Don't Be Defensive About Being British Citizens, Cleric Tells Moderate Muslims

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 7-25-2005 | Duncan Gardham

[blam]

Don't be defensive about being British citizens, cleric tells moderate Muslims

By Duncan Gardham
(Filed: 25/07/2005)

Moderate Muslims meeting in central London yesterday were told they must learn more about British culture while outside National Front extremists organised a flag waving demonstration.

More than 200 NF supporters proclaimed "Britain for the British" while a similar number of police prevented them from approaching the mosque in Regent's Park the moderate Swiss Muslim Dr Tariq Ramadan addressed the meeting.

Controversy surrounded Dr Ramadan's visit after it was revealed he was denied entry to the US after his visa was withdrawn. However Dr Ramadan, who is of Egyptian origin and lives in Paris, has since been asked to reapply by the US Government. Speaking to several hundred Muslims on the theme of the "middle way", Dr Ramadan asked younger members of the audience: "Which path will you take?"

He said: "Islamic education is not only about the Koran, it should also be about the environment. It's not just about what we have to promote but also about British history, culture, literature and what we know about the people." He added: "Not everything that comes from our culture is good and not everything that comes from British culture is bad."

Dr Ramadan called on his audience to be more ready to listen to non-Muslims and told them "to stop being on the defensive about being British citizens".

He said: "We have to deal with mistrust. We need mutual trust and knowledge and to return to the Koran. Your brother is not only Muslim, but also non-Muslim."

Dr Ramadan called for an independent inquiry into the shooting at Stockwell Tube station but urged Muslims not to add fuel to the flames: "Our response is to say clearly, altogether we are fighting the same enemy and we are all in the same boat."

The conference was organised by Da'watul Islam, an East London-based charity. Its spokesman Abdullah Mohammed said the meeting aimed to promote "community cohesion and ways of dealing with extremism".

He said: "We have invited these speakers because they are moderates, progressive and well-respected. We need to challenge extremist groups.

"It's very easy for young people to get frustrated by unemployment, drugs, education and poor housing, and to feel their views are being neglected.

"It is then extremists take the opportunity to say society does not accept them. We are trying to take positive steps, we need to integrate, we can't continue to isolate ourselves, but we can't change everything today, this is just beginning to open the door."

[Darkwolf377]

has since been asked to reapply by the US Government

Wha-wha-wha-WHAT?

[Dog Gone]

This actually sounds like a bit of progress.

[Malesherbes]

I saw Tariq Ramadam once on a C-SPAN program. He's no "moderate."

[anton]

Moderate Muslims do not understand their own religion.

[dervish]

“has since been asked to reapply by the US Government”

I sure hope that is a lie.

“Here are some reasons why Mr. Ramadan might have been kept out:

• He has praised the brutal Islamist policies of the Sudanese politician Hassan Al-Turabi. Mr. Turabi in turn called Mr. Ramadan the "future of Islam."

• Mr. Ramadan was banned from entering France in 1996 on suspicion of having links with an Algerian Islamist who had recently initiated a terrorist campaign in Paris.

• Ahmed Brahim, an Algerian indicted for Al-Qaeda activities, had "routine contacts" with Mr. Ramadan, according to a Spanish judge (Baltasar Garzón) in 1999.

• Djamel Beghal, leader of a group accused of planning to attack the American embassy in Paris, stated in his 2001 trial that he had studied with Mr. Ramadan.

• Along with nearly all Islamists, Mr. Ramadan has denied that there is "any certain proof" that Bin Laden was behind 9/11.

• He publicly refers to the Islamist atrocities of 9/11, Bali, and Madrid as "interventions," minimizing them to the point of near-endorsement.

And here are other reasons, dug up by Jean-Charles Brisard, a former French intelligence officer doing work for some of the 9/11 families, as reported in Le Parisien:

• Intelligence agencies suspect that Mr. Ramadan (along with his brother Hani) coordinated a meeting at the Hôtel Penta in Geneva for Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy head of Al-Qaeda, and Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh, now in a Minnesota prison.

• Mr. Ramadan's address appears in a register of Al Taqwa Bank, an organization the State Department accuses of supporting Islamist terrorism.”

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2043

"Yet the Muslim Brothers remain in good standing in Britain. The Guardian daily newspaper has just published a letter from Tariq Ramadan, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's charm offensive, in which he firmly condemns the attacks in London, only to ask for more tolerance towards authentic Islam -- meaning fundamentalism -- in the very next sentence. Better yet, he plans to address a London conference, partly-funded by the Metropolitan Police, later this month.

Mr. Ramadan's lines are well-rehearsed today, though he still, once in a while, lets down his guard and uses the word "intervention" to describe the terror attacks in New York and Madrid, or the word "execution" when referring to Sadat's assassination. And on the Mejliss.com forum, a Web site used by many of Mr. Ramadan's followers, the condemnation of the London terror attacks is far from unanimous. Great Britain is described there as "the serene doggy of the United States ... in Iraq." And the Web users there prefer to believe in a "Zionist" plot rather than admit the Islamists' responsibility: "Al Qaeda is a disguise, in fact ... it means CIA in the Zionist language." Such is the state of mind of people under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood -- which isn't surprising considering the well-publicized views of the Brotherhood's European leaders."

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112138848307286395,00.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep

We sure don't want him here. The appeasement minded Brits can do what they like, but having the Muslim Brotherhood royalty here is insane.

[HighlyOpinionated]

We are trying to take positive steps, we need to integrate, we can't continue to isolate ourselves, but we can't change everything today, this is just beginning to open the door."



How long did it take you to blow up the Buddha which was OLDER than YOUR (un)civilization?



And exactly what are you planning to place on the Temple Mount after you destroy it?

Richard Benkin, Ph.D. Antiantisemitism@comcast.net May 2003 stated in part: Ominously for our civilization, the Mount’s Moslem officials (Waqf), with backing from Mecca and elsewhere in the Moslem world, are attempting to destroy an archaeological and biblical heritage and subvert the historical record in the service of transitory political goals.

[anton]

Here is this again:

That comes from Pam Foster, an interior decorator from Atlanta, who recently wrote this letter to a family member serving in Iraq:

What's All the Fuss?

-- Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001? Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

-- And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

-- I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

-- I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

-- I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling, slashed throat.

-- I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

-- I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

-- I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

-- I'll care when Clinton-appointed judges stop ordering my government to release photos of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which are sure to set off the Islamic extremists just as Newsweek's lies did a few weeks ago.

-- In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

-- When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.

-- When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.

--; When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

-- And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it -- I don't care!"