Category Archives: UK

Vote for British values, stop the peddlers of hate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Muslim Council of Britain and Unite Against Fascism call on all Muslims to use their vote in the forthcoming local elections in England and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliamentary and Wales Assembly elections to stop the dangerous British National Party (BNP).

The BNP is a fascist party in the tradition of Hitler’s Nazis and it seeks an all-white Britain which could only be achieved through violence and an end to democracy. It is against the values of the British people.

Its vote has soared over the past six years, on the basis of whipping up hostility, particularly towards Muslims, and spreading racist lies. Where the BNP is active, racist and Islamophobic attacks increase. Where it wins council seats, it gains a cloak of respectability, legitimising hostilities against Muslims and increasing the climate of Islamophobia.

The BNP’s growth can be stopped if the majority of people go out and vote on 3 May.

The BNP can grab seats where the majority of people don’t vote. We must all stand united against these peddlers of hate.

The Muslim Council of Britain and Unite Against Fascism are asking Muslims to vote with fellow Britons on 3 May. Whoever you vote for, vote for local matters that concern you and stop the BNP. Participating in local elections is your civic duty and is in the best traditions of Islam.

MCB press release, 17 April 2007

Muslims can claim cash for their harems – shock revelations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David_DaviesPolygamous husbands settling in Britain with multiple wives can claim extra benefits for their “harems” even though bigamy is a crime in the UK, it has emerged. Opposition MPs are demanding an urgent change in the law, claiming that the Government is recognising and rewarding a custom which has no legal status and which is “alien” to this country’s cultural traditions.

Islamic law allows a man to take up to four wives, providing he can provide for them fairly and equally. But British law only ever recognises one spouse, while bigamy is punishable by up to seven years in jail. However, if a husband and his wives arrive and settle in Britain having wed in a country where polygamy is legal, then the UK benefits system recognises his extra wives as dependents and pays them accordingly.

The Department of Work and Pensions admitted yesterday it had no figures on how many families are claiming for multiple wives.

Tory MP for Monmouth David Davies condemned the arrangements as “appalling”, and called for an immediate halt to the payments. He said: “People who come to this country must be prepared to abide by our laws and rules. Polygamy is completely alien to our cultural and legal tradition, and it’s disgraceful that our benefits system is recognising and rewarding it. Why are some people in Government falling over themselves to undermine every tradition that has made this country what it is?”

Daily Mail, 18 April 2007

David Davies provides a good illustration of Soumaya Ghannoushi’s point that David Cameron’s claim to have transformed the Tories into a modern, progressive, liberal party is a fraud.

‘London Muslims overwhelmingly oppose gays’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pink News reports: “An in-depth survey into the attitudes of Muslims living in London has revealed that less than 5% think homosexual acts are ‘acceptable’, compared with over 65% of the general population The Gallup poll, reported in The Times, found that Muslims differed significantly with the rest of the capital’s population in their attitudes to a range of social questions.”

Whereas London’s Orthodox Jewish community or practising Roman Catholics would of course be vocal in their support for gay sex. You sometimes wonder whether Benjamin Cohen’s body has been occupied by the spirit of Pim Fortuyn.

For a more balanced assessment of the Gallup poll, see Michael Binyon in the Times, 17 April 2007

Though over at the Centre for Social Cohesion David Conway suggests that Binyon’s piece is yet another example of how Saudi gold has corrupted both the Times and the Gallup Organization. Melanie Phillips is impressed by Conway’s analysis.

UK ‘bans’ study of Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

E-mails are circulating around the world, claiming the UK has banned the teaching of the Holocaust in schools. The false suggestion is the action has been taken by the government to avoid offending some Muslim communities. In fact the government has reaffirmed that in England, teaching children about the Holocaust is compulsory, and it is not banned elsewhere in the UK.

One example is headed “In Memoriam”. It says: “Recently this week, UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it ‘offended’ the Moslem population which claims it never occurred.” It adds: “This is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.”

BBC News, 17 April 2007

Posted in UK

Islamophobic attitudes slammed at National Union of Journalists conference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NUJDelegates called on the NUJ executive to step up efforts to stamp out “pernicious and insidious” press Islamophobia on Sunday.

Glasgow delegate Ruth Allan noted that Islamophobia “follows the KKK rulebook, which states that vulnerable ethnic minorities need to be isolated from the mainstream, so that they can more easily be attacked.”

