Author Archives: Bob Pitt

What ‘Dave’ learnt about Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David CameronTory party leader David Cameron does a rewrite of his blog about his stay with a Muslim family in Birmingham. This one is pitched at a liberal audience, so he omits the stuff about Muslims being in denial about 7/7. Yes, it’s yet another example of Cameron trying to be all things to all people.

Observer, 14 May 2007

Amazingly, Cameron does have his admirers in the Muslim communities, despite his track record of anti-Muslim rhetoric. See for example here, here, here, here, here and here. Or try putting “David Cameron” into the search engine on this site.

Madeleine Bunting interviews Ed Husain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It is as if, just as Husain once swallowed large chunks of Hizb ut-Tahrir propaganda, he now seems to have swallowed undigested the prevailing critique of British Muslims. He has no truck with the idea of Islamophobia, which he dismisses as the squeal of an Islamist leadership pleading special favours; he criticises Asian racism and castigates Muslims ‘who go back home to get married’ and produce ‘another generation confused about home’. On issues such as segregation, he is confident it is the fault of multiculturalism….

“One suspects the naivety which took him into Hizb-ut Tahrir has blinded him as to how his story will be used to buttress positions hostile to many things he holds dear – his own faith and racial tolerance, for example. A glance at the blog response to a Husain piece in the Telegraph reveals how rightwing racism and anti-Islamic sentiment are feasting on his testimony.”

Madeleine Bunting in the Guardian, 12 May 2007

For “left” support for Husain (from the AWL’s Jim Denham) see Shiraz Socialist, 12 May 2007

For right-wing support see Jihad Watch, 2 May 2007 and Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 13 May 2007

North Carolina church’s sign against Islam sparks controversy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

North Carolina church sign (1)

Words like “bomb” and “die” draw attention to the small sign in front of Good News Independent Baptist Church.

Rev. Gary Murrell put up the sign, which on one side claims the message of Islam is “submit, convert or die.” The other side reads: “When is the last time you heard of a Jew or Christian with a bomb strapped to their body?”

Despite some in the Islamic community who claim the sign is offensive, Murrell says it is not a hate sign. “It was not put up there with the purpose of showing that we hate those people,” he said. “It’s not the people, it’s the religion.”

Murrell says it is a violent religion compared to Christianity. But not everyone agrees.

“I would really say that the actions of one individual really do not represent the Islamic faith,” said Debbie Jaunich, with the Islamic Center of Raleigh. “The Islamic faith really calls for peace.”

“It’s sad to see that we still have this kind of ignorance in the community about the Islamic faith,” she added. Murrell says he is trying to make people think but Jaunich said she thinks it breeds discrimination and bigotry.

“The point is that their salvation is in Jesus Christ, not in the Islamic faith,” Murrell said. “I am not trying to be a bigot. I’m not. I don’t hate those people.”

Murrell says the sign has been up for about a week and that he plans to change it this weekend.

But discussion about the message will likely continue. The Islamic Center of Raleigh is inviting Murrell and his congregation for a visit to learn more about Islam.

WRAL, 11 May 2007

North Carolina church sign (2)

‘One in 10 Muslims are in 7/7 denial’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Evening Standard puts a predictable spin on David Cameron’s blog about his stay with a Muslim family in Balsall Heath.

It’s not hard to identify a considerable degree of political cynicism here on the part of the Tory leader. Cameron must have been well aware that the right-wing press would highlight this particular aspect of his article, reinforcing his appeal to hardcore Tory voters. But at the same he tries to cosy up to Muslim communities by making some progressive-sounding criticisms of the misuse of the phrase “Islamist terrorists” and of the general anti-Muslim bias in the media.

Anyone tempted to fall for Cameron’s BS should read this article by Soumaya Ghannoushi.

