- Flyers also stuck to cars and lamp posts in Tower Hamlets, east London
- Some leaflets warned 'None have the right to legislate except Allah'
- Police posted outside polling stations in the borough were removing them
- Hate preacher Anjem Choudary also urged people not to vote, taking to Twitter with the hashtag #StayMuslimDontVote
Muslims were urged to boycott the election by extremists who posted intimidating leaflets near polling stations warning that voting is a sin.
Flyers calling on people to 'reject democracy' and declaring that 'none have the right to legislate except Allah' were handed out and fixed to car windscreens and lamp posts in Tower Hamlets.
It came as hate preacher Anjem Choudary took to Twitter using the hashtag
#StayMuslimDontVote in a string of posts urging his followers not to vote.
Muslims were urged to boycott the election yesterday by extremists who warned in intimidating leaflets dished out and put up near polling stations that voting is a sin
Flyers calling on people to 'reject democracy' and declaring that 'none have the right to legislate except Allah' were handed out and affixed to car windscreens and lamp posts
In Luton, voters heading to polling stations were met by campaigners bearing posters which read: 'Voting in the General Elections is shirk. Greatest Crime against Allah.'
The radical cleric wrote: 'When MPs Wage war on Muslims Legalise haram Allow Insulting of the Prophet It’ll be on the neck of both voter & votee #StayMuslimDontVote.' [sic]
He added: 'Instead of voting to legislate laws & becoming Mushrik why not fulfil the sunnah of the Prophet(saw) & call for Shariah?#StayMuslimDontVote'.
In Luton, voters heading to polling stations were met by campaigners bearing posters which read: 'Voting in the General Elections is shirk. Greatest Crime against Allah.'
Leaflets and stickers had also been distributed around the town.
People living in Tower Hamlets said they had woken up yesterday morning to find the professional-looking leaflets under their car windscreen wipers.
Others had been stuck to lamp posts, while more were being handed out in person.
This leaflet warning people not to vote had been left on a car in Tower Hamlets yesterday
A sticker warning against voting had been placed on a lamp post outside this church in Luton
One read: 'None have the right to legislate except Allah. Appointing an MP as a legislator is shirk (polytheism)', while another said: 'Warning. Voting for man-made law is shirk associating with Allah.'
Shirk means the sin of worshipping someone other than Allah, and is forbidden under Islam.
One of the flyers also featured the hashtag ‘#StayMuslimDontVote’ and said: 'None have the right to legislate except Allah.'
It continued: 'Democracy is a system whereby man violates the right of Allah and decides what is permissible or impermissible for mankind, based solely on their whims and desires.
'This leads to a decayed and degraded society where crime and immorality becomes widespread and injustice becomes the norm.
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary took to Twitter using the hashtag #StayMuslimDontVote in a string of posts urging his followers not to vote
'Islam is the only real, working solution for the UK.'
Police officers, who had been stationed outside polling stations in the east London borough, were removing the flyers.
Michael Barry, who lives on one of the targeted streets in Poplar, said: 'They’ re here every election, telling you not to vote, saying they don’t benefit you.'
Members of the area's Muslim community said they were repulsed by the leaflets.
Isa Abdi, a Muslim who lives on the same street as Mr Barry, said: 'I’ve already voted. I live in this country and it’s right that I vote.
'These people are narrow-minded. I don’t think they represent the Muslim community, they’re crazy.
'If they think like that they should go and live in another country.'
Labour councillor Doros Ullah, told the Daily Telegraph that he blamed 'a small group in the area who are giving a bad name to the Muslim community'.
He added: 'We are talking about some disgruntled individuals who did this secretly and covertly, before running off.'
Another Labour councillor, Reggie Ahmed said voters should not be put off by the flyers.
He said: 'According to the Koran, everyone should obey the law of the land in which they live. So if you’re living in the UK, you should feel free to vote and exercise your democratic right.'
Police officers, who had been stationed outside polling stations in the east London borough, were removing the flyers
Peter Golds, leader of the Tower Hamlets Conservative group, said similar leaflets had been handed out in the borough at previous elections.
'It is absolutely tragic,' he told the Evening Standard. 'We have seen too many of these leaflets bringing religion into politics.
'The election is a secular act - people are invited to vote for their government to pass for everybody not just one religion.'
Similar posters had appeared earlier this year in Leicester and the Welsh town of Grangetown.
A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: 'Police are aware of these leaflets in circulation and are working with the Electoral Commission.'
More than 300 officers were guarding polling stations in Tower Hamlets, which has been rocked by an electoral fraud scandal.
A High Court judgment branded a council election which took place last year corrupt and illegal and disgraced mayor Lutfur Rahman thrown out of office.
The two constituencies within the borough returned Labour MPs in yesterday's election.
Rushanara Ali won in Bethnal Green and Bow with 32,387 votes, a majority of 24,311. There was a 64.29 per cent turn out in the borough.
Jim Fitzpatrick was elected in Poplar and Limehouse with 29, 886 votes, 16,924 more than his nearest rival. There was a 62.44 per cent turn out.
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