I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. This is what happens when you appoint one man as the representative of 300,000 Muslims: every word he has ever said and will say is analysed, politicised and/or given an importance surpassing what it would ordinarily receive. Every word that Sheikh Fehmi has ever uttered on the public record, every letter of support he has written to the Immigration Review Tribunal, every lecture ever held at the sheikh’s mosque, and every other detail of the sheikh’s life is going to be scrutinised by those with an interest in selling papers or selling a particular agenda. This is one of the many reasons why this position of mufti should have been abolished. Sheikh Fehmi is a decent man who has, over many decades, served Islam and the Muslims of this country. He deserves better than this.