Author Archives: Bob Pitt

‘Mohammed is now the third most popular boy’s name in England. So why this shabby effort to conceal it?’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Max HastingsMax Hastings poses the question, in the Daily Mail. He writes:

“This week, the Office of National Statistics published a list of the most popular boys’ names in Britain: Jack, Oliver, Thomas, Harry, Joshua, Alfie, Charlie, Daniel. They reflect a cultural tradition as old as the nation’s history, and would provoke approving nods from Jack the Ripper, Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Becket and Harry Hotspur.

“There is just one small problem: the list is deceitful. In reality, the third most popular choice for boy children born last year in England and Wales was not Thomas, but Mohammed. The ONS explains blithely that it had no intent to deceive. Its normal practice is to catalogue different spellings separately, as in Mohammed, Muhammed and so on. But if you add these variants together, as surely seems logical, then Mohammed is right up there, near the top of the list.”

If the ONS has indeed manipulated the list, which I very much doubt, it would be because the popularity of the name Mohammed is regularly misrepresented as evidence that, as Hastings puts it, “a host of migrants is here, most of whom espouse an entirely different cultural tradition from our own”. According to Hastings, unless Britain can reclaim the inner cities from these “huge immigrant communities which may live in this country, but are tragically not of it”, then “we shall become a divided society, no longer recognisably British, of which a host of young Mohammeds and Muhammeds will be the symbols”.

In reality, as Alex Massie recently pointed out in the Spectator: “Muslims are much more likely to name their sons Mohammed than Christians are to call their son any single name. That is, there’s much greater variance amongst non-muslim families. In other words, unless you’re wanting to stoke panic and resentment what kids are called is not a terribly useful metric.”

Update:  See Mehdi Hasan’s comments on his New Statesman blog, 10 September 2009

CAIR concerned by ‘spike’ in anti-Muslim incidents in Ramadan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy organization today expressed concern about a recent “spike” in reports of anti-Muslim incidents nationwide during or just prior to the month of Ramadan. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the most recent incident involved a hate-motivated attack on a Muslim family’s home in Oregon.

“We are concerned that the rising level of anti-Islam rhetoric in our society is contributing to this apparent spike in hate crimes targeting Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Our nation’s leaders must speak out against the increasing use of anti-Islam hate speech on the Internet, on talk radio and in editorial pages.”

CAIR press release, 10 September 2009

Ed Husain explains terrorism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ed_HusainEd Husain draws the lessons of the airline bomb plot:

“Although one fanatical Muslim cell has been caught, this is no time for complacency. Make no mistake, terrorism is flourishing in our country as never before.

“Why? Because a toxic combination of politically correct policy, denial and fear have opened the way for hate to grow in our midst. Unwilling or unable to recognise the scale and cause of the danger we are all facing, our leaders have turned a blind eye to what is going on.

“There are now tens of thousands of Muslims living in Britain, physically present in our country, but psychologically attached to Muslim-dominated countries. Large parts of our cities have become Muslim ghettos, where you can wake up in the morning and go to bed at night without seeing a non-Muslim face. They might as well be in Pakistan or Afghanistan for all the contact they have with ordinary Britain. They can send their children to Muslim state schools, go to Muslim NHS doctors, and do business at the Islamic bank.

“Not only this, but we, the taxpayers, fund many of these Muslim ghettos. When immigrants arrive in this country to claim free housing from the Government, they are given a choice of Muslim areas to settle in….

“Because of their stronger national identity, the Americans encourage immigrants to join their culture and newcomers are expected to be loyal to the U.S. For us, it is not too late. We can reverse the damaging policies that have made Britain a seedbed for terrorists. But if we fail to do so, I fear we will see further carnage unleashed on our streets.”

Daily Mail, 9 September 2009

See also “Ed panders to the Daily Mail rightwingers”, ENGAGE, 9 September 2009

Postscript:  Just to add, there is of course no evidence whatsoever to link areas that have a high proportion of Muslim inhabitants with terrorism. In their book ‘Sleepwalking to Segregation?’ Challenging Myths About Race and Migration (pp.109-10), Nissa Finney and Ludi Simpson analyse the data for the districts of origin of Muslims charged with terrorist offences. They write:

“If ‘segregated areas’, where there are the largest concentrations of Muslims, were hotbeds of terrorism … then one would expect more to be charged in these areas. Seventeen of those charged in the period August 2004 to October 2006 were residents of Bradford, Luton, Newham or Wandsworth, four of the seven most Muslim districts where 18% of the population is Muslim. But just as many lived in other areas; for example, 16 lived in districts with on average only 1% Muslims, coming from Breckland in Norfolk, Doncaster, Bournemouth, Reigate in Surrey, Bexley, Brighton and Hove, Aylesbury Vale and Greenwich. The only set of districts where more Muslims were charged than others was those with the second-lowest concentrations, including Crawley, Lambeth, Wycombe and Manchester. So, Muslims living in highest concentration Muslim areas are not more likely to be terrorists than Muslims living in any other type of area. There is no reason to link particular levels of concentration with terrorism.”

