“An extremist Islamist group, which remains legal despite Government promises to ban it, has urged Muslim students at British universities to fight Allied troops in Iraq.” Yes, it’s yet another attempt to frame Hizb ut-Tahrir as a violent organisation that should be banned. This one in the Sunday Telegraph, based on an exposé of HT on Panorama tomorrow. See also the BBC website.
McCain casts Muslims as less fit to lead
Senator John McCain said in an interview posted on the Internet on Saturday that the Constitution established the United States as a Christian nation and that his faith is probably of better spiritual guidance than that of a Muslim candidate for president.
“I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, that’s a decision the American people would have to make, but personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith,” Mr. McCain said in response to a question about the possibility of a Muslim running for president.
New York Times, 30 September 2007
See also Sepia Mutiny, 30 September 2007
Joe Kaufman: Don Quixote meets Meir Kahane
“While Kaufman makes his living out of calling for the expunging of Muslim nations and the shutting down of all American Muslim organizations, the American Muslim leaders he maligns are too busy to heed his desperate antics for attention; they are out there building bridges between communities and leading much-needed conversations that chisel away at misunderstanding and stereotypes.”
M.T. Akbar takes on US right-wing anti-Muslim blogger Joe Kaufman.
Another hysterical headline about Tablighi Jamaat
“Islamic group accused of al-Qaida link wants to open second school.” What is this – a typical piece of anti-Muslim scaremongering in the Daily Express? A press release by Newham councillor Alan Craig? No, it’s the headline to an article by Riazat Butt in today’s Guardian, reporting on plans by Tablighi Jamaat to open a madrasa for 500 boys as part of the so-called “mega-mosque” development in East London.
Driver attempts to run woman over
A man’s attempt to run a Muslim woman over with his car while she waited for a bus in Southampton was racially motivated, police have said. The 30-year-old woman, wearing a hijab, was targeted at Lordshill Centre on August 23.
The man drove up next to her in a red car and verbally abused her, before trying to mount the kerb in his car. He then drove off towards a nearby roundabout, before driving back towards the woman, who ran off. “The woman, from Southampton, ran into a nearby library to escape further abuse, she was uninjured, but was left shaken by the incident,” a police spokeswoman told The Muslim News.
Police want to speak to a woman who was at the bus stop during the incident and the driver of another car who beeped his horn when the vehicle attempted to drive onto the pavement. The man has been described as white, middle-aged, of medium build, with short brown hair and a round face. He wore a yellow top. Officers said part of the registration number of the car he was driving was M214.
A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Southampton told The Muslim News, “It’s unfortunate that the lady had to go through that ordeal, we appeal to the Southampton community to help the police catch the perpetrator. We should not tolerate any forms of intimidation to any section of society.”
The Muslim News, 28 September 2007
See also BBC News, 31 August 2007
Boro refuse to tackle Islamophobia
When The Muslim News probed Middlesbrough FC on its handling of the incident in which Mido, their Egyptian forward, was subjected to Islamophobic chants, the club merely said having a multinational team will be their “strongest anti-racism message”.
Mido, whose real name is Ahmed Hossam Hussein Abdelhamid, was subjected to 90 minutes of “terrorist” and “Mido, he’s got a bomb” chants by Newcastle fans in the 2-2 draw at the Riverside Stadium on August 26. Yet Middlesbrough have refused to disclose a report to the Football Association (FA) or exchange intelligence with Cleveland police. They have not inspected CCTV or TV footage around the stadium. They will not even browse online Youtube videos recording some of the taunts.
Preposterously glossing over the fact that Mido faced similar abuse from Southampton and West Ham fans two years ago playing for Tottenham Hotspurs, the 24-year-old-s new club have decided not to take any action, “We trust and believe that the incident involving some Newcastle United supporters was a one-off and sincerely hope that it will not be repeated again in the future by fans of any club.”
Yet denial and complacency over Islamophobia in English football is not exclusive to clubs. Football’s anti-racism body Kick It Out told The Muslim News it received numerous complaints about the manner in which sections of the media have addressed the matter. “In discussing the abuse received by Mido, one of the presenters (on a national sports radio station) has been classifying it as a bit of fun” read one complaint.
Some of the discussions have gone as far as to suggest the abuse was not Islamophobic. “Obviously, it was not claiming that all Muslims are terrorists. It’s just a chant,” said one fan.
