Birmingham’s most senior Muslim leader yesterday compared the political situation in Britain to that of Nazi Germany.

Mohammad Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, said that Muslims were being labelled as a threat like the Jews were under Adolf Hitler.

Speaking outside the mosque before Friday prayers, Dr Naseem said that Britain was turning into a police state, and accused the Government of “picking on” the Muslim community to pursue a political goal. “The German people were told Jews were a threat. The same thing is happening here,” he said.

Dr Naseem described the terror arrests in the city as an example of the Government justifying its political agenda and antiterrorism laws. “This is a persecuting course of action that the Government has taken. They have invented this perception of a threat. To justify that, they have to maintain incidents to prove something is going on. There is dismay and people feel they are being persecuted unjustly.

“There is no reason for that. If there is a reason, the process should be open and for everybody to see what is happening.”

He called on police either to charge the nine men being detained or release them. “People are upset,” he went on. “If there is evidence either charge them or release them.

“If they [the police] have been working on this for six months, what is the delay?”

Were it proved that the men were a threat, the community would accept that, he added.

“I do trust the West Midlands Police — but the orders are coming from the political establishment. Blair is under suspicion himself.

“I am asking people to be calm. They [the community] believe they have been wrongly arrested — they can’t see the reason for it. That is why people are upset.”

Thousands gathered to hear Dr Naseem during Friday prayers. Many believe that the arrests could be a repeat of those in Forest Gate last summer, when a man was shot in the shoulder as police searched his home for traces of a chemical weapon. He and his brother were released without charge and no evidence of a chemical weapon was found.

One worshipper, Asrar Ah-mad, 52, said the Muslim community was being used as a scapegoat. Referring to the arrests, he said: “There is a saying that creating fear controls the public. I think it is just creating fear.”

Suhail Shahzad, 44, who owns a telecommunications business, said: “People are getting the wrong ideas about Muslims — we are a very peaceful religion. Yes there are one or two bad people but you get that in any walk of life. We must stop the vilification of Muslims.”

When asked if he thought the treatment of Muslims could be compared to that of the Jews in Nazi Germany, he added: “Yes, I am afraid that is what it has come to.”

Shabir Hussain, a preacher at the Ludlow Road mosque in the heart of the Alum Rock area of the city, where many of the raids were carried out, said it was vital that calm was maintained. “We are telling the people here to go home and pray for justice. This community is very angry and feels victimised,” he said.

He added that after the raids on Wednesday he had been repeatedly called “Paki” by racists. He now feared the mosque would be targeted by those who wrongly feel that all Muslims are terrorists.

Allah Ditta, another senior and respected member of the community who was attending prayers at the Ludlow mosque, said: “We fear racist attacks. We don’t want any riots. We have worked hard to build the community here and we don’t want it wrecked because of these raids. The question remains: how many will be charged?

“The general feeling is one of fear. People are asking themselves: ‘Who will be next and is this another Forest Gate?’.”

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, former leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, commented: “I wouldn’t have used the Nazi reference but I know from the number of calls that we are getting that people are really disturbed by the onslaught on the Muslim community.”

Sir Iqbal said that much offence had been caused by David Cameron’s speech comparing Muslims who seek to live under Islamic law to supporters of the British National Party. “Opinion polls have been created giving a bleak picture of Muslim views which do not represent the majority. We are now having trial by media of the men who have been arrested but not charged. The main-stream Muslim organisations and community are being demonised and are under siege.”

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