A few stories…- I had a couple of friends round yesterday. Married, both born in London, she of Moroccan-Egyptian parents and he of Egyptian lineage. They’d just been to a christening, the first time in a church. In comparison to the mosque environment they’re used to, they were amazed at the relative lack of politics, the open and non-partisan sermon, people of all faiths (and non-faiths) being regarded as brothers and sisters, calls for forgiveness over vengeance and censure of violence, whatever the source.A telling quote: “You’d never hear a sheikh talk like that in a mosque”. I begged to differ but could see their point.- A friend returned to work from holiday today. An atheist, fascinated by other cultures (Islamic in particular), he’d just spent a fortnight in Iran. Three months ago he spent another fortnight in Syria. His overwhelming impression of both countries was tremendous kindness from the people, mixed with great popular dissatisfaction with the government and religious authorities. He found the open generosity of people in marked contrast to those here in London. This friend was attacked in East London the weekend prior to the July bombings. After walking home in the early hours, he was confronted by a bunch of Asian youths, told to “F*ck off, this is a Muslim estate” and beaten up. He didn’t bother reporting the attack to the authorities. - I went to a large South London mosque. After being sermonised on what I should think about Israel, Palestine, the West and Bush I was pretty peeved. Being one of a few white men in there, two men made a beeline for me afterwards. In response to the question of what I thought of the diatribe, I replied that Israel can’t be all bad if non-Muslim Arabs are migrating there in ever-greater numbers. Their response? “Are you MI5?”Iftikhar, if my friends in the first story can be born and integrate here, why can’t others? If my friends can speak English and learn Arabic from their parents, why can’t other Muslims learn from their parents too? Why do my friends lack the ‘life of total alienation’ of which you speak? Could it be because they, their parents and grandparents actually tried to integrate and are at peace with having ‘Two Parents’? Why are there marked differences in the attitudes of my Arab Muslim friends and Asian Muslim friends? Why does my atheist friend adore the culture of the Middle East and Iran yet dread the surly bigots living on his estate, peddling prejudice on street corners and looking down their nose at non-Muslims?Why do the separate entrances at mosques remind me of the ‘whites only’ and ‘coloreds only’ signs in 1950s America? Why do men and women enter and exit at the same place in every single mosque I’ve ever been to in the Middle East, yet not so over here?As usual Iftikhar, I think you’re confusing personal faith with culture. As for ‘those who indulge in violence… not [being] the product of Muslim schools,’ why do these jihadis seem so hell-bent on ‘martyrdom’ after returning from trips to the old country? What is the parent culture teaching these men? What programming are they getting in the madressas? Whatever happened to self-restraint, self-discipline and generosity? Have these men never considered murder the ultimate blasphemy? Why do we get Muslim psychos rather than Martin Luthers, Ghandis and MLKs? And this brings us to perhaps the greatest fault in the conduct of such Muslims – the sheer bias in their Islamistan worldview. Who is really responsible for the injustices “against Muslims abroad”? Where were the suicide bombers when Saddam was slaughtering, raping and gassing Muslims by the hundred thousand? Where was the horror at the horrors of the Khomeini regime? Where were the mass demonstrations in Muslim countries against the latest Iraq war?You mention Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya but curiously fail to mention Muslims killing others in Taliban Afghanistan, Ba’athist Iraq and Syria, murder-mullah Iran, Janjaweed Sudan, Sulwesi Indonesia, India, Russia, Bali, Spain, France, Germany and, for good measure, good old London town. Sorry, am I deviating from the script here? Why so partial, Iftikhar? As for ‘colonisation’, why does an Egyptian speak Arabic and not Egyptian? Why am I expected to have a ‘Muslim (i.e. Arab) name’? Why are increasing numbers of women on London’s autumn streets actually dressed for the desert of an Arab peninsular? I would like to think a ‘modern educated youth’ has a far more universal view of injustice around the world. Can’t criticise fellow Muslims though can we? And as for ‘Muslims suffered discrimination in all walks of life’, why is it the most prejudiced people I’ve ever met have been African, Bangladeshi and Pakistani Muslims? Why do most Muslims I know almost always reserve the phrase ‘brothers and sisters’ only for other Muslims?As for those men ‘motivated by both injustices at home and abroad’, why don’t they motivate themselves democratically? Why choose the bomb over the ballot box? Is it because, to many Muslims, democracy is ‘un-Islamic’ (i.e. why have people thinking for themselves when ‘elders’ and imams can tell them how to think, who to marry, how to dress and conduct themselves?)? Where was the mass Muslim outrage at Muslim-inspired electoral fraud at the last general election? Some spoke up but most stayed silent. The only people expecting Muslims ‘to keep their faith entirely out of politics’ are other Muslims.As for it being ‘a fact that British racism is the greatest recruiting tool of so called Islamic terrorism’, are you really so sure? What race is a Muslim exactly? Can’t you see that such a statement is merely reinforcing the ‘us and them’ stereotype? Personally, I can’t think of anything as indiscriminately prejudiced as strapping a bomb to yourself and walking onto a tube train, but there you go. Finally, wasn’t it the Prophet Muhammad who said, “Religion is the way we conduct ourselves towards others." If it’s true, what does that say about the Islam of such ‘frustrated Muslim youths’?
Fraser Pearce ● 7208d