“The organisers insist it is a coincidence, but the fact that IslamExpo fell on the first anniversary of the London bombings was the powerful symbol British Muslims needed to say very publicly what they stand for.”
Livingstone kicks off celebration of Islamic culture
Mayor Ken Livingstone was joined by 2012 Olympic Games chief Sebastian Coe and singer Yusuf Islam – formerly known as Cat Stevens – at the launch of a four-day Islamic cultural festival at Alexander Palace in north London yesterday.
People attending the event today, which is expected to attract 40,000 visitors, will observe the midday two-minute silence in memory of the victims of last year’s outrage. And, immediately afterwards, former Iraq hostage and peace activist Norman Kember will share a platform with anti-war campaigner Anas Altikriti, who visited Iraq in an attempt to secure his release.
Festival spokesman Ihtisham Hibatullah said that the event would “see mainstream Muslims condemn the terrorist atrocities in London and elsewhere against innocents. The focus on Friday will be to share in the sorrow of the families of the victims and the survivors. There will be a strong message from the mainstream Muslim community against all violence by extremists.”
Planning for the festival began in 2002, according to organisers, who stressed that it only coincides with the July 7 anniversary by chance.
Morning Star, 7 July 2006
Out of a cycle of ignorance
“Islamophobia is a threat to our democratic way of life. This cancer should be as unacceptable as anti-semitism. Pluralism and tolerance demand greater understanding and respect from non-Muslims and Muslims alike. The more we learn about each other, the more we will see beyond our differences to a reservoir of common concerns, values and interests.”
John Esposito in the Guardian, 7 July 2006
7/7 and foreign policy
“The first anniversary of the London attacks is rightly a time for reflection and sympathy, but the memories of those killed might be much better served if there was at last some awareness at the top of the British government of the connection between its policies and the costs to its own citizens”, Paul Rogers writes.
Is the BNP fascist?
The British National Party has ditched its Nazi trappings and renounced anti-semitism in favour of Islamophobia. Has it ceased to be fascist? The question is debated in What Next? No.31.
Blair’s Muslim views ‘unhelpful’
A leading Muslim has accused Tony Blair of playing an “unhelpful blame game” by suggesting moderate Muslims are doing too little to challenge extreme views. Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said Mr Blair’s remarks could hamper the good work being done. Moderate Muslims had promoted dialogue and peace in their communities since the 2001 attacks in the US, he said. And Mr Blair risked obscuring the real reasons for last year’s London attacks. Dr Bari said: “Blaming a community, especially those who have been working for the last five years to bringing sanity in the community, bringing peace and harmony in the community. This blaming is not helpful to us.”
Tariq Ramadan on 7/7
“One year after the London bombings we have good reason to be concerned. The scars left by this atrocity and other terrorist attacks, and the ongoing ‘war against terror’, have combined to portray Islam as a threat to Western societies. Fear, and the emotions that accompany it, has become a part of the public mindset. In this climate, arguments that were previously the sole province of the extreme right have found space within mainstream political discourse. The past is reinterpreted so as to deny Islam any place in the creation of Western identity which is now frequently redefined as purely Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian.
“Meanwhile many politicians have opted for the dangerous rhetoric of defending ‘Western values’ and seek to impose strict limitations on ‘foreigners’, while at the same time putting in place a whole apparatus of new security laws to fight terrorism. Hardly a Western society has been spared its own debate on questions of ‘identity’ or ‘integration’, but the implicit terms of the debate are often reduced to a distinction between two entities: ‘We, Westerners’ and ‘They, the Muslims’.”
Tariq Ramadan in the Independent, 6 July 2006
The Independent still manages to headline this article “Muslims need to stop behaving like victims”.
Inayat Bunglawala on the Shehzad Tanweer video
“The release of today’s video statement from Shehzad Tanweer appears to confirm the widespread view that the four 7/7 bombers had indeed been radicalised by aspects of our country’s foreign policy and participation in the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. One hopes that this will serve to lift the sense of denial in parts of the government about the link between the 7/7 bombings and its policies overseas. Just two months ago, the home secretary, John Reid, rejected suggestions that Mohammad Sidique Khan – believed to be the bombers’ ringleader – blamed his actions on the Iraq war. At the same time, one can only hope that the video also serves to answer those elements among British Muslims who continue to believe in various perverse 7/7 conspiracy theories, refusing to accept that Muslims could be capable of such murderous actions.”
Inayat Bunlawala at Comment is Free, 6 July 2006
Severed pig’s head thrown into mosque during prayer session
LEWISTON, Maine — A group of Muslim men praying at a Lewiston mosque were thrown for a jolt when somebody threw a severed pig’s head into the mosque. Police arrested a man on Tuesday who said he thought it was a joke.
A frozen pig’s head slightly larger than a basketball was rolled into the Lewiston Auburn Islamic Center on Lisbon Street at about 10:15 p.m. Monday, witnesses told the Sun Journal of Lewiston.
Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims, who are barred from eating pork, and the act was viewed as a deliberate insult upon the religion. “We cannot eat it. We cannot even sit next to someone who is eating it,” said a man who identified himself as Omar S.
When the incident occurred, about 40 men were bowed down as part of their prayer ritual. When the pig’s head rolled in, the men got up and ran outside but were unable to locate anyone. None of the men were hit by the animal head.
Lewiston police bagged the head as evidence and took it to the police station, witnesses said. Police Lt. Mark Watson said the head was then disposed of.
Brent Matthews, 33, of Lewiston, came to the police department on Tuesday, told a detective he had thrown the head and was charged with desecration of a church, a misdemeanor. The charge is considered a hate-bias crime, so Matthews’ case will be referred to the Attorney General’s office for further investigation, Lt. Don Mailhot said.
Matthews, who was out on bail, “admitted to doing it,” Mailhot said. “He thought it was funny; it was going to be a big joke. The police department doesn’t take anything like that lightly.”
See also CAIR press release, 4 July 2006
Spinning the Populus survey
“A Populus poll published in the Times yesterday found that 13% of British Muslims in the survey regarded the London bombers as ‘martyrs’. While that in no way means that 13% of Muslims in Britain approve of the bombings, the more telling finding was that 87% neither sympathised with nor approved of the attacks. But this side of the story got buried – such spin leaves both Muslims and non-Muslim with virtually nowhere to go.”
Anas Altikriti in the Guardian, 5 July 2006
Update: Bob Churchill has emailed us pointing out that the Times-ITV-Populus survey “is deeply paranoid, and that coverage of it has been deeply flawed and misrepresents the answers given…. The media are widely misrepresenting the results, as if the figure of 13% who say the 7/7 bombers were ‘martyrs’ meant that 13% of Muslims agreed with the attacks, and that’s not only unwarranted but I believe other results in the survey stand firmly against such a conclusion.”
He makes the same point on his blog (see here).