What is a ‘Muslim Reformer’? SANE explains

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Victorious AmericaDavid Yerushalmi of the Society of Americans for National Existence (yes, that does produce the laughably inappropriate acronym SANE) explains why there are no moderate Muslims and why “Muslim Reformers” like Ayaan Hirsi Ali should be supported instead:

“The mythical ‘moderate’ Muslim … the Muslim who embraces traditional Islam but wants a peaceful coexistence with the West, is effectively non-existent … because he chooses to remain within traditional Shari’a-based Islam, where the Ulamā or Islamic legal scholars, and the Muftoon (singular: Mufti) who issue fatawa (singular: fatwa) or legal edicts, reign supreme together with the lesser mullahs, imams, and maulvis. A ‘moderate’ among these men will simply be shouted down, coerced into silence, or murdered. In contrast, the Muslim Reformer takes the proper position that Islam as it was created, as it has existed for 1,300 years, and as it exists now, is an evil political ideology the goal of which is a worldwide Islamic Caliphate.”

Intellectual Conservative, 10 May 2007

BNP announces candidate for London Mayor

Posted on by Bob Pitt

St George and Dragon“The man from the BNP breezes up in a white linen suit looking like some latter-day Martin Bell and says: ‘Can you believe it? Two of our schools are having Muslim days tomorrow – on 7/7! It’s like chucking mud in people’s faces’.”

The man from the BNP is Richard Barnbrook, who the fascists have just announced will be their candidate in next May’s London mayoral election.

For a picture of Barnbrook leading the massed ranks of the Master Race, see here. You do wonder whether this is part of some cunning plan by Nick Griffin to deflect accusations that his members are dangerous fascists by making them look like total prats.

The Islamification of Blackstock Road

Posted on by Bob Pitt

HitchensChristopher Hitchens describes his visit to Finsbury Park:

“Returning to the old place after a long absence, I found that it was the scent of Algeria that now predominated along the main thoroughfare of Blackstock Road. This had had a good effect on the quality of the coffee and the spiciness of the grocery stores. But it felt odd, under the gray skies of London, to see women wearing the veil, and even swathed in the chador or the all-enveloping burka. Many of these Algerians, Bangladeshis, and others are also refugees from conflict in their own country. Indeed, they have often been the losers in battles against Middle Eastern and Asian regimes which they regard as insufficiently Islamic. Quite unlike the Irish and the Cypriots, they bring these far-off quarrels along with them. And they also bring a religion which is not ashamed to speak of conquest and violence.”

Vanity Fair, June 2007

Hitch further complains that “Blair’s government has appeased leading Muslim apologists by inviting them to join ‘commissions’ to investigate the 7/7 attacks, and thus awarding them credibility well beyond their deserts. A preposterous and sinister individual named Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain and a man with a public record of support for Osama bin Laden, was made a convener of Blair’s task force on extremism despite his stated belief that the BBC and the rest of the media are ‘Zionist controlled’.”

See also the accompanying interview with Hitchens.

Hidden toll of Scots religious hate crime

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nearly half of Scotland’s police forces have no idea about the number of religious hate incidents reported in their area.

Despite the west of Scotland’s problems with sectarianism and growing concerns over Islamophobia in the wake of the 7 July terror attacks in London, Strathclyde Police does not track crimes linked to faith. Neither the Fife nor Dumfries and Galloway force compiles such statistics. However, police in other areas have been collating them for up to a decade.

Community leaders expressed concerns yesterday, claiming little action could be taken to address religious hatred until the true picture was known. Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: “There is a climate of fear of Islam and general tension about the international situation. Until you know the scale of the problem, you can’t tackle it.”

Scotsman, 9 May 2007

The Little Bulldogs blog takes the opportunity to repeat false allegations against Osama Saeed which Osama himself rebutted at the time.

MP angry at Sharia courts reports

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Philip Davies (2)The Government should consider making it a criminal offence to impersonate a court amid fears Sharia law courts could be operating around the country, an MP has said. Shipley MP Philip Davies is demanding answers from ministers after reports that Sharia law courts were operating in Dewsbury. He fears if courts are operational in parts of West Yorkshire, there could be some in Bradford. He said: “And if there are, they should be closed down and a crime created for impersonating a court. It is completely unacceptable that people do not abide by British law – there is no excuse for not doing so.”

Bradford Telegraph & Argus, 9 May 2007