Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3246140.stm
On November 28, 2003 the BBC News reported, "The Islamic college searched in connection with the arrest of Sajid Badat has expressed shock at the detention of a former pupil it had seen as conscientious. Abdus Samed Ahmed, head of the College of Islamic Knowledge and Guidance in Blackburn, said Mr. Badat had been a good student. 'I was stunned to find a former student has been allegedly linked with al-Qaeda,' [he said]...Ibrahim Master, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques...had earlier defended the college as promoting good citizenship. 'This college provides both religious and secular education and as such we promote at all times good citizenship, community harmony, tolerance and respect for other religious values so that students engage with the rest of society in a civil and positive manner,' he said in a statement immediately after the search."