Category Archives: Liberal

‘Take off burkas’ call by Lib Dem MEP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

chris davies(2).jpgA North West Euro MP has reignited a debate about Muslim women wearing the burka.

Liberal Democrat Chris Davies says the burka “does not belong in 21st century Britain” and is calling on Muslim women in Lancashire to take them off. He made the remarks after President Sarkozy of France this week attacked the burka as an assault upon the dignity of women. Mr Davies said:

“There is no mention in the Qur’an of the burka and it is a style of dress used principally in those countries where women are treated as mere chattels of men. I believe that it does not belong in 21st century Britain.

“I have a passionate belief that women and men are equals, and both sexes should be free to express their identity through the dress they wear. In my experience, the burka acts as a mask, reducing identity and discouraging women from developing their own skills and personality. If there are men who want to use the burka to impose their own will upon women in their family they should feel the full force of society’s disapproval.”

Salim Mulla, vice-chairman of Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: “It is absolute nonsense to say men force their partners, wives or daughters to wear the burkas. He probably needs to talk to people like myself and the Council of Mosques to educate himself about the issue. It is up to individuals if they want to wear the burka.”

Burnley-born Communities Minister Shahid Malik said: “It is not the job of government to dictate what people should or should not wear in our society – that is a matter of personal choice.

”This freedom to choose is one of the great values of our nation and why we are revered around the world. There are no laws stating what clothes or attire are acceptable and so whether one chooses to wear a veil or burka, a mini-skirt or goth outfit is entirely at the individual’s discretion.

”It is true that many Muslims feel the veil and its rationale are misunderstood and so sensible discussion provides an opportunity to create a better understanding and ultimately ensures we are more at ease with the diverse society within which we live.”

Lancashire Telegraph, 24 June 2009

See also Asian Image, 24 June 2009

‘Fears of Muslim anger over religious book’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Does God Hate WomenAn academic book about religious attitudes to women is to be published this week despite concerns it could cause a backlash among Muslims because it criticises the prophet Muhammad for taking a nine-year-old girl as his third wife.

The book, entitled Does God Hate Women?, suggests that Muhammad’s marriage to a child called Aisha is “not entirely compatible with the idea that he had the best interests of women at heart”.

It also says that Cherie Blair, wife of the former prime minister, was “incorrect” when she defended Islam in a lecture by claiming “it is not laid down in the Koran that women can be beaten by their husbands and their evidence should be devalued as it is in some Islamic courts”.

This weekend, the publisher, Continuum, said it had received “outside opinion” on the book’s cultural and religious content following suggestions that it might cause offence. “We sought some advice and paused for thought before deciding to go ahead with publication,” said Oliver Gadsby, the firm’s chief executive. The book will be released on Thursday.

Sunday Times, 31 May 2009

Sounds to me like a cynical attempt by the authors, Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangroom – who are associated with the notoriously Islamophobic website Butterflies and Wheels – to boost sales of their book, which has already been turned down by Verso.

The report concludes with a quote from a Muslim critic: “No one will swallow talk about child brides. It would lead to a huge backlash, as we saw with The Jewel of Medina.” And who is the individual the Sunday Times has chosen to approach as a representative voice of British Muslims? Wouldn’t you know it, it’s Anjem Choudary, leader of the minuscule gang of provocateurs who previously traded under the name of Al-Muhajiroun.

Which only goes to show that, when it comes to depicting the UK Muslim community, the “serious” press often shows the same irresponsibility and contempt for accuracy as the worst of the tabloids.

Update:  See also Benson’s opinion piece in the Observer and Yusuf Smith’s response (“The article left me wondering how a respectable liberal Sunday broadsheet can print such a shoddy article containing such obvious generalisations and faulty logic”) at Indigo Jo Blogs.

Patriotic, respectful and homophobic: a portrait of British Muslims’ state of mind

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Well, that how the headline currently reads to a quite balanced report of the Gallup poll findings in today’s Independent. However, as you can see from the URL, the original headline was “Patriotic, paranoid and homophobic”. Quite where they got that from, I don’t know. Perhaps the sub-editor was so used to producing headlines for articles portraying the Muslim community in a negative light that they had difficulty adjusting.

And over at the Daily Mail, their report is headed “Just one in 10 British Muslims feel integrated into society, study claims“.

Terry Eagleton on the liberal supremacists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terry Eagleton“If the test of liberalism is how it confronts its illiberal adversaries, some of the liberal intelligentsia seem to have fallen at the first hurdle. Writers such as Martin Amis and Hitchens do not just want to lock terrorists away. They also tout a brand of western cultural supremacism. Dawkins strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq, but preaches a self-satisfied, old-fashioned Whiggish rationalism that can be wielded against a benighted Islam. The philosopher AC Grayling has an equally starry-eyed view of the stately march of Western Progress. The novelist Ian McEwan is a freshly recruited champion of this militant rationalism. Both Hitchens and Salman Rushdie have defended Amis’s slurs on Muslims. Whether they like it or not, Dawkins and his ilk have become weapons in the war on terror. Western supremacism has gravitated from the Bible to atheism.

