Rolled-up Trousers

Centre for Social Cohesion

This is an extended version of my article which appeared in yesterday's Sunday Herald.

We officially launched the Scottish-Islamic Foundation this week, with warm words of encouragement and congratulation from three of the country’s four main party leaders and the head of the Catholic Church for what may well be the most innovative, ambitious and forward-looking programme ever laid out by a Scottish Muslim organisation.

At the same time, we were baffled by a briefing put out by the gloriously named ‘Centre for Social Cohesion’ warning people against us. They don’t have as wide a remit as their name suggests, a quick scan of their website shows almost everything is on the topic of Islam and Muslims, and very few escape their wrath.

Their “research” was in reality nothing more than a quick Google job, and a negatively screened one at that. The tactic of these kind of hatchet jobs which emanate from London is to smear by association. Attaching Muslims with someone controversial is like the “six steps to Kevin Bacon” test. It’s a modern day McCarthyism.

'Fury over plan to teach Koran in schools'

Here's a classic example of how it's not just irresponsible reporting about Muslims in sections of the press, but there's an industry out there looking for ways in which to deliberately pedal hatred.

The NUT called for the abolition of faith schools at their conference this week. I've lifted the following from 5CC:

A quote from the NUT General Secretary about the subject (from this Press Association article):

"I believe that there will be real benefits to all our communities and youngsters if we could find space for pupils who are Roman Catholics, Anglican, Methodist, Jewish, Sikh and Muslim to have more religious instruction in schools.

You could have imams coming in, you could have the local rabbi coming in and the local Roman Catholic priest. If there were opportunities where they all talked together to the youngsters, what a fantastic example that would be."

You can probably guess the Express headline.  Ready?

'FURY OVER PLAN TO TEACH KORAN IN SCHOOLS'.  Marvellous!

As you should be able to see if you click on that Daily Express article though is that they have deleted it from their website. It's still up at its bedfellow the Daily Mail though, as well as the Evening Standard.

Further bad news for Policy Exchange

The Sun and the Daily Mail have taken down their reports of last year's dodgy Policy Exchange report which purported to show evidence of extremism in British mosques. It was exposed by Newsnight that several of the receipts used in the 'research' were faked.

The British Muslim Initiative is continuing dialogue with other newspapers who have not done the same. It was telling that they gave good prominence to their original stories, but despite the juiciness of Newsnight's revelations, they were not so quick off the mark in criticising the think tank.

We are also still waiting for Policy Exchange's promised legal action against the BBC. As they say, don't hold your breath.

Racists on This Week

Why is Martin Amis still viewed as a serious commentator? Here he is in an interview with Johann Hari regurgitating nonsense about Muslim birth rates and how they pose a threat to Europe.

Despite this, he was on This Week chatting on the sofa with Andrew Neil about the US primaries. Mind you, they also had Jade "poppadom" Goody on the final segment of the programme, so maybe some researchers were having a bit of fun.

Williams and Shariah

I've been following the news about Archbishop Rowan Williams and his comments on shariah. While I've seen the headlines, it's only from speaking to people that I'm getting a full sense of the furore.

Which makes it sound even more silly. The country's media organs get into a tizzy over another non-story involving Muslims.

Shariah already exists in the country - I'm married under it, eat meat slaughtered by it, and bank according to it. In some cases, the law even had to be changed to accomodate this e.g. the removal of double stamp duty for Islamic mortgages. Obviously Williams was talking about such simple matters.

Michael Nazir-Ali's "no go" areas

The Bishop of Rochester has remarkably claimed that there are no-go areas for non-Muslims in Britain. Many have already pointed out that this is absurd and that it requires him to provide evidence.

In Michael Nazir-Ali's Sunday Telegraph article, the passage in question contains complaints about the Islamic call to prayer being broadcast around the country's towns and cities. This is of course bunkum. There has been some controversy lately in Oxford about this (I don't know much about the specifics), but this is not vexing people the length and breadth of the nation.

