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| Britain | |||
| Muslim Council of Britain leader : Integrate Muslim and British cultures | |||
| 2007-11-10 | |||
| The head of the Muslim Council of Britain does not mince his words on integration, report Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson There is fear and loathing in Britain. This week, the head of MI5 claimed there were 2,000 people involved in terrorist activity and children as young as 15 were being "groomed" to be suicide bombers. Gordon Brown announced plans to require immigrants to learn English and Downing Street said the Prime Minister wanted to double the number of days that terrorist suspects can be detained without trial. Then, just as the Metropolitan Police was being censured for shooting the Stockwell One, the Lyrical Terrorist became the first woman to be convicted of terrorist crimes. Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, the leader of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), thinks the Government is stoking the tension. "There is a disproportionate amount of discussion surrounding us," he says. "The air is thick with suspicion and unease. It is not good for the Muslim community, it is not good for society." The 53-year-old special needs teacher has a gentle manner and a quiet voice - he describes himself as a "community spokesman" rather than a "religious leader" - but he does not mince his words. Britain must, he warns, beware of becoming like Nazi Germany. Or like Saudi Arabia? Or like Iran? Or like Tajikistan? Or like Kosovo? Or like Pakistan? Or like ... "Every society has to be really careful so the situation doesn't lead us to a time when people's minds can be poisoned as they were in the 1930s. If your community is perceived in a very negative manner, and poll after poll says that we are alienated, then Muslims begin to feel very vulnerable. We are seen as creating problems, not as bringing anything and that is not good for any society."
Never mind the equivalence game (for the record, the IRA, particularly the Provos, were Marxists), but just for grins, did the 7/7 bombers call the cops with a coded message before the bombs went off? Has the IRA ever demanded that Britain surrender to a religious theocracy? "I think it is creating a scare in the community and wider society. It probably helps some people who try to recruit the young to terrorism. Muslim young people are as vulnerable as any others. Under this climate of fear they will begin to feel victimised." Can't recall off-hand the last time Anglo-Saxon teens and twenty-somethings trained overseas for the opportunity to kill hundreds/thousands of Muslim Britons. The Prime Minister's plan to increase the length of time terrorist suspects can be detained without trial is also, he believes, misguided. "Even the police haven't asked for more than 28 days. As far as we know there is no clear evidence of the need for more time." Control orders and stop and search powers are further increasing the sense of alienation among Muslims, Dr Bari says, and the Metropolitan Police are not helping matters either. "There was institutional racism and institutions as massive as the Met find it hard to change. They need more Muslim police officers. I'm not going to use the term trigger happy - sometimes the police can make mistakes - but they need to do their job in a better way." Sir Salman Rushdie should never have been knighted, he says. "He caused a huge amount of distress and discordance with his book, it should have been pulped." First he announces that the British government is behaving like "Nazis", and now Bari barks for a book-burning. What a card ...
Dr Bari insists he is simply trying to unite disparate communities. "On the one hand we are accused of not engaging, being insular, and on the other hand of being too political. We can't win." Which makes you ... losers? The MCB was criticised for boycotting Holocaust Day but he says he did not mean to offend Jewish people: "It should be inclusive, commemorating all massacres." BS + more moral equivalence. Farcical, too- they hate Jews. According to a recent report by the Policy Exchange think-tank, the bookshop at the east London Mosque, which Dr Bari chairs, stocks extremist literature. "The bookshops are independent businesses," he says. "We can't just go in and tell them what to sell Â… I will see what books they keep, if they have one book which looks like it is inciting hatred, do they have counter books on the same shelf?" But Bari sure as hell knows which books HE would pulp. He is more careful about who is allowed to preach in the mosque. "If I hear of a specific preacher who is inciting hatred I will ban him from preaching but I cannot disallow him from praying." In Dr Bari's view, suicide bombers are victims as well as aggressors. "I deal with emotionally damaged children," he explains. "Children come to hate when they don't get enough care and love. They are probably bullied, it makes a young person angry and vulnerable. More than 50 innocent people were killed on 7/7. The bastards who killed them wanted to kill hundreds more. "The extreme case could be suicide bombers, it is all they have Â… The people who become suicide bombers are really vulnerable." Unfortunately, they weren't vulnerable enough. Although he stresses there is no justification for suicide bombing - "killing innocent people is completely forbidden, Islam is very emphatic on that" - he says British foreign policy has driven Muslims into the arms of the extremists. "Criminal people have used that as a weapon to encourage young people, those who don't have any anchor in themselves, [to become suicide bombers]. Iraq has been a disaster, the country has been destroyed for no reason, that had an impact on the Muslim psyche." His passion is to integrate Muslim and British cultures - he says integration must go both ways. Sharia, of course. And he's lying - it's all one way. "Everybody can learn from everyone. Some of the Muslim principles can help social cohesion - family, marriage, raising children with boundaries, giving to the poor, not being too greedy." British people could, in his view, benefit from arranged marriages. "I prefer to call them assisted marriages," he says. "Marriage should not be forced on people but parents can be a catalyst Â… Young people are emotional, they want idealism. Older people have gone through all sorts of things and become a bit more experienced. A child will always want to eat chocolate but if he does then he will become fat. He needs to be given things that are good for him too." "Alcohol is the worst drug long-term," he says, and adds that the Government should consider banning drinking in public places, as it has done with smoking. Dr Bari believes Britain would benefit from a little more morality: "Religion has principles that can help society Â… Sex before marriage is unacceptable in Islam Â… On adultery and living together we should try to go back to the religiously informed style of life that helps society." Abortion should also be made more difficult. "By the time a foetus is 12 weeks old our religion says that the child has got a spirit." Homosexuality is "unacceptable from the religious point of view". Is stoning ever justified? "It depends what sort of stoning and what circumstances," he replies. "When our prophet talked about stoning for adultery he said there should be four [witnesses] - in realistic terms that's impossible. It's a metaphor for disapproval." Wow. He said that for publication, too. He must be feeling very confident.
