Tuesday 16 December 2014

It's getting increasingly difficult to give followers of Islam the benefit of the doubt

You have probably heard the phrase that not all Muslims are terrorists, but virtually all terrorists are Muslims.

It's been kicking about for a while on social media and is pretty difficult to argue with.

I tend to try to concentrate on the first half of the phrase, usually in the (increasingly forlorn) hope that something or someone will give some substance to that belief.


Coffins in readiness for the 132 kids killed today in Pakistan by the Taliban. A coffin-maker in Peschwar is 'enjoying' boom times for his business. Sadly. Tragically.

I don't think that all Muslims are terrorists but one would have to say that far too high a number or percentage of them are terrorists and far too many are either complicit in this hideous activity or by not condemning it, are ignoring an ever increasing problem.

And by not condemning it, they are making it increasingly difficult to give them the benefit of the doubt. It should also be said that having to give them the benefit of the doubt is nowhere near a satisfactory situation. There should be absolutely no doubt involved: If you don't utterly condemn what is being perpetrated in the name of Islam, without question, without hesitation, then one would have to question your humanity.

I have blogged about the need for us in the UK to ask a couple of simple questions of ordinary people within our growing Muslim community - a question along the lines of: 'Are you British first? Do you believe in our values and will you abide by our laws? Or do your religious beliefs, as written in the Quran, supersede your Britishness?'

Effectively the question is: 'Are you on our side or not?' If the answer is 'not' then we all have a problem. Us because we cannot rely on you to abide by our laws and values (when we all do in the main). You because if you follow a doctrine that is increasingly abhorrent to us and involves the commitment or, equally worrying, the condoning of acts of terrorism, you should not be able to enjoy the same law-based freedoms that we do.

And if the Quran, rather than UK law, dictates your behaviours, how can we trust you? How can we be safe in our beds?

And when a terrorist atrocity does happen on our shores (as is almost inevitable now) you won't be safe in your beds either. Because as sure as eggs are eggs, there will be a major backlash against Muslims in the UK.

And when that happens, if there hasn't been some clear announcement of opposition from significant numbers of members of our Muslim community, I would find it very difficult to condemn that backlash.

It's up to you in our Muslim communities and time is running out for you to avert what could well be mayhem on the streets of Britain.

There are two final points to make here:

One is that the Quran does advocate the mistreatment of non-believers (and in the most hideous of ways). That is a fact. If you follow the teachings of Mohammad to the letter (which is what the Quran insists upon - and that is a fact too), then you are a de facto enemy of non Muslims - like the majority of people in the UK. Effectively if the Quran shapes your life, as it seems to do for so many in the Muslim community, you are our enemy. That is not a healthy situation when we are living cheek by jowl on this small island.

And this is particularly difficult since we have been generous to you, have welcomed you, protected, educated and provided health care to you and your family, given you opportunities that are not afforded to many people in the traditional Muslim world. If you now shove our generosity back in our faces and use it to facilitate the undermining of our society through violence, then frankly you have made your beds and if you don't deserve the coming backlash, it's a pretty close-run thing.

The second is how we deal with this situation as a civilised society. An enemy within - if we get to that. I don't think we can allow the devastating situation that is unfolding in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Canada and Australia, to gain traction in the UK. And if we don't act quickly and decisively we could face the situation where Muslims grow as percentage of our population from the current 5% to almost 50% by 2050 (ONS statistics).

That is a terrifying prospect. Particularly if one looks at the wreckage that Islam is visiting on its home countries - essentially taking them back to the Middle Ages if not yet the Dark Ages.

And many UK Muslims have been here for a couple of generations so it's not an easy thing to 'send them home' - this is their home.

My argument would be that if this is your home you should treat it as such; abide by our laws, share our values and eschew the archaic and often barbaric teachings of the Quran. If you cannot do that then we have to conclude that you're not 'one of us' and in that case, difficult though it might be, we cannot any longer be your hosts. Sorry but if you are not part of the UK but are in fact a threat to us, then we'd be mad not to address the problem.

I say this with a heavy heart, but it's not my behaviour that has led to this, it's yours: we should send you away. And frankly I don't really care where that might be, so long as you are no longer a threat to our way of life.

And this is not just about terrorism if you think about it. It's about electoral corruption in Bradford and Tower Hamlets: About your kids going to Syria to fight for ISIS against us; About forced illegal marriages and female genital mutilation in the UK; about Muslim gangs grooming 'white trash' girls in cities across our land. You're not exactly an asset to us at the moment are you?

As I say it's up to you 'moderate' Muslims. But make no mistake, time is rapidly running out for you. And please, don't ever again insult our intelligence by telling us that Islam is the 'Religion of Peace'. It clearly is not in any way at all. Your call.

Thanks for reading.












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