And Yet, Aditya, It's Not The Muslims Afraid In Their Places Of Worship, Is It?

Aditya's been sampling literature for talking points, his usual ones no longer working as they used to...

An Englishman drives into a new town and can’t see the warning signs. Richard Pearson is visiting Surrey to close down his late father’s home and settle his affairs and, everywhere he looks, the flag of St George is flying “from suburban gardens and filling stations and branch post offices”. How nice, he thinks, how festive. Soon he learns the truth. So runs the opening not of a recent piece of journalism, but a novel by JG Ballard, Kingdom Come, which despite being almost 20 years old anticipates today’s Britain with eerie precision.

Does it, Aditya? Does it really? Let’s read on, eh? 

Amid this yawning suburbia, Pearson starts to come awake. One evening, he sees an old Volvo up in flames, and an angry mob about to storm a “shabby house”. Inside, he supposes, must be “a released murderer or a paedophile exposed by the local vigilantes”. But no. Out come Muslim women, who have been praying in a makeshift mosque and who must rely on a police line against violence from their own neighbours.

And yet, you seem not to realise that, far from being some Nostradamus-like predictive text, it’s rather got things the wrong way round about exactly whose places of worship are under threat, and who is bearing the brunt of the terror. 

Gosh, I Wonder Why?

 

Being a Muslim in a country with a long colonial history, which has also had to deal with terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Islam, is an everyday challenge.

Well, yes, it would be... 

In January 2015, for example, I was as profoundly shocked as everyone else in France by the massacre of the Charlie Hebdo journalists in Paris. As the country mourned, I was invited by a major radio station to comment, but was first asked, live on air, to “dissociate” myself from the attackers.

Why did you have to be asked? Wouldn't any normal person automatically do so? 

I couldn’t hold back my tears – because, even with a media profile, I was reduced to the most racist perception of my identity. I was strongly defended that night by others who took part in the show, and received much support online, but I couldn’t help thinking of the millions of French Muslims who, unlike me, would have no microphone to defend themselves against vile accusations.

It wasn't a 'racist' perception - Islam isn't a race. it's a belief. A stupid belief, but then so are many other religions.

...French Muslims present a paradox: we are part of every social sphere, yet many of us have not given up our cultural specificities. And that is precisely what we are blamed for – integration without assimilation. This is why the same government can claim it uses the law to fight against Muslim “separatism” while denouncing the threat of Muslim “infiltration”. Muslims can’t win: we are blamed for being part of the national community and for being outside of it.

Because every time yousqueal that you've 'assimilated' it turn out to be untrue, when you reveal your real allegience. 

It Could Be A Lot Of Things But Not 'Racism'...

The historic town of Jumilla was on the frontline of conflict between Muslims and Christians when the Moors were kicked out of southern Spain in the 13th century. Muslim migrants may have felt more welcome in recent years when they have lived largely happily alongside their Spanish neighbours, and enjoyed freedom to worship.

But things have changed.  

But a decision by Jumilla town council to effectively ban religious events from being held at public sports' facilities has threatened to ignite community tensions.Muslims have no doubt that the ruling is aimed at them as it will prevent them from having traditional Eid prayers twice a year at the town's Antonio Ibanez Morales football stadium.

Will they simply say ‘Well, it was nice while it lasted’ and find alternative options? Reader, place your bets:  

Muslim men were talking of little else, and expressed despair at the ruling, as they arrived for Friday afternoon prayers at the town's main mosque.Logistics worker Aouissat El Mamoun, 27, who grew up in the town and used to play football for Jumilla, said: 'It's really bad and I regard it as racist.'

First, it’s not racist as ‘Muslim’ is a belief, not a race, and second, what do the women think of this? Don’t they get a say?? 

Farm worker Adam Salifu, 43, who is originally from Ghana, said: 'This is a peaceful town and everyone gets on with each other, whatever their religion. 'There are people from every country in Africa in my village. Some are Muslim and some are Christian, and we have no problems with each other.'

And maybe the Spaniards have noticed that their town is suddenly full of African men practising Islam and they aren’t all that happy about it?

'What we really need is a new mosque because this one is quite congested. We are looking for some land to build, but the council have not provided anywhere.'

Why should they?  Did they provide any land for the other religions? 

Maybe Because We’re Suffering From Muslim Fatigue

In the southern French village of La Grand-Combe, Cissé, a 22-year-old carpenter originally from Mali, volunteered at his local mosque and was a familiar face among worshippers. So when he offered guidance through the prayers and rituals that Friday to a newcomer, a young man he did not know , it was an entirely natural gesture. The stranger, however, had come to prayers with very different intentions. As Cissé bowed in prostration, he was stabbed with a knife 57 times. The assailant then posted a video on Snapchat of his victim writhing in agony in a pool of blood. In the video, a man can be heard saying “I did it” and insulting Allah.

Hadn't heard of this - mainly because I’m not French, and I’m not dialed in to the constant stream of Muslim outrage.

Yet in France, this death – and apparent targeting of a Muslim worshipper – has not been unequivocally understood as a hate crime. Ongoing controversy around the case is a dismaying reminder of how institutionally Islamophobic France is.

So leave. It can’t be that bad or there wouldn’t be so many of you there… 

For more than a fortnight, there have been public protests at the inadequacy of the investigation, the biggest of which so far took place in Paris on Sunday.