An earlier summary of Finney and Simpson’s research can be read here.

Trying to be charitable, you might explain Ed Husain’s baseless accusations about so-called “Muslim ghettos” as the result of sheer ignorance based on incompetent research. After all, Quilliam is the self-styled “think-tank” that recently produced a paper on the British National Party which claimed that the BNP vote in the 2009 elections to the European Parliament was “actually down on 2004“, when in reality the fascists got 943,598 votes this year compared with 808,200 five years ago.

But there is more to it than that. Ed Husain has clearly made a conscious decision to bolster the anti-Muslim myths promoted by the hardline right-wing press. It is no wonder that Husain is so keen to deny the existence of Islamophobia, because he himself has made a significant contribution to encouraging and legitimising it.

Terrorism? Blame Tablighi Jamaat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“A mosque frequented by the leader of the airline plot terrorist cell has been a recruiting ground for extremists for more than 20 years. The Queen’s Road mosque in Walthamstow, northeast London, where Abdulla Ahmed Ali met his associates, is controlled by the ultraorthodox Tablighi Jamaat. Intelligence services around the world believe that Tablighi’s fundamentalism makes some of its followers easy prey for terrorist recruiters.”

Times, 9 September 2009

Update:  See “Queen’s Road Mosque”, Times, 10 August 2010

“An article last year (“Mosque that has a 20-year history of radical activity”, September 9) stated that the Queen’s Road Mosque in Walthamstow, east London, was controlled by the ultra-orthodox Tablighi Jamaat and as a consequence its worshippers were easy prey for terrorist recruiters and extremists. We have been informed by the current chairman and treasurer of the mosque, and we accept, that the mosque is not controlled by Tablighi Jamaat. We apologise for this error. They have also asked us to point out that the trustees do not allow discussion within the mosque of jihad, the replacement of the current political system or the introduction of Sharia here, and go to great lengths to ensure that the mosque engages with the local police and does all it can to promote community cohesion.”

UAF appeal: ‘Defend Harrow Central Mosque from anti-Muslim racists’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Defend Harrow Central Mosque from anti-Muslim racists
assemble 4pm, Friday 11 September, Harrow Civic Centre

Speakers include: Tony McNulty MP, London assembly memberNavin Shah, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear, Jo Langfrom Harrow Teachers Association, Unite convenor and bus workerAbdul Omer Mohsin, Weyman Bennett from Unite Against Fascism

>>> download the leaflet HERE
>>> download the poster HERE

Racist bigots including the BNP-linked English Defence League and “Stop the Islamisation of Europe” are planning on holding an anti-Muslim protest outside Harrow Central Mosque on the evening of Friday 11 September. Unite Against Fascism has called a solidarity vigil in response to defend the mosque from racists and fascists.

We are calling on everyone in London who opposes the racists and wants to stand up for Harrow’s multicultural and multiracial society to assemble on Friday at 4pm outside Harrow Civic Centre on Station Road, just north of the junction with Rosslyn Crescent (postcode HA1 2UA, nearest tube Harrow & Wealdstone). Please bring union banners.

The vigil starts at 1.30pm, so please get there earlier if you can. We want a dignified but determined demonstration that will show the racists that they are not welcome in Harrow. There will be a public rally with speakers starting at around 6pm.

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‘Why should we gain a better understanding of our Muslim neighbours?’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In a effort to counteract his record of statements antagonistic to the Muslim community, Boris “Islam is the problem” Johnson recently visited the East London Mosque to deliver a conciliatory speech, reported by the Daily Express under the headline “Let’s all be Muslim for the day says Mayor Boris“, in which he suggested that non-Muslims might fast for a day during Ramadan to help them gain a better understanding of their Muslim neighbours.

This has outraged an Express reader, one Brenda Harris, who writes:

“Has Boris Johnson completely lost the plot or is he just vote catching? Why should we gain a better understanding of our Muslim neighbours? They came to our country. The country for which our parents and grandparents fought to give us a better life. It is they who should conform to our ways. Thank God this is still a Christian country and even those of us who are not churchgoers, still have Christian ethics…. Are the Government and the Mayor of London afraid to ask the indigenous people in this country what they think or want?”

So I take it there’ll be no second preferences from BNP voters for Boris in 2012.

Update:  See also “Boris Johnson converts to Islam”, Dave Hill’s London Blog, 8 September 2009

Harrow Mosque calls for 9/11 protest to be banned

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Harrow MosqueHarrow Mosque has called for a 9/11 protest to be banned just days after fresh violence in Birmingham saw 90 arrests.

Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) is holding a rally outside the building, in Station Road, on Friday and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) supporters will hold their own counter-demonstration alongside it. The English Defence League (EDL), which clashed with anti-fascists in Birmingham on Saturday, at one point advertised the event on its website. The rally is promoted on EDL’s group on social networking website Facebook and there are fears the weekend’s violence could be repeated in Harrow.

