Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Muslims ‘boycott’ Glasgow airport

Posted on by Eddie Truman

Muslim business travellers are boycotting Glasgow airport, according to a leading Scottish figure. Bashir Mann, from the Muslim Council of Great Britan, complained of heavy-handed and humiliating searches by anti-terrorist police officers.

Strathclyde Police said it was looking at training to raise awareness of cultural and religious sensitivities. Mr Mann said: “I’d never experienced anything like that before in Scotland. This was a show of sheer discrimination, victimisation of certain sections of the community in Scotland.”

BBC News, 23 July 2006

Protest niqab ban in Norway

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last month, the Directorate for Primary and Secondary Education of Norway gave permission for the niqab (which covers the whole face except the eyes) to be banned in schools. This law denies Muslim girls many fundamental rights including the freedom to practice one?s religion and the right to education.

Erling Lae, the leader of Oslo City Council, has decided to remove the veil in schools because it causes problems for teachers who cannot see their students’ faces. The ruling will now make it possible for the niqab to be banned from schools in other municipalities in Norway. The Oslo city councillor for schools and education has said that the niqab makes communication impossible between teachers and students and between students as well.

However, under Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of religion unless it is in the interest of public safety and health. It is clear that wearing the niqab in classrooms does not pose any threats to other students and teachers. Furthermore, in some schools of thought within Islam, wearing a niqab is obligatory and so a ban is clearly an infringement on religious freedom.

France, and parts of Germany and Belgium have already prohibited the wearing of the headscarf in schools and unless effective action is taken, the ban will spread throughout the whole of Europe.

Please contact your political representative, the Foreign Minister of your country and the Norwegian Embassy in your respective countries to condemn the law.

IHRC alert, 19 July 2006

Bodi bashes Bright

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Faisal Bodi trashes Martin Bright’s recent Channel 4 documentary. He points out that Bright falsely attributes to democratic reformist Islamist organisations like the Muslim Brotherhood “a position at the beginning of a continuum of Islamist terror”.

Guardian, 18 July 2006

Over at the National Secular Society’s website, a link to Bodi’s article has been posted under the heading “We must listen to the murderous Islamic militants”. And there are still people who deny that the NSS is Islamophobic!

For further informed criticism of Bright, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 16 July 2006

Media blamed over Islam’s image

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UK Muslims blame Islamophobia on the portrayal of their religion in the media, a survey has revealed.

The research found that 40% of Muslims blamed anti-Islamic feelings on the media, while 74% of non-Muslims blamed Islamophobia on the 9/11 bombings.

The internet survey of 1,360 people was carried out by Global Market Insite, Muslim Voice UK, Queens University in Belfast and the University of Liverpool.

The report by Shaista Gohir, from online forum Muslim Voice UK, stated: “The Muslim-West relations have become increasingly strained due to a string of events such as the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Afghanistan war in 2002, the Iraq war, the London bombings in 2005 and the Danish cartoon row.

“In this current climate, it is essential to gauge Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes with a view to resolving differences.”

The research found that both sides agree that Muslims and non-Muslims “don’t understand each other” but have different concerns about the cause of the culture clash.

She sets out recommendations including action by the Muslim community and police; breaking down barriers to integration and misunderstandings; tackling discrimination and Islamophobia; measures to deal with extremism; reviewing foreign policy; protecting human rights and more responsible reporting by the media.

She said: “It was striking that Muslims feel more strongly about international issues than say, their treatment by police or discrimination in the UK.

“It also appears that Islamophobia, Western foreign policy and human rights abuses of Muslims are contributing substantially to the alienation of UK Muslims.

“On the other hand, non-Muslims are concerned about extremism, the lack of integration, Muslims not being proud to be British and the lack of tolerance by Muslims. However, the biggest threat to good Muslim and non-Muslim community relations is the misinformation on Islam in the media.”

