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Harris Bokhari
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Harris Bokhari is the founder, former CEO and a Trustee at the Patchwork Foundation, for which he won the Diversity Champion of the Year Award in early 2018.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLG7eA> In October 2018 he won the Eastern Eye Editor's Award at the GG2 Diversity Leadership Awards for his work as founder of Patchwork.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VNbfOx>
The Patchwork Foundation is a charity that aims to make politics more accessible to young people from disadvantaged and minority communities. The organisation engages young people from ethnic and faith communities in politics, and works with those from different socio-economic backgrounds to offer them involvement in civil society and democratic politics at various levels.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QMGKoa>
In 2017, Bokhari's Patchwork Foundation hosted a group of young people at the Labour Party Conference featuring Labour Party leader [[Jeremy Corbyn]], along with Shadow Ministers [[Emily Thornberry]] and [[Hilary Benn]].<ref>http://bit.ly/2VQeFQp> Over the years, Patchwork has hosted some 50 Labour MPs.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QKnjfz>
Through Patchwork, Bokhari has gone on to forge strong links with other political parties including the [[UK Conservative Party|Conservative Party]] and [[UK Liberal Democrats|Liberal Democrats]]. His charity has hosted senior Tories such as [[Chris Grayling]], [[Boris Johnson]] and [[Jeremy Hunt]].<ref>http://bit.ly/2VSidBP> His Board of Patrons includes longtime Tory MP John Bercow, the current Speaker of the House of Commons, as well as Tory campaign strategist [[Sir Lynton Crosby]],<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLG96c> who described Bokhari as "Captain Networker".<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMT5A>
== Career ==
Bokhari is a Partner at Ascension Wealth Management, a tax consultancy and investment advisory service targeted at wealthy Muslim clients to help them pay less tax in ways that are compliant with Shari'ah Law. In 2006, Bokhari was a manager at 1st Ethical London specialising in Shari'ah compliant investments.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLG9De> 1st Ethical was founded by [[Sufyan Ismail]], founder and former CEO of [[Muslim Engagement and Development]] (MEND), an organisation which campaigns against Islamophobia which has, however, been accused of Islamist ties.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMTCC>
While promoting a 1st Ethical product, Bokhari recommended the scholarship of Dr. Imran Usmani as "one of the world's leading Islamic finance scholars", whose input into the fund would give it "creditability." Dr Usmani, a Shariah Finance advisor at Meezan Bank in Pakistan, is the son of the late Taqi Usmani, a Shariah judge in Pakistan's Supreme Court who according to The Times "argues that Muslims should live peacefully in countries such as Britain, where they have the freedom to practise Islam, only until they gain enough power to engage in battle."<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGaag>
In 2007, Bokhari explained his work as follows: "We find ways to mitigate tax liability that are Shariah-compliant. We also advise on low to high-risk investment opportunities. For example, at the lower risk end of the scale we talk to life insurance companies to identify property funds that have no gearing and don't invest in such properties as nightclubs and casinos."<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMU9E>
== Public Service ==
Harris Bokhari was appointed as first honorary patron of HRH [[The Prince's Trust]] [[Mosaic Network]],<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGbek> where he is a National Advisory Board member.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VSXHRy> In 2013, he was among thirty-three philanthropists who had been honoured by the Beacon Awards for collectively giving more than £100m to charitable causes. He was awarded the Beacon Award for Philanthropy Advocate for raising £1m within 12 months for various charities working in deprived communities in the UK.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGcio>
Bokhari is also founder of the Naz Legacy Foundation,<ref>http://bit.ly/2VPmA0q> which was established in honour of the legacy of his father, Naz Bokhari, the first Muslim secondary school head-teacher in Britain.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGdms> The Naz Legacy Foundation received Prime Minister David Cameron's Big Society Award in 2014.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMVKK>
Bokhari's interfaith work has included organising the first ever engagement event between national community, women and youth leaders from the Jewish and Muslim communities meeting with the new Chief Rabbi in Finchley Kinloss Synagogue. He was one of the first Muslims to be invited to the Chief Rabbi's installation ceremony.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGbek> He also organised the first youth interfaith iftar at Lambeth Palace, which brought together the Archbishop of Canterbury, Chief Rabbi, Mayor of London and over 100 youth leaders from each of London's boroughs.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VPmA0q>