Giuliani: Muslims "a people perverted"

Hat tip: TCP via the Guardian

Mehdi Hasan on the media

One of the rising stars in the media is interviewed in the Independent:

Hasan believes that television is less hostile towards Muslims than the print media, and is keen to lay the blame for Islamophobia at the door of ignorance rather than racism. "Over the years, at the BBC, ITV and Sky, I have worked with countless producers and reporters who had never met a Muslim before they met me," he says, "or if they had, it was invariably an unrepresentative and loony extremist who they were interviewing or profiling for a story."

Hasan calls for more moderate Muslims in Britain to abandon traditional career paths towards medicine or engineering and to instead join the media and help influence the industry's coverage of issues such as terrorism and integration. "I see people like myself – who happen to be both a professional journalist and a practising Muslim – as a bridge between the Islamic community and the media, and by extension between Muslims and wider society," says Hasan.

50% of Scots see Muslims as "cultural threat"

The Scottish government's Scottish Social Attitudes Survey published this week showed a growing Islamophobia in the country (see the Scotsman, Herald and Daily Record for more).

The new type pf prejudice could be seen clearly in the figures showing that while 4% of the public would object to an Asian school teacher, 21% would if that teacher was Muslim. Half the population thought that more Muslims would lead to the country losing it's identity - this was up from 38% in 2003.

This notion is of course nonsense. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that Muslims in Scotland feel themselves to be more Scottish than the population as a whole.

Newsnight rips apart Policy Exchange report

Tonight's Newsnight investigation into Policy Exchange's recent report on extremism in British mosques found major irregularities with the receipts that the think tank handed them to investigate the issue further:

• Receipts from North London mosque's bookshop, when the mosque doesn't have a bookshop. Forensic examination revealed that the receipt's heading had been printed on an inkjet printer - when usual procedure for such pieces of paper would be mass printing
• Receipts from other mosques printed entirely on inkjet printers
• A receipt for Euston Mosque with the address on it being for the mosque next door to it on North Gower Street (who would have thought that two mosques next door to each other would be an advantage one day!)
• Forensic tests that found handwriting matching on two separate receipts for different mosques
• Forensic tests showing that the writing on one receipt had been done on top of another receipt for an entirely different mosque

Muslim beds to face Mecca

The Daily Express and Daily Star have claimed that nurses have been ordered by the NHS to turn the beds of Muslim patients towards Mecca. It's caused "havoc", "chaos" and is "political correctness gone mad". Except it's not true.

White Paki

Just heard about a Muslim lady that was abused at the new Silverburn shopping complex in south Glasgow. She was pushing along a double-buggy containing two infants, while her other four-year-old son was walking along with her.

A group of youths started shouting "White Paki", presumably irked by the fact she is a convert to Islam that wears a hijab. They then lobbed a glass bottle at her which smashed into pieces but thankfully missed the family.

None of this is being reported to the police, despite advice to her to do so. My fear is that many incidents like this are going uncatalogued, meaning not only are louts getting away with it, but the scale and growth of the problem is going unnoticed by the authorities.

At last, there seems to be a flurry of outrage at Martin Amis's proposed collective punishment of Muslims. As usual, it's only in the Guardian - Ronan Bennett and Kamila Shamsie

Ware persists in his double-standards

John Ware complains about the focus placed upon his Panorama documentary of 2005 in the recent report commissioned by London Mayor Ken Livingstone about Muslims and the media.

Islamophobia Watch take issue with his criticism of the experts who compiled the report. Certainly, they are more eminent than the "leading Muslims" he based his documentary on.

I want to highlight his opening assertion though:

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) claims to be "the most reasonable and most representative spokesperson for the British Muslim community". Unlike most religious organisations, it is also explicitly political. The MCB has opinions on everything, from school uniforms to the NHS; from the recall of Parliament to the extradition to the US of Babar Ahmad. And it is not shy about lobbying for them.

