‘Tread more carefully’ over Qaradawi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jonathan Freedland in yet another ignorant attack on Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Not quite as bad as you might have feared, but we get the usual stuff – originating with the likes of MEMRI and Outrage! – about supporting the killing of unborn Israeli children and the state execution of gay men.

Guardian, 27 July 2005

The burden of Freedland’s argument is to oppose “hugging people who are sharply at odds with Britain’s progressive tradition”. Which of course ignores the need for alliances with people who represent a progressive force within their own tradition – people like Dr al-Qaradawi who promote democracy, women’s rights and dialogue with the West in the Middle East, and who constitute a democratic-reformist alternative to the terrorists of al-Qaida within political Islam.

Beards and scarves aren’t Muslim. They’re simply adverts for al-Qaeda (says Amir Taheri)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Muslims could also help by stopping the use of their bodies as advertising space for al-Qaeda. Muslim women should cast aside the so-called hijab, which has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with tribal wear on the Arabian peninsula. The hijab … is now a visual prop of terrorism. If some women have been hoodwinked into believing that they cannot be Muslims without covering their hair, they could at least use headgears other than black (the colour of al-Qaeda) or white (the colour of the Taleban)…. Muslim men should consider doing away with Taleban and al-Qaeda-style beards. Growing a beard has nothing to do with Islam…. The bushy beards you see on Oxford Street are symbols of the Salafi ideology that has produced al-Qaeda and the Taleban.”

Right-wing Iranian exile Amir Taheri – a mainstay of the US neocon consultancy Benador Associates – offers some advice to Muslims.

Times, 27 July 2005

Homeowner removes Quran ‘flushing’ display

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today that one of its representatives helped convince a Florida man to remove a toilet in his yard with a sign attached that read: “Koran flush 1 p.m.” (See here)

The owner of the toilet said it was designed to honor those who died in the 9/11 attacks and in Iraq. It was also retribution, he said, for what he believed to be a failure of Muslims to object to the terrorism of extremists. (See here)

After CAIR-FL Central Florida Director Ahmed Bedier learned of complaints about the display, he went to the home to take a picture. When he noticed that the owner was home, he knocked on the door to inquire about the motivation for the display. Bedier, who happened to have his laptop computer with him, showed the homeowner some of the Muslim condemnations of terrorism and CAIR’s “Not in the Name of Islam” public service announcement. After about an hour of discussion, the homeowner offered to take down the toilet display. (See here)

“This incident proves that anti-Muslim prejudice decreases whenever ordinary people are given accurate information about Islam and have personal interactions with Muslims,” said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. Hooper thanked the homeowner for his willingness to change his preconceived ideas about Islam and Muslims.

CAIR news release, 27 July 2005

Robert Spencer uncovers British jihadists (not)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Jihadist groups operate ‘with impunity’ in UK.” Well, it must be true. Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch says so, and he has it on the authority of General Musharraf of Pakistan. You couldn’t find more reliable sources than that, could you?

Jihad Watch, 27 July 2005

However, when you read the Times article on which Spencer’s claim is based (see here), you find the only two “jihadist groups” that Musharraf claims “operate with full impunity” in Britain are Al-Muhajiroun, which dissolved itself last year, and Hizb ut-Tahrir, which states:

“Hizb ut-Tahrir is convinced that the change we seek must start in the minds of people and we do not accept for people or societies to be forced to change by violence and terror. Consequently, Hizb ut-Tahrir does not advocate or engage in violence. The party strictly adheres to Islamic law in all aspects of its work. It is an Islamic intellectual and political entity that seeks to change people’s thoughts through intelligent discussion and debate. We consider that Islamic law forbids violence or armed struggle against the regime as a method to re-establish the Islamic State.”

A sect that has a negative impact on Muslim communities in Britain, you could argue. But a “jihadist group”? I don’t think so.

Nuke Mecca? Don’t rule it out, says Jihad Watch

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rebecca Bynum proposes the killing of Muslim civilians in retaliation for terrorist bombings:

To fight a terrorist war waged by Muslim civilians, we have no choice but to impose retaliatory measures on Muslim civilians, thereby impeding the advance of Islam, for that is the only thing the Islamic terrorists value, and this is by the standards of Islam they follow. Human life is, for true believing Muslims, famously Hobbesian – ‘nasty, brutish and short’ affair. Human life is not something cherished by Muslims; to be nurtured and preserved above all things, the way it is in our own Judeo-Christian tradition. The ideal Muslim life is one that is sacrificed for Islam. Therefore, we must make certain kinds of Muslim sacrifice, namely suicide bombings designed to kill infidels, totally untenable, and so damaging to the umma, the Community of Believers, and so damaging to the other instruments of Jihad, that the terrorism will cease, or be severely limited in scope.

