Ever since the comments from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowen Williams, regarding the possible use of some aspects of Sharia law for Muslims in the areas of marriage and the like, there has been a frenzy of anti-muslim sentiments. These have been expressed by the media (both written and visual) and by the average person on the street.
The very idea of Muslims using Islam to solve their own problems has been lost in the noise about how supposedly backward Sharia is, conjuring up scenes of hand chopping and public floggings in the streets of Britain.
Someone could argue that it's just a matter of the wider society not understanding what Dr. Williams said and that this combined with a lack of knowledge of Islam will produce a reaction such as the one we have seen. Others will argue that it is just the anti-Islamic media using this to their advantage. As is typical of the world today no one will see the woods for the trees, appearing on Channel 4's evening news program, Trevor Phillips (the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality) and a man who was at one time charged with brining communities together commented (and I paraphrase here) "We need to get this in context, we are not talking about stonings in the streets".
This comment is key to the whole issue, there are some aspects of Islam that Mr. Phillips and wider society will not tolerate. The very fact he made the above statement creates a negative image of the Sharia, not in the form Dr. Williams spoke of but in a more general
sense.
Sharia and Islam is the taboo of the 21st Century the world fears, Talibanisation of scoieties where mullah's with big beards hold the reigns of power. A notion of someone using anything other than what the West says is the way to live as a basis of judgement is seen as an act of treason against the rise of global values. It is no longer a matter of waiting for the next terror attack to slander the name of Islam - it is open season on Islam and the Muslims.
The climate in the UK at the moment is conducive of criticising Islam in any manner that is thought plausible. This is what lies at the heart of the media frenzy.
It hasn't always been like this is not to say that Islam was never attacked in the past. I still remember the day after the Oklahoma bombings in the US. One of the leading tabloids had a photo of a blood drenched baby being carried by a firefighter, the headline quite simply read: "In the Name of Allah". The fact that Timothy McVeigh was not Muslim and he did the bombings in the name of something else was totally lost. However, back then an excuse was needed to attack Islam, some kind of attack, bombing etc. used to denigrate a religion - now no such excuses are needed.
So what has changed between then and now? Indeed between two years ago and now?
The climate is now conducive to demonise Islam at every given opportunity. The Muslim community has been vilified and dehumanized to the extent that no one thinks twice about saying a bad word about Islam. Remember it is no longer about the terrorists, the killers or murderers. The message is no longer distance yourself from violence (which we all do), it is more about distancing yourself from Islam full stop.
Some of the Muslim reaction has done just this, by not being able to withstand the media attack some have come out and said that what Rowen Williams has said is incorrect and that Muslims live in Britain and therefore don't need Sharia. To these people it is the only position they know how to take - a defensive one. Nonetheless, these are the very people that use Sharia in their lives. No one would imagine or even accept that a British style marriage ceremony can replace the Islamic Nikkah or the same for divorce. It is also these very people who take advantage of halal mortgages for their financial transactions. So why the contradiction? Simply because they are unable to fully comprehend what is happening, there is a sense of hiding away and letting the latest media frenzy blowing over before coming out of the closet again.
This kind of approach shows what kind of inferiority complex constant questions can have on a community nationwide. There is never a thought of questioning the questioner. The alternative to the Sharia that has been so harshly attacked is Liberalism - the champion of the western elite and quite possibly the destroyer of civility, if not civilisation in the Western world. Something is very clear with this attack on Islam, Sharia, Political Islam, Mullahs, Niqabs and so forth have more to do with the Muslim world than they do with the UK. The idea of changing Islam and removing those aspects of Islam that seems to get everyone hot under the collar is not one to create harmonious communities in the UK, it is more about creating an acceptable face of Islam that can then be taken to the Muslim world. The acceptance of a "modified" version of Islam in the West will give it an intellectual credibility that will make it irresistible to the memorized intelligentsia of the Muslim world. The very core ideas of Islam will be debated in public, they will be tried judged and changed without consultation of the Muslims.
One thing is for sure British society is becoming increasingly intolerant of the Muslim community this together with the other social ills of youth crime and the yob culture are more detrimental to Muslims and Non-Muslims than a Muslim getting his divorce in a Sharia court will ever be.
Source: Moh Bloggs
Where is the muslim community? I think that in itself, speaks loudly yes us westerners have alot to learn, still most of us do not understand the muslim communities continual bleating about the UK, but we have not created our own communities.
ReplyDelete"One thing is for sure British society is becoming increasingly intolerant of the Muslim community" I agree, but fear to agree as westeners we are becoming less and less able to voice their opinions for fear of being anti-islam.
All 'communities' are rotten, but unfortunately as in your next statement muslims are very quick to deny this fact.
"this together with the other social ills of youth crime and the yob culture" I take it these yobs are not muslims
are more detrimental to Muslims and Non-Muslims than a Muslim getting his divorce in a Sharia court will ever be.
And the reality of the fact of most British people would say "when in Rome", consider the requirements for me a young white woman in Pakistan. but we are anti islam, muslim for saying such things are we not?
The Muslims have not created their own communities, it is true many Muslims live together in areas which have (and not to be over dramatic) become Ghettos of sorts.
ReplyDeleteThe reasons for this are clear alienation by the host community , Imagine a Muslims woman walking down some quite quaint English village in a Niqab, this for a Muslim is neither comfortable or safe the climate of fear has meant that Muslims feel comfortable amongst their own. In an ideal world this would not happen and should not happen, but intolerance has made it so.
I agree with your insinuation that maybe some of the crime is committed by Muslim youth, no one would deny this. The point being made is that the reason for crime and youth crime, ASBO'S , Super ASBO's and the like is a godless society which seems blind to void of morality that exists within. So YES Muslims too are inflicted with the same problems of society as non-Muslims.
As for "When in Rome" ect, the point is pertinent due to the fact that the UK is one amongst a handful of neo-colonialist states which "preach" to the world about how to live under democracy and how this will give freedom and tolerance. However when one examines closely the track record of Western states both internally and internationally they are amongst the most intolerant known to man, History speaks volumes.
Pakistan does not represent Islam and therefore does in no way represent the treatment of minorities (like yourself) in Muslims states. The History of Islamic governance speaks for itself, Jews from Spain fled to the Ottomans during the inquisition and even to this day Muslims own the keys to the church in Jerusalem despite the troubles there.
As for feeling voiceless, it seems you are not content with the right wing media spurning it's hate day in day out. I do however agree with you people should be allowed to speak their minds, say it out how it is, but then the same right should be afforded to the Muslims if I was to say I thought Democracy was a colonialist tool according to Cameron and Brown I belong in chains, the irony is disturbing.
To be honest I dont think that most people in Britain say 'When in Rome'. I agree the government indirectly says this when it wants to bash a bat over peoples heads, but I think most people in Britain do enjoy and prefer a society where different communities and cultures learn and live with each other.
ReplyDeleteIts the atmospheres which government policy has created which has created disharmony from the side of the Muslim and non Muslims. Its made an 'Us and them' type of mentality.
I must beg to differ on the fear of being Anti Islamic for a person in this society. Is there a time ever in history which was the best time to be Anti Islam than the time we live in today?? There was a time when critising a Muslims womans attire was intolerance, recent times have seen MPs make a mockery of it, which has been perfectly acceptable.
Muslims dont have a problem with people having views but they need to be debated and discussed, publically if need be. I guess that is the right way forward for Muslims and Non Muslims