Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Stopping bombs and standing up for what we believe in

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“We need a twin track approach to counter-terrorism and community cohesion. It has to be both principled and pragmatic. We must work with non-violent Islamists and mainstream Muslims, while practising the values we preach.”

Andy Hull and Ian Kearns of the Institute for Public Policy Research argue in favour of a more nuanced approach than the crude anti-Islamism advocated by Policy Exchange and supported by Hazel Blears and Jacqui Smith. They write:

“… engagement with law-abiding, non-violent Islamists can play a valuable role. Shared interests, if not ideologies, are paramount: it is not in our interests or theirs for terrorists to mount another attack. That is not to say we have to agree with them on arranged marriage, homosexuality or creationism, but it does mean we have some important common ground, and we should make the most of it.”

See also the comments at ENGAGE.

Widespread support for mosque after fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Luton Council of Faiths solidarity event

Faith leaders have encouraged ‘a stance of peace and calm’ following a fire that was started outside a mosque.

Members of Luton Council of Faiths met outside the Bury Park Jamie Masjid in Bury Park Road, Luton, to express solidarity after two wheelie bins were set alight outside the building in the early hours of Monday morning.

Chairman Zafar Khan, said: “As Luton Council of Faiths, we therefore pledge our strong resolve, to continue playing an active role in creating an environment of understanding and respect amongst the many religious and culturally diverse communities in the town.

“We wish to convey, to everyone at the Masjid, our message of solidarity, prayers, support and encouragement for the stance of peace and calm which the mosque leadership has chosen to convey across to the Muslim community after the arson attack on the mosque.”

A full police investigation is currently being carried out in relation to the incident, and officers are keen to trace any members of the public who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously in the area.

Anyone with information about this incident can contact DC Knight, in confidence, on 01582 473142 Bedfordshire Police on 101, or text information to 07786 200011.

Luton On Sunday, 7 April 2009

US polls: 48% unfavourable towards Islam, 10% still think Obama is Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

President Obama is visiting Turkey, which looks to be the occasion of his promised “major address” in a muslim-majority country. In some sense it’s a “safe” choice, as Turkey is seeking EU membership and clearly is trying to position itself between the western and islamic worlds. I think that a major address in Cairo would have been far more significant, especially in building credibility amongst the muslim masses for Obama’s rhetoric about respect and engagement with the muslim world. Maybe next time.

In stark contrast to the President’s agenda, however, is the astonishing finding by ABC News’ poll (PDF) that finds 48% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion towards Islam, the highest since 2001. 29% believe that mainstream Islam encourages violence towards non-believers (a point of view that is internalized as dogma in the Republican Party especially).

That’s not all, though. Another poll by the Pew Center finds that 10% still believe Obama is a muslim! That’s the same level as during the campaign. This really speaks to the existence of a basal level of Islamophobia in the population at large, for the muslim smear to have such staying power this long (and in the face of such obvious and overwhelming evidence to the contrary).

beliefnet, 6 April 2009

Daud Abdullah sues Blears

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daud Abdullah2A leading member of the Muslim Council of Britain is suing cabinet minister Hazel Blears for defamation, following a row over the Israeli bombing of Gaza. Dr Daud Abdullah, who is the MCB deputy secretary-general, is seeking damages.

Ms Blears said a document which Dr Abdullah signed on hostilities in Gaza had advocated attacks on UK military personnel and on Jews around the world. Ms Blears made the claim in a letter to the Guardian last week, but Dr Abdullah has vehemently denied it.

The document is known as the Istanbul Declaration and was signed by 90 Muslim leaders in response to the three-week Israeli offensive in Gaza, in December and January.

The minister said the declaration supported violence against foreign troops, including British naval forces and advocated “attacks on Jewish communities all around the world”. Ms Blears, who is Communities Secretary, said Dr Abdullah needed to make his own position clear.

Dr Abdullah has in turn accused Ms Blears of “crude bullying”. He said the declaration did not represent an attack on Jewish people and that he did not call for or support attacks on British troops anywhere in the world.

