Islam4UK March in Wootton Bassett - BMCS Perspective

Many will now be aware through reports in the media that Islam4UK, a group affiliated with the banned group Al-Muhajiroon and lead by Anjum Choudhury are planning a protest march in the market town of Wootton Bassett.

As an organisation, BMCS whole heartedly condemns such a gathering. The march is in extremely bad taste and contrary to the spirit of Islam. It is also in opposition to the methodology of the Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and those that followed him. Nowhere in Islam can such a gathering be justified as a good action.

Such actions do nothing to promote harmony between communities in the UK. Rather this will further drive a wedge between the majority of moderate law abiding Muslims and wider society.

Islam4UK form a tiny and almost negligible percentage of the Muslim community within the UK. They are truly a minority within a minority and in no way representative of the majority of Muslims in the UK.

Through their irresponsible and ill thought actions Islam4UK will once again bring Islam, the religion they so profess to love, into disrepute. They will also invite a backlash against Muslims in the UK and Islam.

Many people in the UK - Muslims and non-Muslims alike - question the validity of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many are also saddened by the loss of innocent lives that have resulted because of these conflicts. Some of these people choose to voice their dislike of the current conflicts in a respectable and sensible manner. On the contrary the methodology chosen by Islam4UK will only serve to give ammunition to the far right.

Ultimately this will do more harm to the image of Islam and Muslims in the UK.

At testing times like these we all need to come together and approach this issue with level headedness and not allow this march to divide us.

BMCS urges all communities (Muslim and non-Muslim) in the South West to be vocal in their refusal to support this march and hope the authorities will put a stop to it in the interests of community cohesion.

We've had enough . . . disband, shut up and get a job

Tuesday, January 12, 2009, 07:00
Unsurprisingly, Anjem Choudary and his small band of not-so-merry men in Islam4UK have finally called off their planned march through Wootton Bassett. Well done Anjem, but why stop there?

You could do every Muslim in the UK a genuine favour by just shutting up altogether.

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Britons are suspicious towards Muslims,
study finds

The British public are concerned at the rise of Islam in the UK and fear that the country is deeply divided along religious lines, according to a major survey.

More than half the population would be strongly opposed to a mosque being built in their neighbourhood, the study found.

A large proportion of the country believes that the multicultural experiment has failed, with 52 per cent considering that Britain is deeply divided along religious lines and 45 per cent saying that religious diversity has had a negative impact.

Only a quarter of Britons feel positive towards Muslims, while more than a third report feeling “cool” towards them.

The findings, to be published later this month in the respected British Social Attitudes Survey, show that far greater opposition to Islam than to any other faith and reveal that most people are willing to limit freedom of speech in an attempt to silence religious extremists.

David Voas, professor of population studies at Manchester University, who analysed the data, said that people were becoming intolerant towards all religions because of “the degree to which Islam is perceived as a threat to social cohesion”.

He said: “Muslims deserve to be the focus of policy on social cohesion, because no other group elicits so much disquiet.”

The “size and visibility” of Islamic communities has led to serious concerns about their impact on British society, Prof Voas concludes.

“This apparent threat to national identity (or even, some fear, to security) reduces the willingness to accommodate free expression.

“Opinion is divided, and many people remain tolerant of unpopular speech as well as distinctive dress and religious behaviour, but a large segment of the British population is unhappy about these subcultures.”

Researchers interviewed 4,486 people for the survey, which is published annually by the National Centre for Social Research. They found that respondents with no qualifications were twice as likely to have negative attitudes towards Muslims as with those who had degrees.

The report describes a high level of unease regarding the UK’s Muslim population, estimated at around two million, with many people considering that it poses a threat to the nation’s identity.

While 55 per cent say that they would be “bothered” by the construction of a large mosque in their community, only 15 per cent would be similarly concerned by a large church.

Nevertheless, the research found considerable suspicion towards those of any faith who hold deeply religious views, while there was a widespread reluctance to see matters of faith intruding into the public sphere.

Nearly half (45 per cent) of Britons believe that laws and policy decisions would be worse if more politicians were deeply religious - almost double the number who think that they would be better.

From Telegraph.co.uk

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