Bokhari was awarded an OBE in Her Majesty's Birthday Honours List in 2015, and was listed as an 'Equality Champion' in the Evening Standard's Progress 1000 list of most influential Londoners.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGfe4>
== Islamist ties ==
Bokhari is a former member of the [[Muslim Association of Britain]] (MAB), and acted as a spokesperson for the group for most of the first decade of the new millenium.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMWhM> <ref>http://bit.ly/2QPZ9k5> In the same period, he was a national affiliate representative for the [[Muslim Council of Britain]] from 2007-2008.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMWOO>
During this period of Bokhari's membership of MAB, the group is reported to have had direct ties to the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] and [[Hamas]], a proscribed terrorist group in the UK. At the time, MAB openly identified itself as an Islamist movement. In MAB's Inspire newspaper, produced for the 28 September 2002 anti-war demonstration, an article on the MAB's "Historical Roots and Background" links it explicitly to the Islamist tradition of the Muslim Brotherhood. At the UK [[Stop the War Coalition]] conference in January 2003, the [[Alliance for Workers Liberty]] moved a motion to dissociate from MAB. A MAB speaker, replying, said that MAB was proud to be associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Anas Altikriti replying in The Times (17 August 2004) to allegations that MAB is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood described MAB as "an independent British organisation" but admitted "links" with the Brotherhood, which he described as follows: "Links with others extend simply to shared ideas, values and expertise, in which the Brotherhood is indeed rich, with around eight decades of experience."<ref>http://bit.ly/2QKgqek>
According to [[Paul Goodman]] in [[The Telegraph]], MAB's founder Dr Kamal Helbawy admitted in 2005 "to still being a member of the Brotherhood and has been denied entry to America. It has also been alleged that Dr [[Azzam Tamimi]], its leader, issued communiqués on behalf of Hamas during the 1990s. His views on suicide bombing are unambiguous. Asked if he would carry out such an attack in Israel, he said: 'Sacrificing myself for Palestine is a noble cause. It is the straight way to pleasing God and I would do it if I had the opportunity.'"<ref>http://bit.ly/2VVjVm7>
By 2007, in his capacity of MAB spokesperson, Harris Bokhari was appointed Press Officer of the [[Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board]] (MINAB), which included MAB as one of MINAB's four core organisational members.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGh5G> One primary reason for MINAB's eventual failure according to a Leiden University study is the introduction of "more extreme Islamic views clashing with moderate Islamic views" within MINAB due to disagreements among its four organisational members including MAB, which appears to have been the source of some of these extremist views. According to MINAB member Mustafa Field, some groups in MINAB held "very conservative views on women, homosexuality." He also referred to some members potentially being "sympathetic to terrorists."<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMYpU>
== Support for [[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions]] ==
In his capacity as MAB's official spokesman, Harris Bokhari has been an active proponent of the [[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions]] (BDS) campaign against Israel. In 2002, Bokhari organised protests in London against Israel in which demonstrators carried placards comparing the Israeli Prime Minister to Adolf Hitler. The protest was described as having been "anti-Semitic".<ref>http://bit.ly/2QOiQZc>
At the protests, Bokhari called for a boycott of Israeli goods. Then Labour MP [[Jeremy Corbyn]] spoke at the march and among other things called for Israel's existence as a state not to be recognised. According to [[Ha'aretz]], "Organiser Harris Bokhari called for a boycott of Israeli goods while parliamentarian Jeremy Corbyn of the governing Labour Party urged the world to impose an arms embargo on the region and freeze diplomatic relations with Israel." Corbyn reportedly went on to tell the cheering crowd: "We must now say to the rest of the world, no arms, no money, no recognition and no support for Israel."<ref>http://bit.ly/2VQDHz0>
== Blaming British government for terrorism ==
In 2006, Bokhari defended the MAB for signing a letter warning that "current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in Britain and abroad". In his capacity as spokesperson for MAB, Bokhari told [[Socialist Worker]] magazine: "We have been saying that British foreign policy is a problem since day one, even before the war in Afghanistan", and warned that if British foreign policy did not change, terrorism on UK soil would be inevitable.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QKgn1X>
== Opposition to teaching British values ==