After the legal action was launched a spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government confirmed it had received correspondence from Dr Daud Abdullah’s solicitors.

BBC News, 4 April 2009

Niqab-wearing mother excluded from parents’ evening

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A mother was told she could not attend a school parents evening because she was wearing a veil. The 34-year-old woman who does not wish to be named claims she has taken the issue up with the school but she has been told she must remove her veil whenever she enters the school on “health, safety and security grounds”.

Speaking exclusively to Asian Image she said, “If I had been told this was their intended policy then maybe I would not have considered asking my son to go to the school in the first place. The whole situation has upset me and I don’t like going to the school any more because I always leave crying.”

The woman, who is also a former pupil of the school, said the policy was not in force before she enrolled her son at the school, neither was it in the school prospectus. She said the problem started in 2007 at Our Lady and St John Roman Catholic School in Blackburn. Since then the woman said she has been asked to remove her veil before she can step into the school.

Headteacher Mrs Gillen said, “Although a high percentage of our pupils are of Asian Heritage pupils she was the first lady to come to parents evening wearing a full veil. I have made it quite clear that I will arrange for her to meet with staff on a one to one in my office. The difficulty would be if a number of ladies wearing veils were free to wander corridors or rooms. It would not be feasible to monitor who is who.”

Asian Image, 3 April 2009

See also Lancashire Evening Telegraph and Daily Mail.

The CSC’s latest exercise in undermining social cohesion

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robin Simcox promotes the latest publication by the surreally misnamed Centre for Social Cohesion – foreigners, you’ll be shocked to hear, and worst of Saudi Arabia and Iran, are funding courses at colleges in the UK. David Shariatmadari accuses Simcox of drawing “peculiar conclusions that only really make sense in the context of the CSC’s relentless Islamophobia”.

The demonisation of British Islamism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“British Islamists aren’t the only Muslim political voice in modern Britain, but they don’t deserve the attacks they are enduring, and by the rules of our political system they don’t deserve to be excluded. Let’s hope that the government stops listening to the fringes, and recognises the variety of mainstream Muslim political voices before it’s too late.”

Robert Lambert and Jonathan Githens-Mazer at Comment is Free, 1 April 2009

Fascists hijack Christ for attack on Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP What Would Jesus Do election poster

The extremist British National Party (BNP) is to launch an advertising campaign featuring Jesus Christ. The far-Right party will use the advert which features a bible verse quoting Jesus’ words about persecution, in the run up to the European Elections in June. It comes after the Church of England passed a resolution at its General Synod last month banning clergy from being members of the party.

The advert features a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross and quotes a part of a verse from John’s Gospel (John 15:20) in which Jesus says: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you”. The verse comes in the context of Jesus’ teaching about love. The advert then asks: “What would Jesus do?”.

In recent years the BNP has used religious rhetoric with increasing frequency. In recent local elections, the party’s literature included copies of the controversial Mohammed cartoons. It also helped establish a “Christian Council of Britain”. The goal is to appeal to those in the population who identify with Christianity, but feel panicked both by “liberal secularism” and the growth of Islam.

In an email sent yesterday to BNP supporters, BNP leader Nick Griffin said: “The British National Party is the only political party which genuinely supports Britain’s Christian heritage. It is the only party which will defend our ancient faith and nation from the threat of Islamification.”

But Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the thinktank Ekklesia said: “This is clearly a gross misrepresentation of both Jesus Christ and Christianity. Jesus was completely opposed to bigotry. He is recorded in the Gospels as challenging those who didn’t welcome foreigners – not as working for their exclusion.

“But the church must critically reflect on how it is aiding the far-Right. Leading figures within the Church of England have become far more vocal recently in their calls to ‘stem the tide of secularism’, and to defend the predominant ‘Christian culture’ of Britain. The uncomfortable fact is that this puts the Church into the position of arguing the same political point about national identity as the BNP.”

Ekklesia, 30 March 2009