The firebrand leader of an extremist Islamic group that called for ‘jihad’ at an anti-Israel protest works as an NHS GP under a different name, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
As head of Hizb ut-Tahrir in the UK, Abdul Wahid celebrated the barbaric Hamas terror attacks that slaughtered 1,400 Jewish men, women and children earlier this month as a ‘very welcome punch on the nose’ to Israel.
But he has also spent more than 20 years practising as a family doctor under his real name, Dr Wahid Asif Shaida.
Last night his shocked patients in the London suburb of Harrow said they had no idea about the double life of their well-spoken, privately educated GP.
Hizb ut-Tahrir caused outrage last weekend when members chanted ‘jihad’ during a rally outside the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in London and called for ‘Muslim armies’ to attack Israel.
Dr Wahid Shaida, aka Abdul Wahid, pictured, celebrated the barbaric Hamas terror attacks that slaughtered 1,400 Jewish men
He has also spent more than 20 years practising as a family doctor under his real name. Some people have questioned his ability to properly provide care for Jewish people after the revelations
Hizb ut-Tahrir caused outrage last weekend when members chanted ‘jihad’ during a rally outside the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in London and called for ‘Muslim armies’ to attack Israel
Wahid told the baying crowd: ‘Victory is coming and everyone has to choose a side. Whose side are you going to be on?’
Another senior member of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) – a group banned in Germany and a dozen other nations – asked supporters: ‘What is the solution to liberate people in the concentration camp called Palestine?’
They chanted back: ‘Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!’
Home Secretary Suella Braverman criticised the police for not arresting the men. But Met chief Sir Mark Rowley insisted no crime had been committed as ‘jihad’ had meanings other than calling for holy war.
After the protest, Wahid was back at work at Welbeck Road Surgery, a short stroll from his £850,000 semi-detached home, where he has practised since 2002. He has a senior role at the surgery as a mentor and trainer for recently-qualified doctors, according to its website.
But some patients told the MoS his leadership of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain called into question whether he was capable of fairly treating Jewish, female or gay patients.
Our revelations come as the Israel-Hamas war intensifies. Yesterday:
Israel pounded Gaza with air strikes and artillery fire as tanks and troops rolled into the besieged enclave;
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address that Israeli troops had entered the ‘evil stronghold’ of Hamas and vowed to bring home the 229 hostages taken on October 7, but warned: ‘This will be a long war’;
Israel Defence Forces said strikes had taken out two senior Hamas commanders, including an air chief who masterminded the use of armed paragliders in the attacks;
UK diplomats held urgent talks with Qatari counterparts – who have been acting as a conduit between Hamas and the West – to try to secure the release of the seven British hostages, and the evacuation of 200 Britons from under-siege Gaza;
Footage showed squads of Palestinians on suicide missions swooping over the border on the aircraft. At least 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, were murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7
Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters marched on the streets of Britain for the third weekend running, with many again carrying offensive and anti-Semitic placards, chanting anti-Jewish slogans and some holding baby dolls covered in fake blood;
Labour leader Keir Starmer faced a revolt from up to half of his MPs who demanded he join their calls for a ceasefire.
After Hamas gunmen carried out their murderous attacks earlier this month, the Facebook page of Wahid’s HT group hailed the atrocity as having ‘ignited a wave of joy and elation among Muslims globally’.
Days later, Wahid gave a talk on YouTube, praising the ‘brave mujahideen’, or jihad fighters, who ‘gave the enemy a punch on the nose, and it’s a very welcome punch on the nose’.
The Government has faced repeated calls to ban HT, which wants the whole Islamic world to unite under one leader, and for Britain to fall under the rule of that ‘caliph’. Wahid has been the leader of the UK group for at least 17 years, but has, until now, managed to keep his NHS career hidden.
More than 100,000 people turned out onto the streets of London on Saturday
Last week our reporters tracked him to a house in Harrow where we established that he was really called Dr Shaida.
He qualified as a doctor in 1991 after studying in London. Before that he was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School in Northwood, near Harrow, where fees are now £25,000 a year and whose old boys include comedian Michael McIntyre, and Clive of India.
Last night, Dr Shaida confirmed he was also known as Abdul Wahid but denied his HT group was ‘extremist’, saying the word does not have an agreed meaning and is used as a ‘pejorative term.’ He added: ‘I attend to my professional duties and commitments diligently, aiming for the best care of my patients at all times. For reasons of professional probity I keep a very clear line between my professional and political life.’
He said his group was calling on the Muslim world to intervene militarily to rescue the people of Gaza ‘who have been subjected to horrific conditions for 16 years’.
However, patients leaving his North West London surgery were shocked to hear their GP was the leader of a hardline Islamist group. Tony Ryan, 80, a retired rail worker, said: ‘That’s scandalous, a man of his position should know better. The surgery should have a word with him, and if he does not stop, they should part ways.’
Israeli troops give a thumbs-up to a photographer as they pass through the border town of Sderot, less than a kilometre from Gaza
People gather amid the destruction around the Al-Shatee camp on Saturday after the latest round of bombardments
A security source also questioned if Wahid would follow his legal duty as a GP to report patients with signs of extremism to the Prevent anti-terror scheme, saying: ‘What guarantee is there he will refer extremists when he himself is one?’
Professor Anthony Glees, a terrorism expert, added: ‘A GP who glorifies Islamic extremism like this not only puts his patients at risk, but is a risk to national security.’
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, added that Wahid needed to declare his HT role to patients ‘and let them make a choice on whether they want to see him’.
The General Medical Council, which has the power to strike doctors from the register, said in a statement: ‘We cannot confirm whether we are investigating a doctor unless they have been interim suspended or have interim conditions following a hearing at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
‘When a serious concern is raised, we investigate to determine whether patient safety, or the public’s confidence in the medical profession, is at risk.’
Experts believe HT, which does not recognise the UK’s legal system, has several thousand members. Ex-members have said it behaves like a ‘cult’, a claim repeated in Parliament.