Campusalam

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Student events, especially those with a political dimension, do attract attention, sometimes unwelcome, and outside elements may decide to come to your event. Extremists of all kinds, whether right-wing racists or religious/political extremists do ‘talent-spot’ at university events for people they can exploit or recruit.

In the current atmosphere of concern that can surround Muslim students, on a worst-case scenario you could find yourself coming to the attention of different groups you may not welcome ­– whether it is the media looking for a shocking story about ‘extremism in the universities’, or extremists themselves, or indeed from the police or security services.

It is practical to realise you could be exploited – by the media, or by groups looking to ‘talent-spot’ for causes or actions that may claim to be ‘Islamic’ but are contrary to the teachings of Islam. You could also be vulnerable and at risk – to unwelcome exposure from the media, or suspicious scrutiny for authority figures, or to extremists.

The same features will attract all three of these kinds of unwanted attention:

1. Highly controversial speakers or topics, particularly those that involve advocacy or support of violence

2. Advocacy of ‘extreme’ political views, particularly those that could be viewed as subversive

3. Material that is highly emotive, especially video or film footage, that feeds anger or a sense of grievance that exploitative people can feed stoke and take advantage of

4. Anything that could be deemed to be inciting hatred or racism

5. Anything involving or attracting protesters. Well-meaning and ethical people who are genuinely troubled over moral and political issues can be vulnerable to exploitation, whatever the issue. It takes a high level of expertise to recognise someone who may be from a potentially destructive group.

These issues are important and it is good to raise them in constructive and rational debate. If you choose to do so, use the material here to manage the event wisely without making yourselves vulnerable or putting yourselves at risk of exploitation. Make sure that you stay in control and are not controlled or exploited by others to serve their agenda, not yours.

Case study: Targeting by extremists

A particular group of highly aggressive individuals decided to target a well-known Muslim scholar who dared to speak about ‘extremism’. They aimed to attend every talk or lecture that he gave over a period of months. They shouted and disrupted the talk, despite attempts by the chair to ask them to respect the rules of the lecture and question format. They dominated the questions and tried to prevent anyone else from speaking. They attended and heckled and disrupted other speakers and events too; sometimes with deliberately provocative material, such as shouting out a jeer associated with Abu Bakr about ‘go suck the clitoris of Al Lat’, which understandably caused offence not least to the sisters present.

The conclusion of such talks did not bring an end to it as loud and angry arguments – sometimes almost becoming physical – took place between this group and Muslims in the audience who were deeply angered by such conduct. It was severe enough that the organisers of the events, a highly respected and professional organisation, were banned from renting one university’s premises through no fault of their own.

This particular gang would not respect any conventional ‘chairing skills’ or any normal and polite ways of trying to bring them under control. It illustrates that normal social manners and tactics are often not enough to manage an event which can attract such deliberately extreme behaviour.