Posted on 03/06/2005 3:51:50 PM PST by prairiebreeze
LONDON, March 5 - Inayat Bunglawala had just finished his talk on "Islamophobia and the Media" at the London Muslim Center when a man stood and berated him. "Where is your beard and your thobe?" Mr. Bunglawala said the man shouted, referring to the long garment worn by some Muslim men. "How dare you come to the mosque without them. How dare you preach about the new Koran."
Then something unusual happened on that day in January, said Mr. Bunglawala and others who were there. The several Islamic militants in the room were chased outside by the crowd, and a fistfight broke out. The militants, followers of Abu Abdullah, a firebrand imam, quickly retreated. "These jihadis are like schoolhouse bullies," said Mr. Bunglawala, the communications director for the Muslim Council of Britain, the country's largest Muslim organization. "We sense a feeling of enough is enough now."
If the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks plunged the Islamic population in Britain and elsewhere into a state of alarm and dread, then the Iraq war and its aftermath have had an unforeseen consequence here: they have helped galvanize and embolden a core group of mainstream British Muslims to find its voice and make demands.
Mainstream Muslims have lined up against the war and Prime Minister Tony Blair, opposed new restrictive antiterror laws and warned of the dangers of Islamophobia. But they are also speaking out with uncharacteristic fervor against Islamic militants, making sharp moves to isolate them, and working to strengthen ties between moderates and the British establishment.
"The war brought people together, in a way," said Lord Nazir Ahmed, who was born in Kashmir and became the first Muslim peer in the House of Lords in 1998. "It was a wake-up call. We really have to decide now what we want to stand for."
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Britain has rounded up from heavily Muslim areas a number of militants like Abu Hamza al-Masri, a blind, one-armed cleric, and Abu Qatada, a Syrian cleric who Britain contends was the spiritual leader for Mohamed Atta, one of the Sept. 11 hijackers. The government has detained hundreds of other Muslims, who have since been released without charges.
Anti-Muslim attacks have increased as well, as has support for the white supremacist British National Party. The risk of misperception and a strengthening hostility against Muslims have heightened the sense of urgency among them, many of their leaders say.
Muslims are still the poorest group in Britain, but their leaders say that they have nonetheless learned to organize for what they want and have started making small but important gains still rarely seen among Muslims in the rest of Europe.
"Mainstream Muslims in this country have become much more organized in terms of being members of the community and lobbying for their own causes," said Peter Riddell, a professor at the London School of Theology, Center for Islamic Studies and Muslim-Christian Relations, an evangelical school.
Much of this change is being driven by a generation of young Muslims, born and reared here, that is coming of age a half century after the first Muslims settled in Britain, believing that the move was only temporary.
These younger Muslims identify more with British football and "EastEnders," a popular soap opera on the BBC, than they do with Pakistan, Bengal, Bangladesh or Kashmir and their old-world traditions. Most are not deeply religious. Home to them is not the village in Pakistan but Leicester in England.
"There is a political awakening in many respects," said Hussain Shefaar, 27, a teacher at the London Muslim Center and an active member of Islamic Forum Europe. "People are saying, 'Look, we want to be heard here.' "
The growing influence is seen most vividly in Muslim representation at all levels of government. Five peers in the House of Lords, 2 members of the House of Commons, about 220 local council members and 12 city mayors are Muslims. Muslim millionaires number about 5,000.
While far from monolithic, the Muslim Council of Britain, founded in 1997, is the largest, most influential Muslim organization in Britain. It is also the government's primary liaison to the Muslim population, which is varied and often factious.
Muslims have formed groups to increase police departments' recruitment of Muslims and to lobby for Muslim rights. Muslim media outlets are flourishing.
For us the priority is living as a British Muslim," Mr. Bunglawala said. "You can live close to Islam and live as a good citizen in a secular state."
Culturally, other gains have been made. Last year, Ruzwana Bashir became the first British-born Pakistani woman elected president of the Oxford Union. Amir Khan, 17, a baby-faced underdog boxer from Britain, won over the nation's sports fans in his bout for the Olympic gold as a lightweight in 2004. He ended up winning the silver medal.
The first Islamic bank opened last year, and imams now serve as chaplains in British prisons, the armed services and even at Eton, the elite boarding school.
Political alliances are also beginning to shift. With the increase here in the use of stop-and-search police tactics, the passage of antiterrorism laws, which mostly affect the Islamic population, and with Mr. Blair's support for the Iraq war, Muslims have begun retreating from the Labor Party for the first time.
While only about two million Muslims live in Britain, less than 3 percent of the population, the threat of defection has helped increase their political leverage. Parliament is considering a much-debated bill that would make it a crime to incite religious hatred toward Muslims, viewed as a sweetener for the Muslim population.
"Since the war the government has realized that the 90 percent that used to support Labor is now down to 30 percent," Lord Ahmed said. "There is a growing realization by all political parties that we are a crucial vote. Not big, but decisive in crucial seats in city areas."
