Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Ontario Shariah law – a good decision

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Christian and Jewish family tribunals have successfully functioned in Ontario since 1991. But then treating women as lesser humans is not one of the religious tenets that christianity or judaism seems to embrace…. I believe that attempting to introduce Shariah into Canada is the beginning of a long campaign to islamicize this country – one way or another.”

Klaus Rohrich welcomes the decision to reject Islamic arbitration bodies in Ontario, but expresses regret that other, more civilised religions have suffered too.

Canada Free Press, 13 September 2005

This is the sort of right-wing bigotry the Worker Communist Party of Iran encouraged with their Islamophobic “anti-sharia” campaign.

Ban hijab not Bakri – Rod Liddle

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rod LiddleRod Liddle finds it ironic that “it is the Charles Moores of our world – the high church, High Tory Right – who are the most persuasive and clear-headed in their public antipathy towards Islam and towards those who would, under the banner of political correctness, afford this still primitive creed some sort of equivalence with post-reformation Christianity”.

On the other side are “those Left-liberal multiculturalist commentators who continue to delude themselves that Islam as a whole is easily compatible with the Western notions of freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, democracy and equality. As a result, we now have a false dichotomy – between something called moderate Islam and this rogue creature, extremist Islam”.

Banning a marginal figure like Omar Bakri is, from Liddle’s perspective, irrelevant. It is Islam as a whole that has to be taken on, by “ensuring that Muslim schoolchildren receive a secular education and banishing the hijab”.

Spectator, 13 August 2005

I’m always amused by these commentators who preach the virtues of “post-reformation Christianity”. This would include the US Christian Right and Ian Paisley, would it?

End this chorus of intolerance

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“At one level, the attack on multiculturalism is no more than a refined, middle-class version of ‘Paki-bashing’. Yet people who ought to know better have joined in the chorus of intolerance. To demand that Muslims abandon their way of life – what they eat, how they dress, which way they choose their husbands and wives – is to make a frontal assault upon their faith.”

Roy Hattersley in the Guardian, 12 August 2005

The Islamization of Europe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Europe is gradually being transformed into a society in which Islam takes its place, not just as an equal alongside the many other faith communities, but often as the dominant player. This is not purely, or even primarily, a matter of numbers, but is more a matter of control of the structures of society. It is not happening by chance but is the result of a careful and deliberate strategy by certain Muslim leaders…..

“European Muslims are Islamizing many aspects of life…. Halal meat is now routinely served in many British prisons, schools and hospitals, sometimes to Muslim and non-Muslim alike, and the hijab is worn in British schools…. Despite all these advances, Muslims still tend to portray themselves as victims in European society, while the majority society in turn struggles to affirm them and to avoid giving any accidental offence.”

Patrick Sookhdeo on the Virtue Online, 11 August 2005

Find the men behind brutal racist attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim who was beaten up by racist thugs in West Hampstead says he may leave the country to escape more abuse. Fawad Qayyum has to eat through a straw and his speech could be permanently damaged after his jaw was smashed in the attack near Finchley Road.

The 30-year-old was with a friend in Petros Gardens, near the Lithos Road Estate, at 9.30pm on Tuesday last week. His friend became involved in an argument about how his car was parked when two men appeared and started shouting anti-Muslim abuse at Mr Qayyum, who was standing nearby.

Mr Qayyum said: “Two or three guys came and started abusing me saying, ‘We are going to kill you, we are going to smash the car’. Next they punched me in the face, maybe with a weapon. I was on the floor and they kept punching me. I think they might have kicked me as well but I did not have my full senses.”

The beating was so severe he had to stay at the Royal Free Hospital for three days and now faces a string of operations.

Despite dozens of people witnessing the incident, detectives have hit a wall of silence as nobody has come forward with the attackers’ identity.

Detective Constable Cheryl Haque, of Camden Police, said they need help from neighbours. She said: “A witness has told us it was racially motivated but she doesn’t want to give a statement. I think a lot of people have got information and they know who did it but they are scared about speaking out.”

Mr Qayyum, a data support analyst, said due to the attack and the anti-Muslim feeling surfacing since the July 7 bombings he has considered leaving the country. He said: “I am really thinking it is not safe here. I have lived here most of my life but I am thinking of going back to Pakistan. I got my education here and I have put my heart and soul into this country, but at this stage I feel like a stranger.”

Mr Qayyum, who is staying with friends off Finchley Road, urged members of the community to help catch the attackers. He said: “This is not just for me but these people will think they can get away with it and attack more innocent victims.”

Continue reading →

Muslim convert rejects radical label

Posted on by Bob Pitt

British Muslim, Abdur Raheem Green, has been blocked from coming to Australia. Mr Green attempted to board a plane from Sri Lanka to Wellington on Monday. The plane was due to make a one-hour stop in Brisbane en route. “I was told I could not board because the plane had to stop in Australia,” Mr Green told The Australian.

A man described by some Australian media as one of Britain’s most radical Muslim converts starts a speaking tour today for New Zealand Islamic Awareness Week. Abdur Raheem Green, who rejects the radical label, had been due to speak at the Auckland University of Technology on Monday but the public lecture was cancelled because he had to change his flight plans when he was refused entry to Brisbane for a one-hour stopover. Mr Green said he was told when checking in at Sri Lanka about three days ago that he could not land in Brisbane but was given no reason by the Australian High Commission.

New Zealand Herald, 9 August 2005

See also ABC News, 11 August 2005

The ban followed a right-wing campaign against Abdur Raheem Green, aimed at depicting him as a violent extremist.