Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

‘This focus on the niqab is a distraction’ – Salma Yaqoob on the veil ‘debate’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Salma addressing rallyThis focus on the niqab is a distraction

By Salma Yaqoob

Morning Star, 30 October 2006

THE debate on Muslim integration continues unabated. Since Home Secretary John Reid’s comments about mythical Muslim “no-go” areas over a month ago, the Muslim community have been the subject of an avalanche of commentary from politicians and the media. Overwhelmingly negative and one-sided, most of this “debate” is thinly disguised Muslim bashing.

I was pleased, therefore, to be approached by the Morning Star to give my thoughts on a more genuine debate that has taken place on the issue of the veil in the letters page. Given the Star’s impeccable record of opposition to US imperialism and racism, I know that whatever the differences that may arise, I am having a conversation with friends.

Most of those who have written in support of Jack Straw’s comments have no time for either his record as foreign minister or his opportunism. But they do think the wearing of the veil is a legitimate topic for discussion. What is wrong with having a debate about religious strictures regarding Islamic dress for women, especially when such strictures have been used as a tool for women’s oppression?

To a significant degree, I agree with them. There is nothing wrong with having an informed discussion or critical debate about the veil or any other aspect of Muslim life. Indeed, how can non-Muslims understand lived Islam without such a dialogue? And how can Muslims and, especially, Muslim women, tackle the abuses of Islam within the community without such discussion and debate?

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Mangera Yvars interviewed by Guardian

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Abbey Mills Islamic CentreJonathan Glancey interviews Ali Mangera and Ada Yvars Bravo, the architects responsible for designing the proposed Markaz at West Ham.

The piece is informative, and broadly sympathetic. “We’re trying to design a welcoming and beautiful building,” Mangera is quoted as saying, “yet at times I feel I’m being accused of designing a bomb factory.”

But you do despair of ever reading an article on this issue which avoids recycling the stuff about the FBI claiming that Tablighi Jamaat is a recruiting ground for al-Qaida, or how 7/7 bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan reportedly attended the Dewsbury Markaz.

Guardian, 30 October 2006

Muslim Brotherhood rejects taxi cab slur

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamist taxi cartoonIn the US over the past few days a popular anti-Muslim scare story has concerned the alleged refusal of Somali taxi drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to pick up passengers carrying alcohol.

The right-wing blog Power Line opined that “the airport taxi controversy exposes one template for the Islamist imperial project forcing the acceptance of Sharia law by the infidels”. And, basing itself on an article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Little Green Footballs announced: “Muslim Brotherhood behind airport taxi controversy.”

In response, the Muslim Brotherhood has issued a statement denying that it was in any way involved:

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‘Muslim anger’ over council school snub

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Osama_SaeedScotland’s biggest council believes that a state-funded Islamic faith school would lead to the “social isolation” of young Scottish Muslims, a secret document has revealed. Despite publicly saying it would consider a school if community leaders could prove the demand, a memo obtained by Scotland on Sunday shows that Glasgow’s education chiefs have voiced “serious concerns” about any such plans.

Muslim leaders have reacted with concern to the memo. Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: “It’s disappointing that they haven’t raised these concerns with us up to now, the issue has always been one of proving the demand, which we are confident we can do. The concerns are completely misplaced, studies of pupils from Islamic schools in England have shown that they are more tolerant and open than those not in Islamic schools.”

Scotland on Sunday, 29 October 2006

You’ll note that a quote from Osama saying that the failure to consult was “disappointing” becomes translated in the headline into “Muslim anger”. It appears that Muslims can’t express disagreement with anything, however politely and reasonably, without being accused of aggressive hostility.

CPS rules out Forest Gate child porn charges

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Prosecutors have advised police not to bring child pornography charges against the man who was shot by police during a counter-terrorist raid earlier this year, it was announced tonight. A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said Mohammed Abdul Kahar would face no charges over allegations that 44 indecent images had been found on electronic equipment at his home.

Mr Kahar, 23, was shot in the shoulder when 250 police officers raided properties in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, in east London, in June. He was freed without charge after a week of questioning by anti-terror officers at the high-security Paddington Green police station.

In a statement tonight, Mr Mohammed Kahar’s family said: “Kahar was first shot, and then very publicly accused of things he knew nothing of and of which he is completely innocent. We cannot help but observe that there was a never-ending avalanche of leaked stories to the press. We have the right to expect that a proper inquiry be made of who provided the stories and why.”

Guardian, 27 October 2006

See also Lenin’s Tomb, 27 October 2006

Right wing Christians and secularists join in condemnation of Rowan Williams

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anger Over Church BackingThe Archbishop of Canterbury prompted anger yesterday by putting Muslim veils on an equal footing with Christian crosses.