Garry Smith FKA Curious Hamster has more on this week's Policy Exchange report, including some interesting titbits on its author Denis MacEoin. Also worth checking out Gabriele Marranci's thoughts.

Quick mention too for Ed Hussain's appearance this week on Newsnight regarding the Saudi state visit. He pinned all the evils of the world on Wahabism, for which he was corrected by Khalid Mahmood MP - not all Wahabis are automatically wrong. Ed posited the "not all Wahabis are terrorists, but all terrorists are Wahabis" response. Think he may be off message with his neocon chums agitating for war on Iran and defending war on Hizbullah.

Hate literature and the Saudis

Right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange's latest report into the Muslim community has implicated Edinburgh Central Mosque in apparently distributing hate literature.

They have said that the material in question called for apostates from Islam to be killed. The mosque have not made official comment themselves, but I've spoken to people close to them who say that this is not something they stock or distribute. Further, as evidenced during an event at their Islam Festival held during August, their view on apostasy is that everyone should have the right to practice religion as they see fit. This includes leaving Islam.

Amis says he didn't mean it, but still says Islam is the problem

Martin Amis writes to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown of the Independent about his grotesque views. Here's the roll-back:

It was a thought experiment, or a mood experiment, and the remarks were preceded by the following: "There's a definite urge – don't you have it? – to say... [etc, etc]." I felt that urge, for a day or two. My mood, I admit, was bleak – how I longed, Yasmin, for your soothing hand on my brow! It was, in its way, one of the bitterest moments, one of the moments of wormwood, in the strange tale that began five years earlier, in September 2001.

The press interview took place in the immediate aftermath of the foiled plot (August 2006) to obliterate 10 commercial jets with explosives put together in transit. Which would have resulted in the deaths of another 3,000 random Westerners, the majority of them women and children (these were summer flights across the North Atlantic). Human beings, born of women, caressed such thoughts in their minds.

Yes, you may well have missed that apology. The letter also makes the whole problem out to be of Terry Eagleton's making. One thought - for Amis the problem is Islam:

There were two additional depressants. At least one of the alleged would-be mass murderers had taken the trouble to convert to Islam, suggesting that the exterminatory virus was about to mutate, like bird flu.

Amis on Muslims

‘The Muslim community will have to suffer until it gets its house in order.’ What sort of suff­­er­­­ing? Not letting them travel. Deportation – further down the road. Curtailing of freedoms. Strip-searching people who look like they’re from the Middle East or from Pakistan… Discriminatory stuff, until it hurts the whole community and they start getting tough with their children.

Thus said Martin Amis last year. Fellow academic Terry Eagleton took this to task. He now writes on Comment is Free about the fallout from his criticism - there was no chorus of repudiation of Amis's views, just newspaper speculation about an academic bust up and concern that Muslims may not attend his lectures now.

'Stop the car, there's Madeleine': Witness sees her dragged by Muslim woman

A tabloid's dream today with the a Madeleine McCann story intertwining with an opportunity to bash Muslims.

The Daily Mail took the bait, choosing to describe the Moroccan woman who was carrying a blonde child (incidentally it is confirmed now as not being Maddy) as a "Muslim woman". Like it's a shock to find one of these hijab wearing people even in Morocco.

Why wasn't she just described as a "woman"? Or if further description was absolutely needed, a "Moroccan woman"? What's her faith got to do with it?

Guilty: first Scots Islamic terrorist facing 15 years

The Herald butchered my letter today, taking out any meaning, which was to complain about their outrageous front page coverage of the Siddique trial yesterday. Their edited version took out the criticism of their coverage. Here's the original letter:

Sir, I was taken aback to read your front page feature this morning talking of “Islamic terror”. This oxymoronic phrase has long since left the discourse in virtually every other newspaper in these isles.