Dr Bari runs guidance courses for parents of all faiths. "Children are like plants, if you don't look after them they will grow wild and weeds can come in." The same is true of Britain, he says. "There is plenty of freedom in Western society but boundaries are sometimes hard to see." | |||
| Posted by:mrp |
| #9 Good catch, tw. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-11-10 22:33 |
| #8 "I deal with emotionally damaged children," he explains. "Children come to hate when they don't get enough care and love. They are probably bullied, it makes a young person angry and vulnerable." Very revealing. Dr. Bari admits that those who become terrorists had parents who did not love and care for them, and who either bullied or allowed them to be bullied. That does indeed sound like the family problems endemic in the Muslim world. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-11-10 20:37 |
| #7 "Some of the Muslim principles can help social cohesion - family, marriage, raising children with boundaries.." The forms of Muslim families, marriages and raising children? These are precisely Islam's most repulsive principles. He is not only smug, he is completely clueless about one of the two primary 'root causes' of antipathy among Westerners towards Islam: misogyny. The other is "religious" violence. No, Doctor Bari (and I surely flatter in addressing you as Doctor), we need no lessons from Islam on family, marriage and raising children. You don't have anything to offer that we would want to emulate. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-11-10 19:51 |
| #6 Gadfrey, whudda snark goldmine! Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, the leader of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), thinks the Government is stoking the tension. Constant Muslim predation has absolutely nothing to do with it. "There is a disproportionate amount of discussion surrounding us," he says. Might that be due to the "disproportionate amount" of terrorist acts committed by Muslims? Think real hard now Doc. "The air is thick with suspicion and unease. Yeah, the air always thickens that way after several major atrocities. It is not good for the Muslim community, it is not good for society." Who gives a damn about "Muslim society" when all they want to do is to kill every infidel in sight? Britain must, he warns, beware of becoming like Nazi Germany. Too rich, this from someone who would prefer to finish Hitler's work. We are seen as creating problems, not as bringing anything and that is not good for any society. Maybe that's because you "create problems" and don't bring anything good to society. "Terrorists are terrorists, they may use religion but we shouldn't say Muslim terrorists, it stigmatises the whole community. If ever there was a community that needed stigmatizing ... "On the one hand we are accused of not engaging, being insular, and on the other hand of being too political. The two are not mutually exclusive. You can be both insular and way too political about your agenda. His passion is to integrate Muslim and British cultures - he says integration must go both ways. This is the supreme wad of bullshit. If Muslims want to live in Britain, it is they who must integrate into British culture. There is a substantial historic track record of societies adopting elements of other immigrant cultures when those arrivals do a good job of assimilating. No nation on earth owes newly arrived immigrants the least concessions towards their views. To have immigrated is a frank admission that your country of destination has a superior culture and that you are prepared to accept that fact. Anything less is tantamount to sedition. The rest of this article is a continuous tripe volcano of how Bari wants to impose Muslim values on Britain. He needs to be deported back to his native Islamic utopia for another round in the barrel with shari'a law. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-11-10 19:10 |
| #5 LOL tu! We have a ME guy at work with a bad hair doily just like that, and I kid you not, his initials are R.U.G. God has a sense of humor |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-11-10 15:21 |
| #4 Woah! NICE RUG,Doc! Where'd ya get that, Mo's House of Hideous Hair!! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-11-10 15:16 |
| #3 Sure, doc. Whaddya figure, an 80/20 split? 90/10? 99/1? What's the Koran say? Nevermind, I already know... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-11-10 15:11 |
| #2 And deport his wife and four children back to Bangladesh. I am certain they will be happier there living with all the fruits their religion, culture and science have procured for them. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-11-10 14:48 |
| #1 His passion is to integrate Muslim and British cultures - he says integration must go both ways. I won't mince words ether. Hang him. Now. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-11-10 14:31 |