BNP opposes mega-mosque … in Whitehaven
Last week the BNP stood a candidate, one Bill Pugh, in a by-election for Copeland Borough Council, an area not known for its large Muslim population. But the fascists still managed to play the anti-Muslim racist card – and with some effect. Although Pugh came third of three candidates, he got 23.44% of the vote. The local paper reports on the BNP’s campaign:
“If you looked past the Union Jacks and BNP slogans, Mr Pugh’s election leaflet read for the most part like an electorate’s dream. He advocated a return to weekly bin rounds, moving away from fortnightly collections; an end to the council’s Executive ‘squandering tax-payers’ money’ on what he regards as extravagances…. He was also keen to protect our hospital services and look after elderly residents, as well as providing more affordable social housing.
“But there, in the middle of it all, was another pledge, to stand against plans for a large-scale mosque in Whitehaven. The only trouble with their pledge is that there isn’t a mosque planned for Whitehaven, on any scale, large or otherwise.
“The BNP delivered a petition to The Whitehaven News before the election, in which they claimed that 1,000 people were against the plans for a mosque. A number of names appear twice or three times and dozens of the signatures were from people from outside the area. Osama Bin Laden was among the signatures.”
Whitehaven News, 27 September 2007
(Via Lancaster UAF)
Greens join Muslims to launch EU Guantánamo campaign
Green MEPs and the British Muslim Initiative called on the government on Thursday to step up efforts to bring Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Deghayes back home to Brighton.
Speaking at the launch of a new campaign for European Union countries to offer homes to Guantánamo detainees, Sussex MEP Caroline Lucas pointed out that it’s been almost two months since the Foreign Office asked for Mr Deghayes’s release, “but he’s still being held captive unlawfully and we are all left waiting”. “The government must use the occasion of the current UN talks to press the urgency of Omar’s case,” Ms Lucas insisted.
Dr Lucas made her comments as she joined other Green Party MEPs in calling for EU governments to grant refugee status to other innocent men who are currently being held without charge at the concentration camp.
The MEPs have thrown their support behind a campaign spearheaded by French human rights group FIDH for asylum be to be offered to those Guantánamo detainees who are being held, on the grounds that they could face torture or persecution if returned to their home country. There are thought to be about 45 such prisoners.
British Muslim Initiative spokesman Anas Al-Tikriti also called on ministers to intensify their efforts to get Mr Deghayes back home. Mr al-Tikriti hailed the FIDH initiative, noting that at least one Tunisian detainee has pleaded to be allowed to remain in Guantánamo rather than face torture in Tunisia.
And he insisted that “those who masterminded Guantánamo, those who worked out its form and manner of functioning, should face trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Mr Al-Tikriti warned that, if they were to get away scot-free, “other countries will feel that it is OK for them to commit the same crimes.”
Morning Star, 28 September 2007
Muslims ‘can never be British in spirit’
“Ronnie Liveston is right when he says ‘The mindset, religion and culture of Muslims are incompatible with the indigenous Christian Briton and will ever be thus’ (Letters, 24 September). While Muslim immigrants may adopt British nationality, they do not have a shared identity with us and can never be British in spirit.
“It is time that we began to understand that Islam is not just another religion; it is an all-encompassing nation state in its own right, with its own strict culture, political system and laws from which no Muslim can deviate. With Mosques and madrassas already proliferating all over Britain, Muslims are now planning to build the biggest Mosque in Europe to overshadow the new Olympic stadium in London. Is this an act of religious devotion or a political statement?”
Letter in The Scotsman, 28 September 2007
European discussion of Islam – ‘dumb, offensive and provocative’
“It is interesting to reflect on the asinine times we live in, particularly if like me, you are involved in that nebulous thing called ‘inter-cultural dialogue’. Over the past four weeks, I have been engaged in numerous rounds of dialogues between Western Europeans and Muslim migrant communities in Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin; and in every single one of these encounters, I came across stereotypes of Muslims and Islam that were so shallow and puerile that I am almost embarrassed to recount them here. Worst still, these pedestrian musings on Islam and Muslims were not the offerings of everyday punters, but those who claimed to be well-known and admired scholars and historians.
“In one of these exchanges, I was told the following: that ‘Islam is a fascist, woman-hating, Christian-killing, gay-bashing macho male ideology of hatred that was built on fourteen centuries of conquest and bloodshed, murder and rape. That is why there cannot be integration of Muslims into Europe, because the Muslims that we have here are the savages of the Arab world who are barbaric, violent and brutal. They do not believe in reason and the Enlightenment and Islamic civilisation has not produced anything scientific, rational or humane’. Try substituting the word ‘Muslim’ for ‘blacks’ and one would see how far-fetched and racist such claims really are.
“Now why is it that whenever we speak of Islam and Muslims today, some of us think they have the license to drop their IQ level by a hundred points or so? Is discussion on Islam a license to say anything dumb, offensive and provocative just for the sake of riling up the masses and grabbing a few headlines?”
Farish A. Noor in the Daily Times, 28 September 2007