Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells the readers of Prospect magazine that she represents a force for progressive reform within Islam. This from the friend of late Dutch racist Theo van Gogh – a woman who, according to a recent sympathetic profile in the New York Times, has “endorsed the view that Islam is a backward religion, condemned the way women live under it and said that by today’s standards, the prophet Muhammad would be considered a perverse tyrant. She had also announced that she was no longer a believing Muslim” (see here). An effective force for Islamic reform? I think not.
Author Archives: Bob Pitt
Robert Spencer’s mission – to ‘dispel myths and stereotypes’ about Islam
Robert Spencer, author of the new Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), told a group of college students gathered for the Young America’s Foundation conference in Washington, D.C., that he spends his life trying to “dispel myths and stereotypes” about Islam perpetuated in the media and on college campuses.
Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and a HUMAN EVENTS columnist, blamed political correctness, which “stifles public discourse,” combined with a general unwillingness among public officials to recognize the fundamental teachings of the Islam as a source for acts of terror throughout the Western world for distorting the public’s perception of the War on Terror.
He cited British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s rush to defend Islam as a peaceful religion as an example of the public’s failure to recognize that the motivation of Islamic extremism often comes directly from the Koran itself.
Hate crimes soar after bombings
Religious hate crimes, mostly against Muslims, have risen six-fold in London since the bombings, new figures show.
There were 269 religious hate crimes in the three weeks after 7 July, compared with 40 in the same period of 2004. Most were verbal abuse and minor assaults, but damage to mosques and property with a great “emotional impact” also occurred, police said.
Met Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said he had never seen so much anger among young Muslims.
Communities were particularly frustrated by the increased use of stop-and-search and the new “shoot-to-kill to protect” policy of dealing with suicide bombers, he said. “There is no doubt that incidents impacting on the Muslim community have increased.”
London bombers lacked sense of British identity – Guardian
“July stands as proof that our model of integration, the way we absorb difference, has somehow failed.” Jonathan Freedland joins the anti-multiculturalist Right in arguing that the London bombings were caused by the state’s failure to inculcate a sense of “Britishness” in Muslims.
Freedland’s piece gets a recommendation from warmongering ex-leftist Norman Geras, the apologist for state terrorism and darling of the US neocons: Normblog, 3 August 2005 I rest my case.
Political correctness betrays all of us – Torygraph
“All over the world, people must be baffled by the obsession of British politicians – government and opposition alike – with the question of whether or not the police should be concentrating their searches on members of ethnic minorities. What a ludicrous debate, at a time when there are Muslim fanatics on the loose who want to blow up men, women and children of all races on buses and trains…. In this emergency, we are all being betrayed by abject politicians of all parties who put political correctness before protecting the public.”
Editorial in Daily Telegraph, 3 August 2005
Britons tortured as bomb suspects in Dubai
Two British businessmen, Mohammed Rafiq Siddique and Alam Ghafoor, allege they suffered torture and death threats from secret police in Dubai after British intelligence passed on information that they were suspects in the July 7 London bombings. The two British Muslims from west Yorkshire told the Guardian they were repeatedly threatened with torture, deprived of sleep, subjected to stress positions and told they would be killed and fed to the dogs.
The men believe part of the reason they came under suspicion is because one of them comes from Dewsbury, like one of the suicide bombers, and has a name similar to him. Mr Ghafoor said: “I said I want to phone the British embassy. They said you are here because we were given information by British intelligence, they told us to pick you up.”
MCB and MAB defend multiculturalism
The Muslim Council of Britain said today there was “no contradiction” between having a multicultural society and achieving integration. Responding to a call for a rethink on multiculturalism by shadow home secretary David Davis, the MCB said it fully supported integration but being a good Muslim necessarily meant being a good British citizen. Spokesman Inayat Bunglawala told politics.co.uk the Conservative party should first look at itself and “consider the lack of Muslims in the parliamentary party”.
The Muslim Association of Britain attacked the suggestion by David Davis that multiculturalism should be rethought in the wake of the London terror attacks. Spokesman Anas Altikriti told politics.co.uk that people in the UK should be proud of the country’s diversity. “The Tory party seems to believe that we should rid ourselves of something we take great pride in, but our multi-layered identity makes us richer, better and stronger as a nation,” he said.
Muslim leaders hit back at terror cell claims
Representatives of Melbourne’s Muslim community have hit back at Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty’s claims of terrorist cells operating in Australia, saying they know nothing of them.
The secretary of Melbourne’s Board of Imams, Sheikh Fehmi el-Naji said he was shocked by Mr Keelty’s estimate that up to 60 suspected Islamic extremists were operating in Australia. “It’s shocking, it’s quite the opposite to what they have been saying,” he said.
After recent ASIO raids in Melbourne and Sydney resulted in no arrests or charges, Sheikh Fehmi said he felt reassured there were no terrorists in Melbourne’s Muslim community. “The raids that have been done on Muslims involved no charges and the police said everything was under control and that they have no fear,” he said.
Bloggers target Times writer
“Bloggers have attacked a Times writer over an article comparing Islamic fundamentalism to Nazism and his links with a rightwing US website. Anthony Browne, the Times’ European editor and an outspoken critic of British immigration policy, has sparked furious online debate over his article ‘Fundamentally, we’re useful idiots’, published in the Times.”
Chris Tryhorn reports in the Guardian, 3 August 2005
In fact, it wasn’t just “Islamic fundamentalism” that Browne compared to Nazism but such mainstream organisations and figures as the Muslim Association of Britain and Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
For Browne’s links with US racists see Newshog, 1 August 2005
It’s worth noting that David T at Harry’s Place initially recommended Browne’s anti-Muslim rant as a useful “summary of the issues which we’ve been highlighting over the past few years” and had no problem at all with Browne’s characterisation of MAB and Dr al-Qaradawi as fascists. The objection David T eventually raised was not to “the argument which Browne makes about the fascist nature of radical Islamism” but to the fact that it was “part of a broader argument which he is making about ‘third world colonization’. The case for treating radical Islamism seriously can do without his support”. In short, David T finds little wrong with racist bigotry as long as it is directed exclusively against Muslims.
Nazis denounce ‘life in multi-cultural Britain’
“Multi-culturalism might mean a variety of charming ethnic restaurants for the Islington ‘in-crowd’ but for the vast majority of the indigenous population the mass importation of people from all corners of the globe to act as cheap labour has been an unmitigated disaster. For some unfortunate families in housing schemes across the land, multi-culturalism has made their lives living hell.”
The BNP spews out more filth about “how terrible life can be on housing schemes where whites have to live cheek by jowl with young Muslim thugs who are clearly intent to carry out ethnic cleansing of the unbelievers from what they consider to be ‘their’ areas”.