The adjective is just wrong, there is nothing Islamic about terrorism. The Muslim community is constantly asked to disavow these acts, and we are not helped when this kind of language is used linking us right back to it.

I’m no lawyer, but Siddique was not convicted with any crime of “Islamic terrorism” as your article stated, just offences related to terrorism pure and simple. Although as Siddique’s defence team highlighted, arguably only a Muslim would face the Terrorism Acts for what he did.

Mido subjected to Islamophobic abuse - again

Middlesbrough's Egyptian footballer Mido was subjected to Islamophobic abuse at the weekend's Tyne-Tees derby.

Newcastle supporters were chanting ‘Mido, he’s got a bomb you know’, though all you would have seen on Match of the Day was him being booked for telling them to "shut it" after scoring.

This isn't the first time that this has happened to Egyptian internationalist. It appears that while other prejudice has been eliminated from English grounds (let's leave the Scottish ones aside just now), Islamophobia remains a problem.

Coverage was also given to the issue in the Guardian, and while the Daily Mail did have an article leading on the fact that he was abused, they strangely omitted to mention what form it took.

UPDATE: The FA are investigating

UPDATE: More on this from Marina Hyde

Are you listening Brian Monteith?

Brian Monteith takes another stab at trying to tackle terror after his last attempt which included hitting out at forced arranged marriages:

... a spokesman for the Edinburgh Central Mosque said if its imam found plans for a criminal act he would inform the police. Are you listening Osama Saeed and Alex Salmond? This is the way forward towards multi-faith solidarity in the fight against religious-inspired terrorism. Let more like Mohammed Akram come forward and speak for the decent, peace-loving Muslims of Scotland.

Ahem and errm and there is plenty more where that came from.

Monteith for those who don't know him is the former Conservative MSP that thought it was acceptable for the taxpayer to foot the bill for his taxis home from bars, night clubs and off-licences.

UPDATE: Didn't want to include this till I confirmed it, but the Edinburgh Central Mosque spokesman above was actually my brother. There is no family rift on this issue, though he should possibly be disturbed that Mr Monteith likes him.

German state bans 'Grace Kelly' hijab

North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, has taken it's ban on a school teacher wearing the hijab a stage further.

She had suggested as a compromise that she wore it in the style of Grace Kelly from the 1955 movie To Catch a Thief. This was rejected, as the court ruled that Maryam Brigitte Weiss's intent was religious rather than stylistic.

This is strange not least because to rule out articles of clothing on the basis of the intention of the wearer is to open up other clothing to the same ban. Muslim women also cover their arms for religious reasons. Are they to be banned from blouses and jumpers too?

This is why the argument about religious 'symbols' is false when it comes to the headscarf. It's not like a pin badge on your shirt, and isn't unique to just one faith or indeed faith at all. In other words, you can wear an item of clothing if you're not a Muslim, but if you are, it's banned. I'm sorry, but that's just bad law.

This post is a continuation from here

Then we come to Brian Monteith's article in the Edinburgh Evening News. He probably knows even less on the subject than Tom Gallagher.

Indeed he doesn't even know the difference between an arranged and a forced marriage:

...but does [Salmond] make plain his opposition to the continuing fatwa on Rushdie, the growth in so-called honour killings and continuation of arranged marriages that disgust most Scottish people?

Having such limited cultural awareness doesn't stop him wading into the issue though.

English policies cause schism

This post is a continuation from here

By the time Gallagher reaches his Herald article, he is now up to his third piece in quick succession. He can no longer rely on broad statements with no substantial analysis, and has to go into a bit of detail. It's no surprise then that things really come of the rails for him now.

He says about Muslims:

It is a community in which young people, especially, are pulled in different directions. Besides the appeal of secularism, moderates attached to the Sufi tradition are locked in competition with Islamists who promote a purist form of belief influenced by austere Arabian norms.

