THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: British Muslims were outraged by the Woolwich attack – but it is being used to slur our entire community, writes Sadiq Khan.
Much has been written in the past month in the aftermath of the brutal murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. One unifying message has been the importance of communities standing together, in the face of the threats posed by those claiming to follow a particularly violent political version of Islam, and from far-right groups such as the EDL and BNP. One recent contribution to the debate came from the esteemed journalist Charles Moore, whose recent biography of Margaret Thatcher is a mighty tome of diligence and detail. In contrast, his words in last Saturday’s Telegraph were a clumsy foray into a territory about which he appears to know very little.
Some of his claims in his piece are so wide of the mark they warrant specific rebuttal. Take his claim that “the only serious violence was against a British soldier” – try telling that to those from across the community in Muswell Hill on finding that the Al-Rahma Islamic Centre had been burnt to the ground, or to the 182 staff and pupils evacuated from the Darul Uloom School in Chiselhurst, traumatised by an arson attack in the middle of the night.
In his piece, Moore states that “the EDL is merely reactive” as if that’s OK. It’s far from OK. Many of the darkest chapters in recent human history have sprung from reactionary movements gaining a foothold in society. But to go on and equate the EDL with groups like Tell Mama, the charity that records incidents against the Muslim community as well as providing advice and support on how to deal with Islamophobia, as Charles Moore's piece does, is ridiculous. I don’t recall seeing those running Tell Mama flicking fascist salutes while standing next to memorials for the war dead.
Charles Moore fears that those criticising Islamist organisations for being pro-violence will be rounded on. On the contrary, not only is there no place in British society for such extremist positions, but there is no place in my religion, the religion that I share with 2.7 million others across the UK. It is incumbent on us all to root out the bad apples, and not shy away from tackling head on the very small numbers who preach hatred and violence. » | Sadiq Khan, MP | Thursday, June 20, 2013
My comment:
This article is a whitewash of Islam. For starters, were the Muslim community to have been truly outraged by the beheading of Lee Rigby, they'd have come out into the streets showing us their rage. After all, they're pretty good at showing rage when they want to do so, witness the rage that ensued upon the publication of the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
Further, you say that Islam is not incompatible with "Britishness." I beg to differ. It is hardly British to keep one's women in purdah; nor is it British for women to be covered from head-to-toe. To be British is to respect democracy and freedom. Islam fails on both counts: it respects neither democracy nor freedom. And as a British politician and Muslim, you should be very aware of where the problems lie. For democracy to flourish, there has to be a strict separation of Church and state. In the case of Islam, that would have to be mosque and state. But Islam respects no such separation. Indeed, Islam boasts that the political and the spiritual in Islam are one indivisible, coherent whole. I think you should read my essay on the subject here.
Where there is no separation of the religious and the political, there is no true democracy. I really would have thought you'd have understood that, being a British politician as you are.
You also say that Islam is "British" because it is about respect, tolerance, and understanding. You know that Islam is neither respectful nor tolerant nor understanding. How much respect do Muslims show for homosexuals, for example? Or people of other faiths?
I'm sorry to say, Mr. Khan, but your article is full of flaws. It is neither true nor believable. – © Mark
This comment should be available to read here also; but the moderators have taken it down. It appears that The Daily Telegraph is no longer the newspaper which stands up for the truth, or for the indigenous population of the United Kingdom. They prefer to silence us, and give Muslims a voice instead. I find this policy to be reprehensible, especially because it makes newspapers like the Telegraph enablers.