Press Association, 18 July 2006

Sweep aside stereotypes and ask what really matters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

exhibition catalogue“Islam. When you hear that word, what immediately comes to your mind? A masked terrorist? Osama bin Laden? Fanatical young men with explosives strapped round their waists? These are certainly the images that leap from the newspapers and the television screens. The notion that Islam had a high culture when Britain was living in dark times seems to be off our radar screens. Islam is a religion with great richness at its heart. Terrorists and suicide bombers have hogged the headlines, but they no more represent Islam than football ‘casuals’ represent the clubs they claim to support. Yet in today’s global media village, Islam is almost exclusively associated in the western public mind with lethal fanaticism.”

Ron Ferguson on the exhibition of Islamic art which has opened at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh.

The Herald, 17 July 2006

Al Muhajiroun banned

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two UK-based Islamist groups are to become the first to be banned under laws outlawing the glorification of terrorism, the home secretary has said. John Reid said he was taking action against Al-Ghurabaa and the Saved Sect. Under an order put down in Parliament, it will be an offence to belong to the groups, encourage support for them or wear clothes suggesting support. Mr Reid said the move sent a signal that the UK would not tolerate people who supported terrorism. The groups are both thought to be offshoots of Al Muhajiroun, which was founded by controversial cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed.

BBC News, 17 July 2006

Quite what will be accomplished by banning the few dozen idiots who make up the membership of these groups is difficult to see. And an offence of “wearing clothes suggesting support” sounds open to abuse to say the least. However, it looks as though press reports that Hizb ut-Tahrir would be illegalised were inaccurate – for now. Asked about Hizb, a Home Office spokesman said: “This does remain a group about which we have real concerns and we are keeping the situation under review.”

For Inayat Bunglawala’s comments, see Islam Online, 18 July 2006

Florida: pastor denounces mosque plan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Plans to build a mosque in a predominantly black neighborhood in Pompano Beach, Fla., have led to angry protests from some local ministers. Islam is a “dangerous, evil” religion “that preaches hatred and killing,” said the Rev. O’Neal Dozier, pastor of the 2,400-member Worldwide Christian Center, which is leading the opposition. “We live in a post-9/11 world, and the people who blew up our buildings that day were Muslims.”

Although Mr. Dozier said he has received “hundreds of phone calls, e-mails and faxes” from people all over the country who share his concerns, he does not have the support of the NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. William L. Lawson III, president of the North Broward NAACP, told city commissioners last week: “We cannot allow religious intolerance.”

Washington Times, 16 July 2006

Government to carry out threat to ban Hizb?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

HizbA number of radical Muslim groups are to be proscribed despite concern that this will drive them underground where they cannot be monitored. As part of the Prime Minister’s 12-point plan to tackle terrorism, announced after the London bombings on 7 July last year, the government is to unveil a list of organisations it wants to ban under the Terrorism Act 2006. The list is expected to include Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Shortly after the 7/7 bombings, Tony Blair signalled his intention to proscribe this group. But such a move will prove highly controversial. Hizb ut-Tahrir claims to oppose violence and it has condemned the 7/7 bombings, as well as the atrocities in Madrid and Bali. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has questioned the merits of banning the group, as have human rights lawyers. “The Prime Minister correctly said fighting terrorism is an ideological battle,” said Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty. “How are we to fight the war of ideas if non-violent political groups are driven underground?”

Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “We have major differences with Hizb ut-Tahrir, in particular its non-participation in the democratic process. Having said that, we think banning it is entirely wrong. It is non-violent.”

Observer, 16 July 2006

The Foreign Office and radical Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sunny Hundal gives another boost to Martin Bright’s Channel 4 programme.

Pickled Politics, 14 July 2006

For the MCB’s reply to to Bright – “Martin Bright is part of a circle of pernicious Islamophobic commentators that includes Nick Cohen, Michael Gove, John Ware and Melanie Phillips, among others, who have tried to use the 7/7 atrocities as an opportunity to advance their anti-Muslim agenda” – see here.