Bokhari also opposed the teaching of "core British values" in British citizenship classes on the grounds that terrorism is caused solely by Britain's foreign policy. He did not acknowledge that extremist ideology may play a role in radicalisation. Instead, he said the following in an interview with the BBC: "This is just another one of those knee-jerk reactions where we're not actually looking at the core problem. What was the reason why these people actually committed these disgusting acts? Unfortunately it was our foreign policy, it was the issue of the illegal war, the illegal occupation of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the continuing abuses of the Palestinian people, the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state. So I think until the government actually addresses these issues unfortunately we'll keep on having these problems in the UK particularly."<ref>https://bbc.in/2VUN010>
== Call for boycott of West ==
In February 2006, Bohkhari campaigned against the free speech rights of Western newspapers to publish and distribute the [[Danish cartoons]] of the Prophet Muhammed. He called for a global Muslim boycott of Western newspapers and companies: "We live in a democratic society and have the right to choose what we buy. International companies have an influence over governments and the media, and can also influence global politics. They have to understand that if they're going to cause offence, then we're not going to buy their products."<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLG4PW </ref>
== Anti-Ahmadiyya hate in 2010 political campaign ==
In 2010, Bokhari reportedly told a group of British Muslims to vote for [[Labour Party]] candidate [[Sadiq Khan]] instead of [[Liberal Democrat]] candidate Nasser Butt, a member of the [[Ahmadiyya]] sect. Bokhari's grounds for opposing Butt were based on questioning whether Butt was a Muslim due to his Ahmadiyya affiliation. "The majority of Muslims in this area are voting Lib Dem, because they think Nasser Butt is a Muslim," Bokhari told the room as the reason why Muslims should not vote for Butt. "You need to go into the community and take these posters down…. All you need to do is just look for Sadiq Khan, Labour Party, and just tick it… Whatever else you vote is up to you."<ref>http://bit.ly/2VRJ8Og>
Bokhari was reportedly implicated in a hate campaign against the Ahmadiyya community. After the election, Nasser Butt spoke out on how Khan's Muslim supporters had rallied around the Tooting Islamic Centre to campaign against the LibDem candidate purely due to his religion. A secret recording of a meeting at the Tooting mosque two days before polling revealed that the main voice for this sectarian approach was Harris Bokhari. He explicitly told Muslim attendees not to vote for Butt because of his Ahmadiyya affiliation, which meant, according to Bokhari, that he was not a Muslim. In the recording, Bokhari is heard to tell the audience: "The majority of Muslims in this area are voting Lib Dem, because they think Nasser Butt is a Muslim. If you don't go in and speak to them, they're not going to do it. They're fed up of hearing it from the imams. They want to hear it from you. They need to you go into the community and say 'Why are you supporting the Qadiani community?'"<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGkyo>
The Patchwork Foundation is a charity that aims to make politics more accessible to young people from disadvantaged and minority communities. The organisation engages young people from ethnic and faith communities in politics, and works with those from different socio-economic backgrounds to offer them involvement in civil society and democratic politics at various levels.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QMGKoa>
In 2017, Bokhari's Patchwork Foundation hosted a group of young people at the Labour Party Conference featuring Labour Party leader [[Jeremy Corbyn]], along with Shadow Ministers [[Emily Thornberry]] and [[Hilary Benn]].<ref>http://bit.ly/2VQeFQp> Over the years, Patchwork has hosted some 50 Labour MPs.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QKnjfz>
Through Patchwork, Bokhari has gone on to forge strong links with other political parties including the [[UK Conservative Party|Conservative Party]] and [[UK Liberal Democrats|Liberal Democrats]]. His charity has hosted senior Tories such as [[Chris Grayling]], [[Boris Johnson]] and [[Jeremy Hunt]].<ref>http://bit.ly/2VSidBP> His Board of Patrons includes longtime Tory MP John Bercow, the current Speaker of the House of Commons, as well as Tory campaign strategist [[Sir Lynton Crosby]],<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLG96c> who described Bokhari as "Captain Networker".<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMT5A>
== Career ==
Bokhari is a Partner at Ascension Wealth Management, a tax consultancy and investment advisory service targeted at wealthy Muslim clients to help them pay less tax in ways that are compliant with Shari'ah Law. In 2006, Bokhari was a manager at 1st Ethical London specialising in Shari'ah compliant investments.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLG9De> 1st Ethical was founded by [[Sufyan Ismail]], founder and former CEO of [[Muslim Engagement and Development]] (MEND), an organisation which campaigns against Islamophobia which has, however, been accused of Islamist ties.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMTCC>