Haroon Sheikh, chairman of Harrow Central Mosque, said: “We would request that the local authority and the police try to put a stop to it. The concern we have is with a large congregation. It’s very difficult to control what people would want to do on the day. We would have 200 to 300 people coming here for prayers on a Friday. Emotions will be high if it’s provoked, but we will have the police and we will have stewards here.”

SIOE say they are not racist and will not tolerate racism at the rally, but describe themselves as Islamaphobic, saying it is “the height of common sense”. The Harrow Times has asked the English Defence League (EDL) for clarification about whether their members will attend the protest and is awaiting a response. The Harrow Times has requested a response from Harrow Police and Harrow Council and is awaiting a reply.

Harrow Times, 8 September 2009

See also the Times, 8 September 2009 and Islam Online, 8 September 2009

Update:  See also “Harrow Police: 9/11 mosque protest cannot be banned”, Harrow Times, 8 September 2009

The police do in fact have a point. Under Section 13 of the Public Order Act they can apply to the Home Secretary for an order banning “public processions”, but they have no power to ban static demonstrations.

However, under Section 14 of the POA the police have the authority to “give directions imposing on the persons organising or taking part in the assembly such conditions as to the place at which the assembly may be (or continue to be) held, its maximum duration, or the maximum number of persons who may constitute it”, if this is necessary to prevent “serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community”.

So the police do have the power to prevent this provocative protest taking place outside Harrow Mosque.

Further update:  Regarding Harrow Central Mosque, which it calls “the house of hate”, SIOE states: “This will be the largest mosque in England with minarets 40 metres high. That is not integration that is triumphalism. It is Harrow now, the next place could be your community.”

Tooting race attack victim Ekram Haque dies

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Tooting grandfather who was viciously beaten in a race-hate attack by schoolboys has died.

Ekram Haque, 67, was battered in front of his three-year-old granddaughter Marian outside a mosque in Tooting, south-west London, where he had been attending evening prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.

The devout Muslim was ambushed from behind and hit over the head as he held the child’s hand on 31 August. Although the gang was chased off by worshippers at the Idara E Jaaferiya mosque in Church Lane, retired care worker Haque collapsed to the floor with horrific head injuries.

Scotland Yard said the “racially motivated” attack is now being treated as a murder investigation.

thelondonpaper, 8 September 2009

From the life of St Peter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tatchell No Islamic StateOver at Harry’s Place they’ve been celebrating Peter Tatchell’s success in bullying a small publisher into making a public apology for supposedly libelling him. The issue arose from criticisms of Tatchell made in the chapter “Gay Imperialism: Gender and Sexuality Discourse in the ‘War on Terror'” (pdf here) by Jin Haritaworn, Tamsila Tauqir and Esra Erdem, from the book Out of Place: Interrogating Silences in Queerness/Raciality, published last year.

The publishers’ statement of apology is comprehensive, not to say grovelling. It concedes that the offending chapter “contains serious, defamatory untruths concerning Peter Tatchell”. Tatchell apparently “is not Islamophobic” and “the insinuation that he is anti-Muslim is untrue”. In fact, “Mr Tatchell has never criticised Muslims in general, only Muslim fundamentalists”.

The publishers say they now recognise that “the human rights work of Mr Tatchell and OutRage! is motivated by a sincere support for people struggle against tyranny and injustice, and has involved valuable assistance to many LGBT campaigners in the UK and worldwide…. Peter Tatchell was one of the first LGBT campaigners to reject a western-centred approach to LGBT human rights and, from the early 1970s, to campaign for LGBT human rights universally and internationally.”

Indeed, it would appear that Tatchell bestrides our world like a colossus:

“From the 1960s, he has been active in anti-imperialist solidarity campaigns, supporting the national liberation struggles of the peoples of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Oman, Nicaragua, Palestine, Western Sahara, East Timor and West Papua…. Mr Tatchell continues to campaign for the independence of the Western Sahara, Palestine and West Papua. He supports the struggles for democracy and human rights in Iran, Russia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Turkey, Columbia, Somaliland, Baluchistan, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Belarus and elsewhere.”

It is evident that the author of this statement would fully endorse the adulatory description of Tatchell, by David Toube at Harry’s Place, as a “brave and saintly man”. And that is hardly surprising, since the statement was obviously dictated by Tatchell himself. Those of us who regretfully decided long ago that Tatchell had degenerated into a self-promoting narcissistic parody of his former self can only conclude that our judgement was spot on.

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Feminists face off over the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“You might notice that as this conflagration spreads, more and more conservatives – many of whom do not identify as feminists – are rushing in to stoke the fire. As they do, the discussion becomes less about defending women’s rights and more about supporting their ongoing culture war. That reminds me of a line from Wolf’s essay: ‘Ideological battles are often waged with women’s bodies as their emblems, and Western Islamophobia is no exception’.”

Tracy Clark-Flory examines the debate between Naomi Wolf and Phyllis Chesler.

Salon, 5 September 2009