Haitham al-Haddad

Haitham al-Haddad is a British scholar and television presenter of Palestinian origin. Al-Haddad sits on the boards of advisors for Islamic organisations in the United Kingdom, including the Islamic Sharia Council. He is the chair and operations advisor and a trustee for the Muslim Research and Development Foundation. Some of his views have been considered as controversial, including remarks on Jews, homosexuality, Osama bin Laden and female genital mutilation. Haddad is a Salafi.

Educational qualifications

Haitham al-Haddad gained a PhD at SOAS, University of London and is a Saudi-trained Imam.

Controversial remarks

In 2001, Haitham al-Haddad allegedly said "I will tell you the truth about the fight between us and Jews who are the enemies of God and the descendants of apes and pigs". He later said that "this is the translation of what has been attributed to me" and that it had been incorrectly translated from Arabic to English.

A journalist for Radio Netherlands Worldwide wrote, "Strikingly, the cleric omits the definite article "the" before "Jews." In the Arabic language, this omission could be taken to mean he was not speaking about Jews in general but only about those Jews who are enemies of God and descendants of apes and pigs.