Today in Manchester, thousands of UK Muslims will attend ExpoIslamia, a convention whose stated goal is to “present Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims in its clearest and most original form.”

A featured speaker at the convention will be the infamous Azzam Tamimi, whose raving and shrieking about jihad was captured on video, and who openly advocates suicide-bombing advocate" target="_blank">
suicide-bombing advocate” target=”_blank”>suicide bombing. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

“Whilst a few espouse a ‘Clash of Civilizations,’ the vast majority who believe in the innate goodness of humanity need to raise their voice,” the organizers say on their website.

Among the guest speakers are several imams, Muslim community activists and leaders of national Muslim organizations.

Mohammed Abdul Bari, Muslim Council of Britain secretary general, was one of the “moderate” signers of an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair last week that linked the thwarted terror plot to blow up airplanes over the Atlantic with British foreign policy positions in the Mideast.

A second speaker is Yvonne Ridley, a former British journalist who converted to Islam 30 months after being captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. She also sits on the national council of Respect, a UK political party, and stood as a Respect candidate in the last general election.

“[Respect] is a Zionist-free party,” she declared at a meeting earlier this year. “If there was any Zionism in the Respect Party, they would be hunted down and kicked out. We have no time for Zionists.”

She criticized government support “towards that disgusting little watchdog of America that is festering in the Middle East” and promised that a Respect victory would mean the raising of the Palestinian flag in the UK.

Zakir Naik, 40, an Indian doctor, is also scheduled to address ExpoIslamia. Naik, a frequent lecturer, has reportedly declared that it is blasphemous for Muslims to wish Christians a Merry Christmas because doing so acknowledges Jesus as a son of God.