South Yorkshire delegate Phil Turner damned Cabinet Minister Jack Straw’s comments about Muslim women covering their faces, arguing that what Mr Straw said had been designed to whip up racism “in a way not seen since the days of Enoch Powell.”

But Press and PR delegate Gillian Hammond endorsed Mr Straw’s comments, asserting: “The full-face niqab can become a disguise for people with sinister purposes – there are people out there who are up to no good and it needs to be said.”

Executive member Michelle Shawstreet applauded the “brave” Daily Star chapel who, led by Steve Usher, forced management to withdraw the “inflammatory, racist and deeply offensive Daily Fatwah page” in October last year by walking out.

Morning Star, 16 April 2007

Islam cartoon student apologises for offence

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Cambridge University student who sparked a huge row when he published anti- Islamic material has issued a grovelling apology. The 19-year-old second-year Clare College student went into hiding after he printed a cartoon and material satirising religion in college magazine Clareification. Cartoons which had sparked worldwide protests in the Muslim community were reprinted in the edition. The college has promised to take action to prevent a similar incident occurring.

Part of the student’s apology read: “I understand that this edition has caused deep offence and hurt to very many people, both inside and outside Clare, through its derogatory references to individuals and also to various groups, including women, Jews, Christians and Muslims.”

Asim Mumtaz, president of Cambridge’s Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, welcomed the apology, and said he was satisfied with the way the college had dealt with the situation. He said: “Religion teaches us that God is merciful and forgives, and we should forgive others as well, so long as this student realised the impact of their actions and that this was wrong. This student has a full life ahead of him and if he had been thrown out of the university that would have had a huge impact.”

Cambridge Evening News, 16 April 2007

Posted in UK

UK Muslims ‘more loyal than most’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in the UK are more likely to identify strongly with Britain and have confidence in its institutions than the population as a whole, a poll suggests. The survey says they are also more likely to take a positive view of living side-by-side with people of different races and religions.

The majority of Muslims do not believe the veil is a barrier to integration – unlike most of the wider population.

Gallup interviewed 500 Muslims and 1,200 members of the wider population. The full results of the survey – described as the most comprehensive poll on Muslims and non-Muslims to date – will be published later this week.

Fifty-seven per cent of the Muslims polled said they identified strongly with their country, compared with 48% of the general public. Muslims were also more likely to express confidence in the police (78% to 69%), national government (64% to 36%), the justice system (67% to 55%) and elections (73% to 60%).

Nearly three-quarters of the Muslims said they felt loyal to the UK, and 82% said they respected other religions. But just 45% of the wider population said Muslims living in the UK were loyal to the nation, and only 55% said they were respectful.

The poll found the general public were more likely to prefer living in a neighbourhood made up mostly of people who shared their religious or ethnic background (35%) than Muslims were (25%).

Only 13% of British Muslims said they believed that women removing the veil was necessary for integration, compared with 55% of the wider population.

BBC News, 15 April 2007

Reported in the Sunday Telegraph under the headline “Muslims will not waver over veils”.

Update:  See “European Muslims show no conflict between religious and national identities”, Gallup, 26 April 2007

Study exposes discrimination against Muslim prisoners

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Prison barsThe Prison Service’s attempts to curb the growth of radical Islam in jails by restricting communal prayers and reading of the Qur’an during work breaks are exacerbating the problem, according to the first in-depth study of Muslim prisoners. The research, based on interviews with 170 current and former Muslim prisoners, also reveals that bans on access to certain TV programmes and newspapers in high-security prisons have also backfired.

The four-year research project by Aberdeen University anthropologist Gabriele Marranci also finds that a small minority of former young Muslim offenders are vulnerable to recruitment by militant organisations as a result of their prison experiences. “I found no evidence to suggest that the Muslim chaplains are behaving or preaching in a way that facilitates radicalisation,” said Dr Marranci. “On the contrary, my findings suggest that they are extremely important in preventing dangerous forms of extremism. However, the distrust that they face, both internally and externally, is jeopardising their important function.”

The research shows that Muslim prisoners were subject to stricter surveillance than other inmates, especially when they adopted religious symbols such as beards, veils and caps: “Growing a beard is, in almost all establishments I visited, interpreted as ‘radicalisation’ of the individual,” said Dr Marranci, a lecturer in the anthropology of religion. He warns that the continuing atmosphere of suspicion surrounding Muslim prisoners increases a sense of frustration and depression which a strong view of Islam can help to overcome.

Guardian, 13 April 2007.