem went viral on social media in which he discussed the process of stoning a woman to death for adultery. At the time, Green Lane said the clip was “highly misleading” and lacked “context” and that the imam was “not suggesting that these practices have a place in British society”.

The Telegraph understands that the Charity Commission currently has no compliance case open in Green Lane.

A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission said: “We will assess the new information provided to determine whether there is a role for the Commission.”

Mr Baker and the Green Lane Mosque have been contacted for comment.