Jane Mee Wong reports on opposition to Horowitz’s hate-fest at the University of Washington.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
The ‘bigoted anti-Muslim rhetoric’ of US Republicans
Juan Cole argues that the aspiring Republican candidates for the US presidency “have taken their cues from Bush and his Administration. They have continued to vastly exaggerate the threat from terror attacks (far more Americans have died for lack of healthcare or from hard drugs) and have demonized Muslims”. He concludes: “The Republicans are playing Russian roulette with America’s future with their bigoted anti-Muslim rhetoric.”
‘Britz’ – yet another negative protrayal of Muslims and Islam
“This is just the latest in a seemingly never ending torrent of negative portrayals of Muslims and Islam. Both films and television will claim to tackle any number of difficult issues, yet they find it impossible to show Muslims in a realistic manner. If there is no room for our reflection in their media mirror, then it’s time we made our own mirrors.”
A Muslim blogger responds to the Channel 4 drama Britz.
Met faces new armed police allegations
Scotland Yard yesterday faced fresh controversy after it emerged that the man accidentally shot by police during an anti-terrorism raid in east London last year has claimed armed officers again threatened to shoot him and subjected him to racist abuse during a second recent incident.
Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who was shot in the shoulder during a raid by police on his home in Forest Gate in 2006, says he and his brother Abul Koyair, 20, were stopped by armed police with one officer shouting “shoot him, shoot him”.
According to their account they were on a motorbike near their home two months ago when they stopped to watch a police operation at a pizza takeaway. As they drove off, they were followed by police and ordered to stop. According to the brothers, one officer emerged from the car carrying a handgun. A second officer allegedly shouted “shoot him, shoot him, put him down.” Mohammed Kahar said that he then replied: “Don’t shoot me, my hands are in the air.”
The brothers say they were manhandled off the motorcycle and one was pushed to the ground while the other was handcuffed. They claim that they were called “Paki”, “tossers” and “wankers”. Mohammed Kahar said he heard one officer say “that’s the two brothers” and another asked “how many millions do you get?” – presumably a reference to compensation to be paid to the men over last year’s raid. Their sister, who was passing by on a bus, intervened and was charged with a public order offence for which she has been issued with a fixed penalty notice.
Has Islam been hijacked in the UK?
More on The Hijacking of British Islam: Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain debates Dean Godson of Policy Exchange on Al Jazeera.
Tariq Ramadan – ‘fascislamist’
Diana Johnsto
ne reviews Bernard-Henri Lévy’s new book Ce grand cadavre à la renverse. According to BHL there is, Johnstone writes, “a new ‘fascist’ enemy to combat: ‘Islamofascism’ or, as he prefers to call it, ‘Fascislamism’.”
This is evidently a fairly broad category, as BHL identifies Fascislamism “even in the relatively moderate positions of Tariq Ramadan, for instance, not to mention veiled women and Muslims who object to cartoons portraying the prophet Mohamed as a terrorist bomber.”
Policy Exchange hijacks professional research
Gabriele Marranci questions the methodology behind The Hijacking of British Islam.
Islam, Muslims, and and Anthropologist, 30 October 2007
For Yusuf Smith’s comments, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 31 October 2007
Birmingham Central Mosque chairman slams ‘irresponsible’ report
The chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque has accused the Government of failing to do enough to tackle those peddling extremist Islamic literature. Dr Mohammad Naseem also criticised “irresponsible” reports of a study by think-tank Policy Exchange, which found material attacking gays and non-believers was available at several UK mosques.
“A mosque is an open, public place and anyone can distribute literature or leave literature in a mosque,” Dr Naseem said. “The real question is who is publishing these leaflets? These are people that spread hatred and the people who do publish this literature generally don’t put their name on it. If such literature comes to our notice we will confiscate it and we will report it to the police.”
Researchers for Policy Exchange spent more than a year visiting nearly 100 Muslim religious institutions across the country, and found extremist material was available – either openly or under the table – in about 25. Extreme statements in the documents included a call for jihad against “tyrants and oppressors”, which is “best done through force if possible”.
But Dr Naseem added: “My presumption is that these leaflets have nothing to do with the mosques – it’s irresponsible to suggest that a quarter of mosques are involved with this.”
The killing of apostates in Edinburgh
Osama Saeed on the “Hijacking of British Islam” report:
“Right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange’s latest report into the Muslim community has implicated Edinburgh Central Mosque in apparently distributing hate literature. They have said that the material in question called for apostates from Islam to be killed.
“The mosque have not made official comment themselves, but I’ve spoken to people close to them who say that this is not something they stock or distribute. Further, as evidenced during an event at their Islam Festival held during August, their view on apostasy is that everyone should have the right to practice religion as they see fit. This includes leaving Islam.
“I’ve spent half a day fielding calls from the media on what is really a non-issue. Policy Exchange themselves say they only found one offending piece of literature, which was about killing apostates. There have been no killings of apostates in Edinburgh to date. Clearly, if this was something they were promoting, they’re not very good at it.”
Inayat on the Policy Exchange report
Inayat Bunglawala responds to the Policy Exchange report The Hijacking of British Islam and its call for a ban on offensive literature.