Of course, protests are arranged at the drop of a hat.  

But, with some notable exceptions, in political and media circles more time has been devoted to debating whether a horrific killing in a place of worship deserves to be called “Islamophobic” than the terrifying implications of such violence for Europe’s biggest Muslim population.

What ‘terrifying implications’? It’s a murder. It’s not a start, is it? 

After three days on the run, the suspect, a 20-year-old French national named as Olivier H, gave himself up to police in Italy. The suspect’s lawyer denied that his client harboured any hatred towards “Muslims or mosques”. He has been charged in France with murder aggravated by premeditation on grounds of race or religion. Yet this was deemed insufficient to classify the case as a terrorist incident.

Yeah, the same thing happened here when an imported savage butchered three little English girls. At least the French government isn’t locking up any of those protesters, eh? 

The killing was an “isolated event”, the public prosecutor said, the suspect “driven by a violent urge, rather than ideology”.

Yes, that’s the immediate response these days from the authorities when they want to head off unrest.  

After Aboubakar Cissé’s brutal death, one might have expected the government to announce a plan to tackle Islamophobia. In reality, our political leaders are among its main drivers.

Oh, if only they were.  

And Now I Want A Tattoo…

Is there anything that doesn't offend Muslims?

Some people on social media criticized Hegseth for getting a tattoo that could be considered offensive to Muslims, especially as the US military seeks to represent a diverse pool of faiths.

“This isn’t just a personal choice; it’s a clear symbol of Islamophobia from the man overseeing U.S. wars,” posted Nerdeen Kiswani, a pro-Palestinian activist in New York.

She added: “‘Kafir’ has been weaponized by far-right Islamophobes to mock and vilify Muslims.”

You mean, a slur that Muslims use to indicate disdain for other cultures and races is being used against them? You'll pardon me if I feel no sympathy at all.... 

“It’s not about his personal beliefs. It’s about how these beliefs translate into policy – how they shape military decisions, surveillance programs, and foreign interventions targeting Muslim countries.”

I suspect they translate into policy very well, and very usefully.  

'Get Orf Moi Land!'

A brother and sister are at war with their local council after erecting an illegal fence through an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

No, not the usual red-faced Farmer Giles type this time: 

Urusa Ahmed and her brother Syed triggered a dispute in July 2021 when, without planning permission, they erected a fence around their two acre woodland plot that blocked public footpaths. The pair went on to illegally install large security gates and have erected several structures, including a large dwelling-type building with windows and a livestock shed, at the woodland site they own near Chesham, Bucks.

After missing Buckinghamshire Council's order to take the fence down by November 2022 , the case was upgraded to 'a criminal offence'.

But the dispute has boiled over in recent months as locals, furious at what they claim is council inaction over the saga, have taken the law into their own hands and smashed large sections of the fence down. The attacks came to a head on Tuesday when police were called in after two men armed with a sledgehammer were caught hacking down the fence.

You'd hope, would you not, Reader, that a Muslim couple breaking the law to keep people away from their secluded land would attract the attention of the security services. What are they hiding? 

Urusa told MailOnline: 'Everybody has the right, it is a human right, to fence off your land, especially when people are trespassing.

'The land is like everywhere else! There is a sheep farm next to it, it has fences, the farm behind us has fences, opposite us has fences, next to us has fences.

'Now tell me one good reason why the council will not allow us to have fences? What's the difference between us and the rest of the people here?

'Why can't people have livestock in agricultural land, and if you have livestock, how can you expect us to protect them.

'There are men coming in with dogs, big dogs, deliberately trying to intimidate me.'

There are laws in this country and everyone is expected to abide by them. If you want to live in a different country, where the laws are different or non-existant, Heathrow's thataway!   

A Bit Selective, Isn’t It?

Sadiq Khan, the divisive Mayor of London, is claiming the recent unrest frightened him.

“What’s heartbreaking to me is my children’s generation had never experienced what I had,” he said. “And they, for the first time, were scared. I thought I’d be the last generation to be scared, simply for who I am. And it breaks my heart.”

Have you not asked any of your children's Jewish friends how they felt about the marches by Palestine protestors you've allowed, nay encouraged, on every weekend in London then?

“It’s difficult to explain the ripples when you’ve been targeted because of your religion or colour of your skin and you can’t change either of those things. And whether you’re seeing physical acts of violence taking place in the north-west or the north-east, you feel it in London.”

How must they feel about the ones that happen a little closer to London then? 

The scenes of anti-fascist demonstrators filling the streets in London on Wednesday night were a “source of pride”, he said.

Well, not entirely, Khan, not for Labour or Amnesty International!

One politician Khan is prepared to attack directly is Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister who is a frontrunner for the Conservative leadership. Jenrick said on Tuesday that he was angered with the policing of pro-Gaza demonstrations and questioned why protesters shouting Allahu Akbar – which means God is Great –were not arrested.

“I think somebody who aspires to be the leader of the Conservative party, who must, by extension, aspire to be the prime minister, should understand some of the basics about one of the major religions of the globe, one of the major religions of our country,” Khan said. “His remarks are so offensive, so hurtful, so dangerous. It’s akin to somebody saying we should outlaw the word hallelujah. Just think about the ridiculousness of saying that.” 

Maybe we would do, if it had been the last thing victims heard before bombings and massacres by fanatic Christisan terrorists?