Monthly Archives: November 2006

‘Muslim law reaches Britain’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim Law is HereSecret courts imposing draconian Islamic justice are operating across Britain.

Last night politicians and religious leaders expressed outrage that sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in our society. The hardline Islamic law allows people to be stoned to death, beheaded or have their limbs amputated.

Critics insisted Labour was allowing a chaotic two-tier legal system to flourish in the name of political correctness. And legal experts warned that it meant the authority of British justice was being undermined.

Sharia law dates back to the 10th century. In some countries women are stoned to death for adultery or giving birth out of wedlock and thieves can have both arms amputated. In Saudi Arabia, murderers, rapists and drug traffickers are publicly beheaded with a sword. The Islamic law also deals in all aspects of daily life including marriage and divorce.

Yesterday experts insisted the Government had already allowed elements of sharia law to be introduced. The Treasury has brought in measures including interest-free loans and mortgages which comply with the Islamic law. But it was also alleged unofficial criminal courts are meting out their own justice.

The scandal was outlined on BBC Radio 4’s Law in Action programme which uncovered evidence that Muslims are using their own laws here.

Daily Express, 30 November 2006

For Osama Saeed’s comments, see Rolled Up Trousers, 30 November 2006

Residents use pig races to deter building of mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

There’s an awful lot of exciting news when you round the corner on Baker Road. One of two big yellow signs announces a new neighbor is coming soon. K.I.A., that’s the Katy Islamic Association, plan to build a mosque here. Craig Baker owns pigs. He’s the guy behind the second big yellow sign on Baker Road. That’s the one announcing Friday night pig races.

But aren’t pigs on the property line racing on a Friday night a little offensive to a Muslim neighbor? “The meat of a pig is prohibited in the religion of Islam,” said Katy Islamic Association member Youssof Allam. “It’s looked upon as a dirty creature.” Yeah, there’s that and also that Friday night is a Muslim holy day. “That is definitely a slap in the face,” said Allam.

abc13.com, 29 November 2006

UK Muslim leaders support grand mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

British Muslim leaders have expressed their full support for plans to build a grand mosque beside the Olympic Park in East London.

IslamOnline, 27 November 2006

Mad Mel, on the other hand, takes heart from reports that “Muslims themselves have now spoken out against the proposal and warned that the mosque will be a site for Islamist extremism”.

Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 28 November 2006

Survey finds support for veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

One in three people would support a ban on the Muslim face-covering veil in public places, a survey suggests. Asked if the veils should be prohibited in airports and at passport control, six out of 10 agreed. The survey was carried out for the BBC by ICM. Muslim groups say the figures may reflect public unease because of how the media has presented the veil.

Rajnaara Akhtar, of the Assembly for the Protection of the Hijab, said the findings were “positive” because it showed “the vast majority of people … believe women should be allowed to wear what they like”.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there was a common misconception that Muslim women who wore the face-covering veil had been forced to do so, whereas in reality only a “tiny, tiny minority” were forced. “What we, as Muslims, need to do is to ensure were are educating people on it and making sure that people do understand it is a choice,” she said. “We are living in Britain, which is a democratic society and the vast majority of people in this country promote that and respect that completely.”

BBC News, 29 October 2006

Sharia law is spreading, Telegraph warns

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The full headline in the print edition of the Torygraph reads “Sharia law is spreading as the authority of British justice wanes”. The article, by Joshua Rozenberg (Mr Melanie Phillips), reports on the findings of the BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action on the role of unofficial religious courts, which arbitrate over civil issues.

Not that you’d know it from the Torygraph report, but the programme also dealt with the role of Beth Din courts in the Jewish community (see here). Can you imagine what Melanie Phillips’ response would be if the paper ran a story with the headline “Jewish law is spreading as the authority of British justice wanes”?

Daily Telegraph, 29 November 2006

More media scaremongering over the ‘mega-mosque’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Abbey Mills Islamic Centre (2)Another day, another scaremongering “mega-mosque” article, this one from the freesheet thelondonpaper.

The latest twist, of course, is to claim that there is mass opposition from Muslims to Tablighi Jamaat building an Islamic centre at Abbey Mills.

Haras Rafiq, who was involved in organising the petition against the proposed Abbey Mills markaz, is quoted as saying: “Muslims in the area are concerned their children will become involved in an extremist ideology. People will come from around the world to try to get more people involved with Tablighi Jamaat. It is ridiculous that that they are looking for Government funding for this – it should be totally out of the question. This organisation is dangerous.”

Yes, that’s undoubtedly the same Haras Rafiq who was responsible for forming the fraudulent, unrepresentative, New-Labour-loving, neocon-promoting, so-called Sufi Muslim Council.

And what is a businessman from Rochdale doing organising a campaign in West Ham, you might ask? Well, bear in mind that Haras Rafiq launched the SMC on the back of an anti-MCB witch-hunting TV documentary by the appalling Martin Bright, and that he echoed the right-wing press by accusing representative Muslim organisations like the MCB of not doing enough to combat terrorism. This is a man whose speciality is to align himself with the worst sections of the Islamophobic media in denouncing his co-religionists.

So at least we now have a clearer picture of the forces behind the “Muslim campaign” against the Abbey Mills Islamic centre. They’re the Sufi Muslim Council, Stephen Schwartz’s Center for Islamic Pluralism (for the origins of which see here) and Minhaj-ul-Quran.

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New research debunks myth of ‘Muslim ghettos’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ludi SimpsonOne of New Labour’s favourite propaganda lines – the idea that there are Muslim “ghettos” that radicalise young Muslims and create terrorists – has been exposed as a myth.

Only this week Trevor Phillips, head of the Commission for Racial Equality, claimed that there was a “crisis” over areas of Britain “becoming more and more ethnically concentrated and exclusive”. But research produced this month shows that British Muslims in towns and cities with a large Muslim populations are no more likely to be charged under anti-terrorism legislation than those who don’t.

Population expert Dr Ludi Simpson analysed media reports to map the location of suspects charged under Britain’s anti-terror laws. “We looked at 75 cases of Muslims charged under anti-terrorist legislation from 2004 to the present day,” he told Socialist Worker. “Their location is spread pretty evenly across all the places Muslims live. It’s not in any way restricted to areas where there are large Muslim populations. Branding a particular area as a hotbed of terrorism is immensely damaging and it creates prejudice and fear. It’s just a fantasy.”

Simpson also challenges the notion that Britain is “sleepwalking into segregation”. In fact the number of ethnically mixed neighbourhoods is on the rise. “Politicians look at areas where there are visible groups of black or Asian people and interpret that to mean that there are ghettos. In reality it is population growth,” he said.

Socialist Worker, 2 December 2006

Read a summary of Ludi Simpson’s research here.

More anti-Muslim witch-hunting from Michael Gove

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tory MP Michael Gove manages to have a go at the Finsbury Party mosque, the East London mosque, the Dewsbury mosque and the proposed Abbey Mills mosque, all in one short parliamentary speech. He did tell the House of Commons that some mosques are “exemplary houses of instruction that provide spiritual nourishment to our fellow citizens” – though where these mosques are to be found he didn’t say.

Hansard, 27 November 2006

See also ConservativeHome, 28 November 2006