HT

Young and old in the Muslim community need to unite. The aftermath of the failed bomb attack on Glasgow Airport brought two distinct reactions. The mosque elders did their press conference bit, while the second generation wanted to go a bit further and organised Saturday's rally.

There's a tendency on the part of some of the youthful elements to scorn all that our elders have achieved, while it's apparent that some of the older generation see us as something resembling a threat to the current order. It rumbled a bit in the last week, but I was shocked to see an article in the Daily Record claiming that Hizb-ut-Tahrir tried to stand in the elections for the Glasgow Central Mosque committee.

I know those who were involved in trying to put a slate of younger candidates forward. None of them were HT (in fact they were at pains to avoid having anyone on board who was a member of any other organisations). I am aware though that on their disqualification from the elections, the substantial grounds of which they contest, there was also a mention of HT involvement as a factor.

Then in the wake of the airport attack, we apparently get someone trying to support the mosque by flexing anti-extremist muscles in an incident that didn't even happen. It's a dangerous game to play, not least because many involved in the mosque are also involved with groups who while not considered as beyond the pale as HT, are nevertheless under the microscope. It's a game which if Muslims play it, will ensure that no one will win.

I'm not an admirer of HT, far from it. Gordon Brown's repose to David Cameron's call for a ban at PMQ's was correct though. The PM was criticised for the quality of his response, but his instincts were correct. I would rather have the right thing done, than the wrong thing spun in a dazzling way.

I spent many years in arguments with HT. As recently as a few years ago they turned up in force to one of the big anti-war demonstrations in London in order to promote their message of "Reject protests, the only politics is Islamic politics", or something along those lines. They had bright orange tshirts with this slogan, but while it was emblazoned in fairly small type, the word "REJECT" was large and could be seen from far away. Very fitting.

In the few intervening years since then they seem to have gone through something of a transition. I don't know if it's real or not. All I know is that now they take part in meetings in the Houses of Parliament, where before that was all "kufr" politics. They don't seem to have apologised for anything they said previously. They probably should if they want to draw a line. After all, Ed Hussain and Hassan Butt are all forgiven. But maybe you need to adopt a completely different stream of politics to reach their level of salvation.

Continued

 

Comments

[George Carty]

What is it with HT and orange placards anyway?

[Martin Sullivan]

Osama wrote: "Gordon Brown's response to David Cameron's call for a ban at PMQ's was correct though. The PM was criticised for the quality of his response, but his instincts were correct."

Unfortunately there are some Labour MPs who have rather different instincts. During Tuesday's Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism debate, both Andrew Dismore and Chris Bryant suggested there were grounds for a ban on Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Dismore attacked HT's "weasel words that it does not engage in terrorism" and claimed that it created a "climate" in which its supporters might move on to engage in terrorist actions.

Lacking any incriminating evidence about HT's behaviour in the UK, Bryant based himself on allegations about their activities abroad.

[MonkeyZerg]

HT "turned up in force to one of the big anti-war demonstrations in London in order to promote their message of "Reject protests, the only politics is Islamic politics", or something along those lines. They had bright orange tshirts with this slogan..."

Ironic. Didn't they realize that they were protesting against protesting? I can't understand how someone could logically put himself in such a situation without realizing the contradiction.

[Sohaib]

The slogan at that time was something like "REJECT un-Islamic Solutions...", which was followed by another campaign which was roughly: "DON'T STOP THE WAR (except by Islamic politics)".

:-S

[Om]

The elder generation achieved much - they came to new land and established a new life. They grew relatively wealthy and earned the respecct of their neighbours for their hard work and moral values. They fitted in, just as their Hindu, West Indian and African learned to do, accepting and embracing the opportunities afforded by British society. It wasn't always easy and it wasn't always fair, but comparitively-speaking they were helping pave the way for a new kind of society.

And what did their children do? P****d on all this and turned them into pariahs.