French secular fundamentalists distort Islam

“France’s secular fundamentalists regard Muslim individuals and groups who speak of Islam as a way of life as fundamentalists or fanatics, who constitute a threat to French culture and social values. Images of militant groups and the violent actions of a minority of individuals are often taken as representative and proof of the inherent danger of mixing Islam, politics and social life. This stereotype is a major obstacle to the understanding of Islamic culture and has contributed to a tendency that reduces Islam to fundamentalism and fundamentalism to religious extremism.”

Dr Marwan Al Kabalan writing in Gulf News, 13 February 2004

Off with their headscarves, says BHL

Off with their headscarves

Sunday Times, 1 February 2004

Bernard-Henri Levy, the maverick French philosopher, says his country should vote this week to ban Muslim women’s hijabs

Next week the French parliament will vote on whether to introduce a law banning beards, veils, scarves and other “religious symbols” from state schools and institutions. The move to ban the wearing of headscarves in schools by Muslim girls has created fears among many that other governments will follow the French example, with some people even suggesting that a European Union-wide ban could be a possibility.

Despite the perverse effects, or even the risks to freedom of speech and expression that have been endlessly emphasised, I am in favour of this controversial law.

I am for it primarily because of my belief in the principle of secularity, a belief that religion should have no place in civil affairs nor in the state. This does not seem like a particularly contemporary issue. The very word sounds like a hollow notion nowadays, something outdated. But it is the basis upon which those supremely important French principles of liberty, equality and brotherhood are founded.

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Illiberal secularism

“In short, when it comes to religion I would call myself a liberal secularist. Yet when I hear most liberals talking about secularism, I want to seek sanctuary in the nearest church, synagogue or mosque. As the French parliament prepares to debate the bill banning the hijab, yarmulke and turban in schools, it is time for Europe’s secularism to catch up and secularists to calm down.”

Gary Younge writing in the Guardian, 26 January 2004

In Europe, is it a matter of fear, or loathing? (of Muslims, that is)

“Western Europe’s 15 million-strong Muslim community is growing in power and size. The birthrate among Muslims in Europe is three times that of non-Muslims. While the Muslim population could double by 2015, the non-Muslim population is expected to shrink by 3.5 per cent.

“As this community grows, it is also flexing its political muscle. As the columnist Mark Steyn, writing in defence of Kilroy in the right-leaning The Daily Telegraph, put it: ‘When free speech, artistic expression, feminism and other totems of Western pluralism clash directly with the Islamic lobby, Islam more often than not wins.’

“This would not be a problem if it weren’t for the distressing but unavoidable reality that small but significant sections of that growing Muslim community are either outright hostile to or at least ambivalent toward Western values.”

Robin Shepherd, in the Washington Post, 25 January 2004

Scarf rally in Scottish capital

About 250 protesters have demonstrated outside the French Consulate in Edinburgh against plans to ban the wearing of headscarves in France’s state schools.

The protest was organised by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) as part of an international day of action.

Other campaigners travelled from Scotland to join a march in London.

The association said it was encouraging non-Muslims to wear headscarves in the Scottish capital to show “solidarity” with those in France.

Organisers said 25 protests were planned across the world, including London, Paris and several other French cities.

BBC News, 17 January 2004

The battle of the veil

Laurent Levy, a Paris lawyer who describes himself as an atheist, has become a champion for the freedom of religious expression since Lila, 18, and Alma, 16, were barred from their lycée in the northern suburb of Aubervilliers.

The girls – whose mother is a non-observant Algerian – were told the manner in which they wore the headscarf was “ostentatious” and unsuitable for sports lessons. The school authorities also accused them of taking part in a demonstration in their defence by around a hundred fellow students.

AFP, 1 October 2003

See also BBC News, 1 October 2003

US threatens mass expulsions

More than 13,000 Arab and Muslim men in the US are facing deportation after co-operating with post-11 September anti-terror measures, it has been revealed.

They are among 82,000 adult males who obeyed a government demand to register with the immigration service earlier this year, on the grounds they come from 25 mainly Muslim countries said to harbour terror groups.

Only 11 of those who registered, and of the tens of thousands more screened at airports and border crossings, have been found to have links with terrorism.

BBC News, 10 June 2003

The decline and fall of Islam

Fairly typical American Islamophobia:

“The Koran is a guide to war. Thievery was the way Muhammad supported himself as the self-proclaimed prophet and conquest was the way Muhammad and his followers initially spread Islam. The United States, a target and a victim in this Jihad, is waging war to end the Islamic dream of domination. In this it has been joined by many nations, including those that are Islamic. This should be seen as a hopeful sign.

“I believe this century will be remembered as the one in which Islam began its long march to extinction. It will be defeated in its terror war and it will be defeated because many will abandon a “religion” that is repelled by modernity, denies human rights, and revels in the blood of its victims, calling their killers martyrs.”

Alan Caruba at American Daily, 9 June 2003

Muslims need not apply

The backlash from the war on terror on Britain’s non-white population is growing. Applications to visit relatives in Britain from countries with large Muslim populations are twice as likely to be turned down than they were just over a year ago. Families in Britain’s biggest ethnic minority communities are now struggling to have relatives visit them.

An analysis of last year’s statistical reports from British embassies around the world by Citizens Advice, the charity and national body for the bureaux, shows that refusals increased by more than 100% in countries with big Muslim populations.

The biggest rises in refusals were for applications from the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent. In Tehran, refusals jumped 188% between the first and second half of last year. From January to July, 8.5% of applicants were refused, but from August to December, a quarter was turned down. In New Delhi and Mumbai, refusals increased 105% during the same period.

Britain’s biggest non-white communities have been badly affected. There are 1 million people of Indian descent and 500,000 of Bangladeshi origin in the UK. Refusals of applications from families in Calcutta rose by 443%, and in Dhaka more than 60% of applications to visit relatives in Britain were refused in the second half of the year, compared with 38% in the first.

While it is getting harder for some people to visit relatives, it is getting easier for others. Refusals of applications from North America declined by 29% and from South America by 1% during the same period.

This dramatic rise in refusals of applications from one set of countries, many observers say, is driven by the “war on terror”. Decisions may be based less on hard evidence than on the possibility that applicants could be in some way connected to terrorist organisations.

Guardian, 16 April 2003