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British Muslims A Success Story in 2004
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A library photo of Muslims leaving East London Mosque, which is Europe’s biggest Muslim community center
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By
Hani Mohammad, IOL Correspondent
LONDON,
December 28 (IslamOnline.net) – If a Muslim community in Europe was
to be awarded first prize in integration and remarkable achievements,
the British would be definitely singled out, and deservedly so.
Standing
up strongly to xenophobic ideologues and the Zionist lobby, proving
that they are really a heavyweight community and earning the respect
of government officials and MPs are success stories very rare to hear
of in the West in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, which, in effect,
created a new world order.
The
terrorist attacks cut both ways as they unleashed an unprecedented
ferocious campaign against Islam and Muslims in the West, on the one
hand, and made a large number of people in Europe to read about this
religion and discover that it only preached about the need for
forgiveness, love and mercy.
The
year 2004 witnessed an increasing number of Britons accepting Islam.
In February, the Sunday Times reported that some of the country’s
top landowners and celebrities have embraced the Muslim faith.
Jonathan
Birt, the son of Lord Birt; and Emma Clark, the granddaughter of
former liberal prime minister Herbert Asquith; are only two of 14,000
who reverted to Islam in Britain.
“A
better understanding of Islam and of Muslims will show that the
differences are nowhere near as great as some would like to
suggest,” London Mayor Kin Livingstone had said.
Britain's
Muslims are estimated to be some 2.5 million out of the 60 million
population.
Heavyweight
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Tikriti was one of the prominent British activists in 2004 |
British
Muslims have, as a point of fact, made their voices heard and become
lobby-minded.
They
act acted in unison under respectable umbrella organizations like the
Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the Muslim Association of Britain
(MAB) and the Islamic Society of Britain (ISB).
The
stop-and-search arrests and religious discrimination they suffered at
the hands of hardliners have never dampened their enthusiasm or sense
of patriotism.
After
the Muslim support for their traditional Labour party had
halved and the free fall of the party's ratings in the local
and European Parliament elections, the government has come to realize
the fact that the Muslim vote does really count and planned to win the
hearts and minds of the Muslim citizens.
The
Home Office has already unveiled plans to put forward a legislation
criminalizing incitement of religious hatred.
“Such
Muslim campaigns have actually paid off and scared away the Zionist
lobby and the extremist right-wing,” Mohammad Sawalah, the deputy
head of the Muslim League in Britain, told IslamOnline.net Monday,
December 27.
Senior
British parliamentarians admitted anti-terrorism laws are being used
“disproportionately” against Muslims.
In
a severe blow to Prime Minister Tony Blair's “anti-terror”
measures, the House of Lords ruled on December 16 that detention of
foreign “terror suspects” without trial was illegal.
Political
Success
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London Mayor Kin Livingstone (R) picked Muslim Yasmin Qureshi as his human rights advisor |
Muslims
also stood as candidates representing various political parties in the
country’s elections and also contested in the European parliamentary
election.
Muslim
activist Anas Al-Tikriti, who stood for the European Parliament
elections under Respect party, must be proud that 40 percent of the
Muslim voters, who traditionally vote Labour, cast their ballots in
favor of his nascent party.
Tikriti
hailed his party’s performance in the elections, especially for a
party that did not exist just 20 weeks ago before the election.
“To
put it in comparison, the 30-year-old Greens party has captured a
meager two seats,” in the 732-seat European legislature, he had told
IOL.
Earlier
in the month, Ken Livingstone appointed a Muslim woman as his new
human rights advisor.
Yasmin
Qureshi, a barrister whose experience includes heading the Criminal
Legal Section of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the Department
of Judicial Administration in Kosovo, will replace Graham Tope.
Furthermore,
the Foreign Office has released a CD, reminding the Muslim community
that their contribution “is not just a matter of history, but a reality
in every walk of life".
Countering
Xenophobes
British
Muslims, additionally, have stood up strongly to xenophobic
ideologues, who thought that their anti-Islam rants would go
unpunished.
British
police arrested earlier in the month the leader of the extremist
British National Party (BNP), Nick Griffin, for describing Islam as
“wicked, vicious faith has expanded through a handful of cranky
lunatics about 1,300 years ago until it's now sweeping country after
country.”
Last
July, Barclays, Britain's third-biggest bank, closed the BNP’s
accounts thanks to growing influence of the Muslim community.
In
January, the MCB lodged a complaint with the Press Complaints
Commission (PCC) and the BBC, urging robust disciplinary action
against columnist and presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Thanks
to an immediate Muslim action, the BBC suspended the presenter's
morning show pending an investigation, while Kilroy-Silk offered an
apology over describing Arabs as “suicide bombers, limb amputators,
and women repressors.”
According
to experts, the vile campaign of the Zionist lobby in Britain against
the July visit of prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
has backfired and cemented the position of British Muslims in society.
The
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) concluded that there was no legal
ground to prosecute Sheikh Qaradawi as requested by Henry Grunwald QC,
president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
The
mayor of London has further apologized on behalf of the people of
London for the fuss that overshadowed Qaradawi’s visit and invited
the prominent Muslim scholar back to the United Kingdom in October
2005.
Islam
Awareness
One
of the outstanding Muslim events in 2004 is the tenth Islam Awareness
Week.
Shakespeare's
Globe Theatre played host last month to the national event organized
by the ISB under the title “Your Muslim Neighbor.”
The
one-week gala highlighted the valuable contributions made by British
Muslims to everyday life in Britain.
In
view of the mounting racist attacks targeting British Muslims, a new
pocket guide saw the light in September 25 to educate the community
about their basic rights and responsibilities in a bid to allay their
fears.
'Know
Your Rights & Responsibilities' is the title of the 16-page guide,
which was published by the MCB.
Moreover,
Europe’s biggest Muslim community center opened
in London on June 11.
The
six storey center can accommodate 10,000 worshippers, as it has a
library, crèche, conference rooms, a gym and classrooms.
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