While promoting a 1st Ethical product, Bokhari recommended the scholarship of Dr. Imran Usmani as "one of the world's leading Islamic finance scholars", whose input into the fund would give it "creditability." Dr Usmani, a Shariah Finance advisor at Meezan Bank in Pakistan, is the son of the late Taqi Usmani, a Shariah judge in Pakistan's Supreme Court who according to The Times "argues that Muslims should live peacefully in countries such as Britain, where they have the freedom to practise Islam, only until they gain enough power to engage in battle."<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGaag>
In 2007, Bokhari explained his work as follows: "We find ways to mitigate tax liability that are Shariah-compliant. We also advise on low to high-risk investment opportunities. For example, at the lower risk end of the scale we talk to life insurance companies to identify property funds that have no gearing and don't invest in such properties as nightclubs and casinos."<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMU9E>
== Public Service ==
Harris Bokhari was appointed as first honorary patron of HRH [[The Prince's Trust]] [[Mosaic Network]],<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGbek> where he is a National Advisory Board member.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VSXHRy> In 2013, he was among thirty-three philanthropists who had been honoured by the Beacon Awards for collectively giving more than £100m to charitable causes. He was awarded the Beacon Award for Philanthropy Advocate for raising £1m within 12 months for various charities working in deprived communities in the UK.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGcio>
Bokhari is also founder of the Naz Legacy Foundation,<ref>http://bit.ly/2VPmA0q> which was established in honour of the legacy of his father, Naz Bokhari, the first Muslim secondary school head-teacher in Britain.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGdms> The Naz Legacy Foundation received Prime Minister David Cameron's Big Society Award in 2014.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMVKK>
Bokhari's interfaith work has included organising the first ever engagement event between national community, women and youth leaders from the Jewish and Muslim communities meeting with the new Chief Rabbi in Finchley Kinloss Synagogue. He was one of the first Muslims to be invited to the Chief Rabbi's installation ceremony.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGbek> He also organised the first youth interfaith iftar at Lambeth Palace, which brought together the Archbishop of Canterbury, Chief Rabbi, Mayor of London and over 100 youth leaders from each of London's boroughs.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VPmA0q>
Bokhari was awarded an OBE in Her Majesty's Birthday Honours List in 2015, and was listed as an 'Equality Champion' in the Evening Standard's Progress 1000 list of most influential Londoners.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGfe4>
== Islamist ties ==
Bokhari is a former member of the [[Muslim Association of Britain]] (MAB), and acted as a spokesperson for the group for most of the first decade of the new millenium.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMWhM> <ref>http://bit.ly/2QPZ9k5> In the same period, he was a national affiliate representative for the [[Muslim Council of Britain]] from 2007-2008.<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMWOO>
During this period of Bokhari's membership of MAB, the group is reported to have had direct ties to the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] and [[Hamas]], a proscribed terrorist group in the UK. At the time, MAB openly identified itself as an Islamist movement. In MAB's Inspire newspaper, produced for the 28 September 2002 anti-war demonstration, an article on the MAB's "Historical Roots and Background" links it explicitly to the Islamist tradition of the Muslim Brotherhood. At the UK [[Stop the War Coalition]] conference in January 2003, the [[Alliance for Workers Liberty]] moved a motion to dissociate from MAB. A MAB speaker, replying, said that MAB was proud to be associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Anas Altikriti replying in The Times (17 August 2004) to allegations that MAB is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood described MAB as "an independent British organisation" but admitted "links" with the Brotherhood, which he described as follows: "Links with others extend simply to shared ideas, values and expertise, in which the Brotherhood is indeed rich, with around eight decades of experience."<ref>http://bit.ly/2QKgqek>
According to [[Paul Goodman]] in [[The Telegraph]], MAB's founder Dr Kamal Helbawy admitted in 2005 "to still being a member of the Brotherhood and has been denied entry to America. It has also been alleged that Dr [[Azzam Tamimi]], its leader, issued communiqués on behalf of Hamas during the 1990s. His views on suicide bombing are unambiguous. Asked if he would carry out such an attack in Israel, he said: 'Sacrificing myself for Palestine is a noble cause. It is the straight way to pleasing God and I would do it if I had the opportunity.'"<ref>http://bit.ly/2VVjVm7>
By 2007, in his capacity of MAB spokesperson, Harris Bokhari was appointed Press Officer of the [[Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board]] (MINAB), which included MAB as one of MINAB's four core organisational members.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGh5G> One primary reason for MINAB's eventual failure according to a Leiden University study is the introduction of "more extreme Islamic views clashing with moderate Islamic views" within MINAB due to disagreements among its four organisational members including MAB, which appears to have been the source of some of these extremist views. According to MINAB member Mustafa Field, some groups in MINAB held "very conservative views on women, homosexuality." He also referred to some members potentially being "sympathetic to terrorists."<ref>http://bit.ly/2VUMYpU>