The recent attacks on me

At the Scotland United Against Terror rally I was heckled by someone in the crowd. Nothing new in that, happens quite a bit, par for the course.

Caught a glimpse of the bloke near the front, just looked like the normal vagrant, possibly drunk, but definitely looking a complete state. He disappeared shortly after - possibly he'd been taken away by the police. He'd actually been pulled up by one of the other attendees to whom he retorted he was an academic and therefore was under the impression that he was above everyone else and allowed to act like a berk. Then he was pulled up by another academic who was on hand.

I've just been told that the vagrant in question was actually Tom Gallagher. He had approached one of the organisers beforehand and asked if I was going to be speaking. He was also upset that no one from the Sufi Muslim Council was on the platform.

Muslim Scouts

As a former Scout myself, it was really heartwarming to see the scenes from England on the 100th birthday of the organisation.

The Daily Mail today reports though on how Scouts celebrating the centenary weren't treated to burgers and bangers because of religious beliefs:

...as 300 Scouts travelled back to the site where their movement was born, meat was whipped off the menu in favour of vegetarian cuisine because it might offend the different faiths of youngsters from 162 countries if it wasn't Halal or Kosher.

This led to the now customary frothing in the comments:

How do these other religions get on with swearing allegiance to god and the Queen then, all PC going far too far and should be done away with. If people can't accept what we do, then why should we accept what they do?

- Nigel, Somerset

This is dreadful! This country is going to the dogs. Lord Baden Powell will be turning in his grave.

- Isabel, Buckinghamshire

This is absolutely ridiculous! I do believe that the PC stupidity in the UK is absolutely barking mad. It defies belief and words.

- Charles, Durham,NC

It is a little known fact that there are more Muslim Scouts in the world today than from any other faith group.

Jihad: The Musical

Quite a bit of free publicity has been drummed up for the apparently controversial Jihad: The Musical at this year's Edinburgh Festival. See an example of the material here.

I've fielded quite a few calls about it. The first thing that has to be said is that Muslims haven't even heard of it and have a lot of other more important things to be worrying about. So please let's not have any "Muslims angry" headlines.

In principle, there is nothing wrong with mocking terrorists, as long as sensitivity is shown towards it's victims. As far as Muslims are concerned, I can't see what we should be worried about as long as the show doesn't start mixing the religion of Islam with terrorism. In this regard however, the title of the show doesn't inspire confidence.

"Jihad" is to struggle for good, and when used in the militaristic sense is the same as the Western concept of a just war. What the terrorists do is not jihad, and to give the terrorists this cloak of respectability is foolish. Many demands are made often of the Muslim community to distance ourselves from terrorism, but when people from outside link us back in like this, it does not help.

More disappointing comments from the Vatican

The Pope's private secretary has given warning of the Islamisation of Europe and stressed the need for the continent's Christian roots not to be ignored, in comments released yesterday.

"Attempts to Islamise the West cannot be denied," Monsignor Georg Gaenswein was quoted as saying in an advance copy of the weekly Sueddeutsche Magazin to be published today.

"The danger for the identity of Europe that is connected with it should not be ignored out of a wrongly understood respectfulness," the magazine quoted him as saying.

"He also defended a speech that the Pope gave last year that linked Islam and violence, saying it had been an attempt by the pontiff to "act against a certain naivety".

Daily Telegraph

Cartoons censored, but no one's angry

Lenin's Tomb contains a very good post about the double standards regarding freedom of expression. A magazine featuring a cartoon has just been banned and forcibly taken off the shelves in Spain because a group was offended by it. Group in question being the royal family.

Europe has not been vexed by this blatant act of censorship. You can read some excellent points about this here (though the cartoon is a little full on, please be warned).

I would add that for me this says a lot about power. If Muslims are upset about something, they can only take to the streets. There were no "royal family angry" headlines, press releases or burning effigies of magazine editors needed here. Quietly, phone calls were made, and it was resolved to the satisfaction of the prince and princess.