The thorniest challenge for mainstream Muslims has been internal - deciding how to deal with the small but vocal group of hard-liners who get a lopsided amount of news media attention and have done much to tarnish the image of Muslims in Britain, mainstream Muslim leaders say.
"Before there was a sense of keeping our heads down," Mr. Bunglawala said. "If there were radical elements, the police dealt with them. After 9/11, that began to change. We had to put clear blue water between us and the radicals."
On Feb. 5, the Finsbury Park mosque, famously seized by Mr. Masri, was reclaimed. A new board of trustees marched into the mosque, with the police waiting outside, ousted Abu Abdullah, a follower of Mr. Masri's, and his group, and changed the locks.
Militants have an undeniable presence in Britain and have had some success in recruiting, mostly the young and the poor, but their influence seems to be waning, several Muslim leaders said. "But as they become more rejected, they get increasingly frustrated," Mr. Bunglawala said.
In another bold move last year, Iqbal Sacranie, the leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, sent a letter to every mosque in Britain asking imams to urge worshipers to cooperate with the police in the fight against terrorism and to watch for militants. The letter, considered a watershed, was mostly well received and established a clear dividing line with militants.
"An attack on Britain is an attack on us - we live here," said Lord Ahmed, underscoring what he said was the attitude of most mainstream Muslims. "An attack on this Parliament is an attack on me. An attack on London is an attack on my friends and family. If this is my home, I have to look after it."
Any thoughts on this from the NY Times?
Any thoughts on this from the NY Times?
It's from the New York garbage disposal, I guess you can start there. One incident and the Times espouses it as a change in Muslim land. Don't believe it for a minute. The health of this nation depends on being alert and attentive to the Muslim influence.
"Mr. Bunglawala said....After 9/11,...We had to put clear blue water between us and the radicals."
Good attitude.
Includes a quote at the end from "Lord Ahmed" (really).
Slow death by islam. buh-bye Brit.
Unseen by whom? The leftist MSM and the leftist elite?
As I've often said, Islamic terrorists, Democrats, and yellow dogs are all the same. They are cowardly bullies. If you negotiate with them, it's all take and no give. Show weakness and they'll run up and bite your ankle. Show strength and they'll back off.
You can't deal with terrorists the European way, the way of Chirac and Schroeder, by appeasing them and buying them off. That just encourages them to commit more terrorism? Why not? It's fun, and they are rewarded for it.
The same with the promise of freedom, which is immensely powerful once people see it really within their reach. Contrary to what a lot of the MSM are now saying, Bush said he would bring freedom to Iraq right from the start.
Give the bad dogs a whipping; give the good dogs a bone; that's how to deal with them.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1150916.htm
Dr Al-Qaradawi is one of the most respected Muslim teachers in the world and his comments are a regular feature on Al Jazeera television.
But while the Muslim Council of Britain describes him as a moderate, some of his views certainly could be seen as extreme, including his statement that Palestinian suicide bombers are martyrs in an uneven battle with the US-backed state of Israel.
--Snip--
FRAN KELLY: So why should we allow somebody to come in here and teach that that is okay?
INAYAT BUNGLAWALA: No, I don't think he is teaching that's okay. He is teaching that in that situation, the Palestinians have little other option.
--Snip--
----------
Mr. Bunglawala supports Dr Al-Qaradawi who believes suicide bombers are martyrs. You decide.
You are absolutley right to mistrust the NY Times. When Germany was in its death throes sixty years ago this month, the NY Times actually was hoping that the Soviets would win and Germany would lose..
That tells you all want to know about the NY Times..
interesting, if true.
good, if it becomes widespread.
Weren't we all?
Do your own research and form your own views.
http://www.mcb.org.uk.
I regard nearly anything that the New York Times says is a lie. Same applies to the Guardian.
Regards, Ivan
"only about two million Muslims live in Britain, less than 3 percent of the population"
Still too many. Pack em up, ship em out.
Are you talking about WWII? I think pretty much everyone was hoping that Germany would lose...
Rubbish. Sorry to be blunt, but I hate these kind of remarks. Read the Bible - there's a fair bit of killing in there too. Some Muslim extremists are murderers, not all Muslims.
Mohammet did.
L
2 ways to look at this.
It's a hopeful sign
or
Extremely cautious optimism. Cautious because basically I have yet to meet an Arab Muslim that I felt was trustworthy. In fact, I have yet to meet a Muslim arab or NOT that was trustworthy.
Their own religious leaders teach them to lie to us to lull us into a sense of complacency.
I personally will not let my guard down until that bastard satanic religion is exterminated from the face of this planet.
The Bible doesn't teach to kill the unbelievers. The Bible teaches that he who is without sin to cast the first stone. Sure there is killing in the Bible. But not because they don't believe, and not by men of God.
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