“The irony is clear. Some of our free literary spirits are defending liberal values in ways that threaten to undermine them. In this, they reflect the behaviour of western states. Liberals are supposed to value nuanced analysis and moral complexity, neither of which are apparent in the slanderous reduction of Islam to a barbarous blood cult. They are noted for their judicious discriminations, rather than the airy dismissal of all religion as so much garbage. There is also an honorable legacy of qualifying too-absolute judgments with an awareness of context: the genuine liberal is appalled by Islamist terrorism, but conscious of the national injury and humiliation that underlie it. None of the writers I have mentioned is remarkable for such balance. On the whole, they are more preoccupied with freedom of expression than freedom from imperial rule.”

Terry Eagleton in the Guardian, 25 April 2009

‘We must stop appeasing Islamist extremism’ says Ed Husain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“We can expect Luton-style protests and worse in the years to come unless the Government gets a grip on Islamism, says Ed Husain.”

Sunday Telegraph, 15 March 2009

What Ed really means, of course, is that the government should stop working with organisations that represent real forces in the Muslim communities, and instead restrict their links to stooge groups like Ed’s own Quilliam Foundation, which represents virtually nothing and is regarded with general contempt.

Meanwhile, over at the Observer, Ed and his self-serving prescriptions for combating extremism are treated to a puff piece by liberal warmonger Nick Cohen, who has never forgiven mainstream Muslim organisations for mobilising opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

Cohen directs his attack on the East London Mosque. This has a mass base in the local Muslim community, for whom it provides a vital resource, with a library, conference rooms, classrooms, a gym and space for 10,000 worshippers, but Cohen says the governent should have nothing to do with anyone associated with it.

He claims this is because of the mosque’s links to the Bangladeshi political party Jamaat-e-Islami, though some of us might suspect that Cohen’s hostility is not unconnected with the fact that the East London Mosque played a crucial role in organising support for the mass demonstration against the Iraq war in February 2003.

Now it’s Daud Abdullah who’s being witch-hunted – with the assistance of Ed Husain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

One of the UK’s most influential Islamic leaders, who has helped counter extremism in the country’s mosques, is accused of advocating attacks on the Royal Navy if it tries to stop arms for Hamas being smuggled into Gaza.

Dr Daud Abdullah, deputy director-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, is facing calls for his resignation, after it emerged that he is one of 90 Muslim leaders from around the world who have signed a public declaration in support of Hamas and military action.

Abdullah, who led the MCB’s boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day, was a member of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, the body endorsed by the government that trains imams and was set up to curtail the activities of extremist clerics. In January, he briefed the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, and communities secretary Hazel Blears on the situation in Gaza and its likely impact on social cohesion in the UK.

There were calls last night for the government and the MCB to condemn Abdullah’s actions. “The British government should stop funding organisations such as the MCB and supporting events such as Islam Expo, which hosts scholars from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who hold extremist views,” said Irfan Al Alawi, international director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism.

“If the MCB is serious about tackling extremism, it should immediately expel extremists such as Daud Abdullah from its own ranks,” said Ed Husain, co-director of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism thinktank. “The man is a fanatic.” He added: “As well as potentially endorsing terrorism against British troops, Abdullah shows total disregard for human life.”

Observer, 8 March 2009

Update:  See Islamic Forum of Europe media release, 9 March 2009

South Bank demo at National Theatre over ‘racist’ play

Posted on by Bob Pitt

National Theatre demoA demonstration against the play England People Very Nice was held outside the National Theatre on Friday. At one point a large banner was displayed from a balcony.

The controversial play by Richard Bean looks at immigration in London’s East End. It is directed by the National’s artistic director Nicholas Hytner who says that the play “lampoons all forms of stereotyping: it is a boisterous satire of stereotypes of French, Irish, Jews, Bangladeshis, white East End cockneys, Hampstead liberals and many others. Every stereotype is placed in the context of its opposite and it clearly sets out to demonstrate that all forms of racism are equally ridiculous.”

The outdoor demonstration preceded a Platform event during which the play’s writer Richard Bean was due to discuss his work. The protest, under the banner “Love Theatre Hate Racism”, was organised by Bethnal Green playwright Hussain Ismail. Cllr Abjol Miah, leader of the Respect group on Tower Hamlets Council, was present with several objectors from the East End.

“I am passionate about theatre and I don’t think theatre should be used to peddle racist filth under the guise of comedy and serious theatre.” Hussain Ismail told the small crowd of passers-by on the riverside who stopped to listen to speeches. “We don’t need to be told about multi-culturalism by an elitist institution that does not represent multi-cultural London. What we need to do is to challenge the racist rubbish.”

London SE1, 28 February 2009

See also Daily Telegraph, 28 February 2009