Dhimmi Watch, 27 July 2005

Are these people seriously loopy, or what? We look forward to Melanie Phillips (who appears to have developed a mutual admiration for Jihad Watch) taking up this suggestion in her next Daily Mail column.

Two-thirds of Muslims consider leaving UK

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have thought about leaving Britain after the London bombings, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll. The figure illustrates how widespread fears are of an anti-Muslim backlash following the July 7 bombings which were carried out by British born suicide bombers.

The poll also shows that tens of thousands of Muslims have suffered from increased Islamophobia, with one in five saying they or a family member have faced abuse or hostility since the attacks.

Police have recorded more than 1,200 suspected Islamophobic incidents across the country ranging from verbal abuse to one murder in the past three weeks. The poll suggests the headline figure is a large underestimate.

Guardian, 26 July 2005

Australian police ‘targeted’ Muslim convert over library books

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Melbourne university student says the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has questioned him because he borrowed library books about terrorism and suicide bombings. The Muslim convert, known as Abraham, says he was targeted by investigators while borrowing the books for PhD research at Monash University into the role of Islam in martyrdom.

Abraham says the AFP drew an unfair link between his Muslim name and his topic of study. “Obviously, they’ve had access to my library records,” he said. “I don’t know if the phone has been bugged. I don’t know if they are watching my movements. They are drawing a linkage between a person with a non-English speaking name and saying ‘okay, well this is suspicious activity’.”

Abraham says there are dozens of students studying similar subjects but he is the only one who has been interviewed, despite espousing a moderate approach to Islam.

ABC News, 26 July 2005

See also ‘Aussie Muslim leaders hit back at Howard’, Islam Online, 25 July 2005

US Muslims call comments by radio show host ‘hate-filled’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A local radio talk show host touched off complaints from an Islamic civil rights organization yesterday after repeatedly describing Islam on the air as “a terrorist organization” that is “at war with America.”

The organization, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), asked the station to take disciplinary action against Michael Graham, who hosts WMAL-AM’s late-morning call-in program. A station executive, Randall Bloomquist, said yesterday that Graham’s comments were “amped up” but justified within the context of the program. He said the station, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., had no plans to reprimand Graham.

The show host touched off the flap during a discussion of the Muslim community’s response to recent acts of terrorism. Graham suggested the fault lies with Muslims generally because religious leaders and followers haven’t done enough to condemn and root out extreme elements. “The problem is not extremism,” Graham said, according to both CAIR and the station. “The problem is Islam.” He also said, “We are at war with a terrorist organization named Islam.”

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Fascists propose to ‘protect Britain from Islamic terror’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Protecting Britain from Islamic terror isn’t rocket science”, the BNP announces, “but it will take the courage to throw political correctness where it belongs – in the litter-bin of history. And the day when that happens is getting closer. In the days since the start of the terror campaign, BNP activists all over Britain have been working harder than ever to spread the message that the Muslim terror threat has its roots in bad political decisions made by successive Labour and Tory governments. Now is the time to make people understand that the only chance they have of a return to safety and security is to get rid of the politicians who have brought us ‘diversity’ and death.”

Proposals include ethnic profiling of suspects, an instant halt to immigration from Muslim countries, banning the veil (“What is the point of having CCTV cameras if terrorists can disguise themselves as the wives of Muslim fundamentalists and prowl our streets undetected behind veils and hoods?”), deporting illegal migrants, and sacking all Muslims “studying chemistry, biology and computer communications in our universities, or working in jobs giving them access to installations such as water treatment plants”.

BNP news article, 26 July 2005

Muslims tell of post-bomb fears

Posted on by Bob Pitt

London’s mayor Ken Livingstone has met Muslim leaders to discuss their fears after the London bombings.

Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting, south London, said the most worrying thing was “British-born and British-raised Muslims… did this to London”. But he said they hoped to help catch those responsible for the attacks.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said they were very worried about the Met’s shoot-to-kill police and called for an inquiry. “This is the only way that we can be assured that the Muslim community is going to be taken seriously,” he said.

Addressing the conference Mr Khan said: “None of us should feel even more guilty than non-Muslims in this city. “People think of Muslims as a homogenous mass but we are not. We are very different groups of people. We will do all that we can to catch those responsible. It is important that we are united.”

Mayor Livingstone also vowed to crack down on anyone or any company who uses to the blasts as an excuse for discrimination, after learning a Muslim woman was not allowed to board a bus in east London.

“This is completely contrary to the law and bus companies that allow that to happen will not be allowed to keep their contracts,” he said. “I have said before we will not allow the bombers to divide us and we will not allow people to divide us here.”

BBC News, 26 July 2005