Britain’s most senior churchman, Dr Williams, said talk of banning the full-face niqab reminded him of China, where the state controls all religious life. He said: “The ideal of a society where no visible public signs of religion would be seen – no crosses around necks, no sidelocks, turbans or veils – is a politically dangerous one.”

But Stephen Green, the national director of fundamentalist group Christian Voice, said Dr Williams appeared to be ranking Islam alongside Christianity. He said: “We Christians should be more ready to stand up and be counted. We have to say that our faith is a world view and it’s not just something we do on a Sunday.”

Alison Ruoff, a member of the CofE General Synod, said: “The Archbishop should be standing up for the Christian faith in a much more visible way. He should be making a more public stand for Christianity and not for other religions.” Roy McCloughry, director of evangelical think-tank the Kingdom Trust, said: “The veil is not a religious issue – it is a cultural issue.”

Terry Sanderson, vice-president of the National Secular Society, which campaigns against all religious interference in non-believers’ lives, said: “Minority religions are now demanding a place at the table. Dr Williams is using phony arguments. Comparing ministers’ criticism of veils in Britain with what goes on in China is ridiculous. He’s running a hare that does not exist. There is no ban on veils in this country.”

Daily Express, 28 October 2006

Why Labour should reject Jack Straw’s comments on veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims under siege

Owen Jones, Poplar & Limehouse Constituency Labour Party, surveys the responses to Jack Straw’s comments on the niqab.

Labour Left Briefing, November 2006

“Ministers caught telling the truth!” announced the BNP on their website on 15th October as they hailed “a series of statements which show that some of our rulers are capable of speaking the truth and acknowledging commonsense after all.” No wonder the BNP feels vindicated. Over the past month, the already besieged Muslim community has faced a barrage of denunciations from the British political establishment.

The increasingly thuggish John Reid fired the opening shots in east London on 20th September by haranguing Muslim parents to spy on their own children “before their hatred grows and you risk losing them forever.” This carefully choreographed political stunt was followed by a further tirade at Labour Party Conference in which he pledged that Islamist terrorism would have “no no-go areas”. David Cameron momentarily forgot his cuddly rhetoric and pledged “break up Muslim ghettos.”

However, it was Jack Straw who opened the floodgates of the current deluge of anti-Muslim hysteria. His description of the niqab – a full body veil worn by a tiny minority of Muslim women – as a “sign of separation and difference” was music to the ears of the right wing media. “Ban the veil!” screeched the Daily Express, revealing that 98% supported such a ban in order to “safeguard racial harmony”.

In The Times, Simon Jenkins suggested that if Muslim women were unable to understand why a “westerner” might be offended by the veil, “it is reasonable to ask why they want to live in Britain.” Jon Gaunt in The Sun offered the nuanced argument that “no group has been such a pain in the burka as some of the Muslims in recent years…” Others took the opportunity to declare open season on the Muslim population. “Muslim cabbie bans guide dog” was the almost farcical Evening Standard headline.

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Battle lines have been drawn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The battle lines have been drawn. First human rights were thrown out of the window by targeting all Muslims as terror suspects. Then there has been the curtailing of the freedom of speech and right to demonstrate by invoking new laws and proposals to spy on Islamic and Muslim groups, including at universities.

“It would appear that the other democratic principle of tolerance is to be prised away in Britain. Should we now expect that the next step will be a new British version of The House Un-American Activities Committee during McCarthyism that blacklists all Muslims?

“The most dangerous path clearly spelt out by the Prime Minister is that the real intent is the sinister attempt somehow to change Islam and its basic tenets. The Government’s offer of a genuine ‘dialogue and open debate’ has proved to be nothing more than a façade as it has not shown the slightest inclination to listen, but rather, it is clear it wants brow-beat the Muslim community and force its own agenda upon it.”

Editorial in the Muslim News, 27 October 2006

Debate on veil shows how West is turning on Islam, scholar warns

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tariq_RamadanA leading Muslim scholar has said the debate on women wearing veils highlights a growing “global polarisation” between the West and the Islamic world.

Tariq Ramadan, a visiting professor at Oxford University told an interfaith conference in London yesterday that the debate sparked by Jack Straw, who said the veil hampered integration, was part of a global phenomenon in which a “them versus us” attitude was being fostered between Muslims and non-Muslims.

“The atmosphere has deteriorated in the last year or so,” Professor Ramadan said. “It’s not only a British reality, but European and American. To nurture this polarisation is the easiest way for politicians when we don’t have social policy. The most dangerous thing is the normalisation of this discourse.”

Independent, 27 October 2006