26 April 2012 – updated 07 Sep 2021
Exclusive: George Galloway’s conversion to Islam
Jemima Khan, in an interview with the Bradford MP, reveals the background to his Muslim conversion.
In a wide-ranging interview in this week’s issue of the New Statesman, George Galloway MP talks about his spectacular by-election victory, Ed Miliband’s fortunes, Middle East dictators and mass unemployment. Interviewer Jemima Khan also exclusively reveals the background to Galloway’s conversion to Islam:
George Galloway, MP for Bradford West, is a Muslim. He converted more than ten years ago in a ceremony at a hotel in Kilburn, north-west London, attended by members of the Muslim Association of Great Britain. Those close to him know this. The rest of the world, including his Muslim constituents, does not.
Over a halal, alcohol-free lunch at a cafe on Bradford’s main high street, Khan tells Galloway: “I know someone who attended your shahadah [the Muslim conversion ceremony].”
He stares at me across the table, penetrating blue eyes squinted, pausing for the first time in an hour. His special adviser, a glossy-haired Asian Pakistani called Ayesha, looks into her daal while his new bride, Gayatri Pertiwi – a Dutch-born Muslim of Indonesian descent 30 years his junior, seated beside him throughout the interview – smiles at me.
George and Gayatri performed the nikah, the Muslim marriage ceremony, four weeks ago at the Royal Theatre in Amsterdam, the day after his sensational and unexpected victory in Bradford. This means, presumably, that they are unmarried under British law. Galloway has had two previous Muslim marriages (and this marriage to Gayatri is his fourth marriage in total). However, a Muslim woman is not permitted to marry a non-Muslim man under Islamic law – although the other way round is allowed.
Khan and Galloway were scheduled to meet at the local mosque for juma (Friday) prayers, “where Galloway usually meets the community each week, but the plan was cancelled when it transpired that I was coming with a photographer”. Although Galloway denies it was only the Muslim vote that won him the Bradford seat, Khan writes:
Galloway may have successfully out-Muslimed Labour’s Muslim British-Pakistani candidate, Imran Hussain, during the election campaign, with his speeches full of “inshallahs”, his invocations of the Quran – “the people who invaded and destroyed Iraq . . . will burn in the hell-fires of Hell” – and his smattering of Arabic words: “We stand for justice and haq [truth].” Pamphlets were distributed declaring: “God knows who is a Muslim and he knows who is not. Instinctively, so do you . . . I, George Galloway, do not drink alcohol and never have.” (Galloway has denied he was responsible for these.)
In the media, Galloway is often referred to as a Catholic. However, as Khan finds, the Muslim constituents of Bradford knew otherwise:
There must have been some white constituents in Bradford, who, although natural Labour supporters, preferred to vote for the white Catholic candidate rather than the brown Muslim one representing Labour. Meanwhile, his Muslim constituents delighted in the hints – “a Muslim is somebody who is not afraid of earthly power but who fears only the Judgement Day. I’m ready for that, I’m working for that and it’s the only thing I fear.” Many favoured a possible or a potential Muslim over a “lapsed” one, such as Labour’s Hussain, who, Galloway claimed in his campaign, was “never out of the pub”.
Update, 14.30
George Galloway has released a statement about the interview. The New Statesman responds:
“It is notable that Galloway does not deny being a Muslim convert – and he did not deny it when it was put to him at the time of the interview, which is on tape. Contrary to his press release, nor did he deny that the ceremony took place when it was put to him during the interview. This is also on tape. Furthermore, he failed to clarify how, by his own admission, he had a ‘nikah’ (a Muslim marriage ceremony), despite the fact that a non-Muslim man cannot marry a Muslim woman under Islamic law. As for calling his ‘secretary’ his ‘special adviser’, this is how she asked to be described in an email to Jemima Khan.”
George Galloway denies Jemima Khan’s claims of Muslim conversion ceremony
This article is more than 11 years old
Khan’s claim in New Statesman article that Galloway converted in north London 10 years ago is ‘categorically untrue’, he says
Thu 26 Apr 2012 15.30 CEST
George Galloway has denied claims made by Jemima Khan in the New Statesman that he converted to Islam in a ceremony in London more than 10 years ago.
The newly elected MP for Bradford West does not deny being a Muslim, but says Khan’s claim of a conversion in a hotel in Kilburn, north-west London, is “simply and categorically untrue”.
Galloway is often asked about his faith but refuses to answer, saying his religion is a “personal matter” of no import to his political activities. He recently married his fourth wife in what has been reported was a Muslim ceremony in Amsterdam.
In a statement entitled “The Staggers has fallen on its face”, Galloway responded to the New Statesman piece by saying: “The opening paragraph of Jemima Khan’s piece in the New Statesman [referring to an alleged conversion ceremony] is totally untrue. Moreover, I told her it was fallacious when she put it to me. I have never attended any such ceremony in Kilburn, Karachi or Kathmandu. It is simply and categorically untrue.”
Khan’s piece starts with the claim that Galloway converted at a ceremony attended by members of the Muslim Association of Britain. “Those close to him know this. The rest of the world, including his Muslim constituents, does not,” writes Khan. She goes on to describe Galloway’s reaction when she told him someone she knew also attended the “shahadah” conversion ceremony, claiming he did not respond, instead staring at her across the table and then getting up to leave the interview.
On Thursday, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain said he had not heard of any such ceremony taking place in the presence of his members. Mohamed Kozbar, from the north London branch, said: “I’ve never heard anything about that. I don’t know if George Galloway is a Muslim, but he is supportive of the Muslim community.”
In his rebuttal, Galloway accuses Khan of reporting “deliberate falsehoods” and making “schoolgirl howlers which would earn banishment from a first-year journalism class”.
He said: “For instance, she misspells the name of my ‘glossy haired’ secretary, who is not my special assistant. Snidely, she claims that I have a slow and over-enunciated delivery – even then she failed to pick up the facts! – and, absurdly, says that’s because I have a Glasgow accent which would require subtitles for those for whom English isn’t a first language. Putting aside the regional and racial slurs and the cloth ear for accents, I’m from Dundee! Which most of the rest of the world knows, but certainly the entire British press corps. I could go on.”
Galloway is demanding a retraction from the New Statesman.
The New Statesman said in a statement: “It is notable that Galloway does not deny being a Muslim convert – and he did not deny it when it was put to him at the time of the interview, which is on tape. Contrary to his press release, nor did he deny that the ceremony took place when it was put to him during the interview. This is also on tape. Furthermore, he failed to clarify how, by his own admission, he had a “nikah” (a Muslim marriage ceremony), despite the fact that a non-Muslim man cannot marry a Muslim woman under Islamic law. As for calling his “secretary” his “special adviser”, this is how she asked to be described in an email to Jemima Khan.”
Khan added: “As for his Glasgow accent, he was MP for the city for 18 years, but if he disagrees that he picked up any inflection while there, we’ll happily run a letter to that effect.”
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 