== Support for [[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions]] ==
In his capacity as MAB's official spokesman, Harris Bokhari has been an active proponent of the [[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions]] (BDS) campaign against Israel. In 2002, Bokhari organised protests in London against Israel in which demonstrators carried placards comparing the Israeli Prime Minister to Adolf Hitler. The protest was described as having been "anti-Semitic".<ref>http://bit.ly/2QOiQZc>
At the protests, Bokhari called for a boycott of Israeli goods. Then Labour MP [[Jeremy Corbyn]] spoke at the march and among other things called for Israel's existence as a state not to be recognised. According to [[Ha'aretz]], "Organiser Harris Bokhari called for a boycott of Israeli goods while parliamentarian Jeremy Corbyn of the governing Labour Party urged the world to impose an arms embargo on the region and freeze diplomatic relations with Israel." Corbyn reportedly went on to tell the cheering crowd: "We must now say to the rest of the world, no arms, no money, no recognition and no support for Israel."<ref>http://bit.ly/2VQDHz0>
== Blaming British government for terrorism ==
In 2006, Bokhari defended the MAB for signing a letter warning that "current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in Britain and abroad". In his capacity as spokesperson for MAB, Bokhari told [[Socialist Worker]] magazine: "We have been saying that British foreign policy is a problem since day one, even before the war in Afghanistan", and warned that if British foreign policy did not change, terrorism on UK soil would be inevitable.<ref>http://bit.ly/2QKgn1X>
== Opposition to teaching British values ==
Bokhari also opposed the teaching of "core British values" in British citizenship classes on the grounds that terrorism is caused solely by Britain's foreign policy. He did not acknowledge that extremist ideology may play a role in radicalisation. Instead, he said the following in an interview with the BBC: "This is just another one of those knee-jerk reactions where we're not actually looking at the core problem. What was the reason why these people actually committed these disgusting acts? Unfortunately it was our foreign policy, it was the issue of the illegal war, the illegal occupation of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the continuing abuses of the Palestinian people, the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state. So I think until the government actually addresses these issues unfortunately we'll keep on having these problems in the UK particularly."<ref>https://bbc.in/2VUN010>
== Call for boycott of West ==
In February 2006, Bohkhari campaigned against the free speech rights of Western newspapers to publish and distribute the [[Danish cartoons]] of the Prophet Muhammed. He called for a global Muslim boycott of Western newspapers and companies: "We live in a democratic society and have the right to choose what we buy. International companies have an influence over governments and the media, and can also influence global politics. They have to understand that if they're going to cause offence, then we're not going to buy their products."<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLG4PW </ref>
== Anti-Ahmadiyya hate in 2010 political campaign ==
In 2010, Bokhari reportedly told a group of British Muslims to vote for [[Labour Party]] candidate [[Sadiq Khan]] instead of [[Liberal Democrat]] candidate Nasser Butt, a member of the [[Ahmadiyya]] sect. Bokhari's grounds for opposing Butt were based on questioning whether Butt was a Muslim due to his Ahmadiyya affiliation. "The majority of Muslims in this area are voting Lib Dem, because they think Nasser Butt is a Muslim," Bokhari told the room as the reason why Muslims should not vote for Butt. "You need to go into the community and take these posters down…. All you need to do is just look for Sadiq Khan, Labour Party, and just tick it… Whatever else you vote is up to you."<ref>http://bit.ly/2VRJ8Og>
Bokhari was reportedly implicated in a hate campaign against the Ahmadiyya community. After the election, Nasser Butt spoke out on how Khan's Muslim supporters had rallied around the Tooting Islamic Centre to campaign against the LibDem candidate purely due to his religion. A secret recording of a meeting at the Tooting mosque two days before polling revealed that the main voice for this sectarian approach was Harris Bokhari. He explicitly told Muslim attendees not to vote for Butt because of his Ahmadiyya affiliation, which meant, according to Bokhari, that he was not a Muslim. In the recording, Bokhari is heard to tell the audience: "The majority of Muslims in this area are voting Lib Dem, because they think Nasser Butt is a Muslim. If you don't go in and speak to them, they're not going to do it. They're fed up of hearing it from the imams. They want to hear it from you. They need to you go into the community and say 'Why are you supporting the Qadiani community?'"<ref>http://bit.ly/2QLGkyo>
January 15, 2019 at 12:58AM
