Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot says Muslims lack a tolerance “gene”, in an interview with the Brazilian daily Correio Braziliense.
“We always have been a tolerant country, and we still are. You have to look at the facts: 10 percent of our population comes from Muslim countries. They have gone on to become Dutch citizens, but they have different genes from ours. They are less tolerant,” Bot said in the interview published Wednesday.
Should one offer unlimited love on all occasions to the neighbour who seeks your destruction? Surely not! This is not the Biblical message as far as I am concerned. Yet this is precisely what the Church is doing by embracing Islam. It is holding to its naked bosom the viper that has reaffirmed its dedication, down the centuries, to the total destruction of our Christian Church. Its mission of oblivion for our Church, first formulated on the sands of Arabia and reaffirmed a million times since – even up until the present day – has not been moderated or even modified, far less rescinded at any time since!
The fact that the viper hasn’t bitten on the first occasion, or the second or, indeed, the hundredth is no guarantee of reciprocated brotherly love, anymore than it is a safeguard against that fatal bite – which will inevitably be struck – if that religion is to be true unto itself. For the Church to embrace Islam, even in its “moderate” form – which is, after all, merely the reverse of the same coin struck bearing its founding image of fundamentalism and intolerance – is to embrace its own destruction and constitutes folly, may I say, of biblical proportions.
The devil takes shapes in many ways to deceive those who believe in God.
A BNP-sympathising Christian reacts to Channel 4’s Dispatches programme.
A Bradford MP has vowed to ignore any allegations of racism and Islamophobia as she takes her campaign to put an end to “evil” forced marriages to Home Secretary John Reid. Keighley MP Ann Cryer tabled an early day motion demanding the Government take action to end the “rape and false imprisonment” of women and girls, and make forced marriage a criminal offence.
This is Bradford, 18 January 2007
Cryer, of course, has never been constrained by the thought that she might be inciting racism or Islamophobia (see, for example, here and here).
For the Muslim Council of Britain’s views on forced marriage, see (pdf) here.
The hardline preacher at the centre of an explosive TV documentary into extremist lectures delivered at a Birmingham Mosque today insisted: “I have nothing to hide.”
Abu Usamah At-Thahabi was secretly taped for months by undercover reporters, appearing to deliver hate-filled lectures at Green Lane Mosque in Small Heath. He is now being investigated by West Midlands Police.
But today he described the Channel 4 Dispatches programme as “a poor attempt at fair journalism because every one of my statements were taken out of context – without any explanation.”
The cleric said he welcomed the police investigation and would provide them with all the DVDs of his lectures. “I totally embrace and encourage a police investigation because I do not believe that the security forces will have any hidden agenda in which they will allow themselves to be swayed by Channel Four’s sensationalist journalism.”
A head scarf ban for municipal counter clerks in the northern port city of Antwerp has raised protest from Muslims and women activists, officials said Tuesday.
The city council decided late Monday that civil servants dealing directly with the public should not wear visible religious symbols like a Muslim head scarf or a Christian cross. Some 150 mostly Muslim women protested the decision late Monday and the organizers said they were considering further action.
Antwerp has been a stronghold of the far-right Flemish Interest party, but it was defeated in local elections last October by the socialists, who had run a campaign stressing the multicultural makeup of Belgium’s second-largest city.
Opponents of the ban were disappointed that the coalition of socialists, liberals and Christian democrats who run the city council had outlawed head scarves for frontdesk staff. “It was a surprise, especially after a campaign like that,” said Sophie De Graeve of the women’s rights group VOK.
Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain responds to Monday evening’s Dispatches programme “Undercover Mosque”:
“Following the 7/7 bombings it was always inevitable that Muslim organisations and mosques would be placed under the spotlight. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Documentary makers have an important responsibility though to do their research properly and carefully identify those who actually incite hatred. They must take great care to avoid unfairly stigmatising whole institutions and groups of people. The Dispatches team may have partly succeeded with the first bit, but I believe they failed quite badly with the second.”
Guardian Comment is Free, 17 January 2007
Osama Saeed has written: “… you will not find me defending the bigoted comments made on last night’s programme. They were out of order, full stop. In fact we did not see the people that made them finding much defence either. There were some inaccurate criticisms in the film, but this does not take away from the fact that there are some objectionable people who say seriously objectionable things in speeches. Muslims who hear these things must take them to task.”
See further comment from FOSIS, IHRC, Indigo Jo Blogs, Yahya Birt and Eteraz.
Pickled Politics reports that the Sun has apologised for the story that it published last October, accusing “Muslim yobs” of hounding four soldiers out of their house in Windsor. The Sun now says:
“Following our report ‘Hounded out’ about a soldiers’ home in Datchet, Berks, being vandalised by Muslims, we have been asked to point out no threatening calls were logged at Combermere Barracks from Muslims and police have been unable to establish if any faith or religious group was responsible for the incident. We are happy to make this clear.”
See also Lenin’s Tomb, 18 January 2007
Even Mad Mel has been forced to (sort of) retract (scroll down to the bottom of the article).
DETROIT — A group of 40 Michigan Muslims said Tuesday they were unfairly profiled earlier this month when they were not allowed to board a Northwest Airlines flight in Germany on their way home from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
A Northwest spokesman said that the travelers reported to the gate Jan. 7 in Frankfurt, Germany, only about 20 minutes before their connecting flight was due to take off. Airline and international rules stipulate that passengers must check in for international flights at least an hour before departure and be onboard the aircraft at least 30 minutes beforehand. “They showed up at the last minute,” spokesman Dean Breest told The Detroit News.
But the Muslim pilgrims and the Council on American Islamic Relations rejected the airline’s statement at a news conference Tuesday, saying flight rules are at least the third reason given for the incident. “We arrived at the gate at least an hour and 30 minutes before the departure,” said Imam Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. “Others who came after us were allowed to board the airplane.” Al-Qazwini told the Detroit Free Press the airline was likely afraid of having 40 Muslims together on one flight.
Update: See “MI Muslim pilgrims offered apology, compensation by NW Airlines”, CAIR press release, 17 January 2007
“… the programme-makers repeatedly interspersed the ugly material emanating from a handful or so preachers from one wing of the Wahhabi sect with material which is more mainstream but is simply distasteful to western ears and images of women wearing niqab … the programme is likely to cast more suspicion over the Muslim community generally, not just the small group involved, while much of the Muslim youth get defensive and accuse Channel 4 of taking their words out of context and the profile of Uncle Tom pseudo-Sufis is raised further.”
Yusuf Smith assesses yesterday’s Dispatches programme, Undercover Mosque.
Indigo Jo Blogs, 15 January 2007
And for those of you who missed it, the fascists of the British National Party have helpfully provided links to a recording on YouTube.
BNP news article, 16 January 2007
Meanwhile would-be führer Nick Griffin has written to the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, urging them to prosecute some of the speakers featured in the programme … for inciting violence and racial hatred. Satire itself stands disarmed.
Muslim groups are to come together at a special event in Manchester. The emergency meeting of the alliance of Mosques and Muslim organisations will take place at 7pm on 16th January at the Saffron Restaurant, Cheetham Hill Road.
The meeting is being arranged to highlight the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim life in the UK and to open debate and dialogue about the causes of terrorism and social disharmony. The event also hopes to bring to the fore the importance of responsible journalism and mature political discussion.
Representatives of various organisations, including from UK Islamic Mission, Muslim Association Britain, Hizb ut Tahrir, Centre for Muslim Affairs, MCB, Islamic Society of Britain, Islamic Forum Europe, other organisations and respected Imams have been invited.
See also Manchester Muslim Forum press release, 11 January 2007