Negativity on Islam 'fuels tension'

This is the sort of thing that made me start this blog. Muhammad Abdul Bari, head of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), says:-

The UK must be careful how it tackles terrorism and treats Islamic culture if it is to avoid recreating a society reminiscent of Nazi Germany, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain has warned.

Given the way the U.K. government and the media are bending over backwards to avoid any mention of Islam when discussing terrorism, this is outrageous. Mr. Abdul Bari should also read some history books about the Third Reich before comparing our open and liberal society with that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Muhammad Abdul Bari, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, criticised the Government for fuelling tensions in the Muslim community rather than dissipating them.

Who is fuelling tensions in the Muslim community? Is it the government or extremist preachers and Islamists who are trying to radicalize the Muslim youth?

He told the paper: "There is a disproportionate amount of discussion surrounding us. The air is thick with suspicion and unease. It is not good for the Muslim community, it is not good for society."

The cause of much of this discussion is Muslims and Muslim organizations like his demanding extra rights, over and above those of anybody else on, on account of their religion.

The other cause of the high profile of Muslims in the UK is Islamic terrorism. While much of this takes place outside the U.K., there is a significant number of potentially violent jihadis in the U.K. In a recent speech, the head of MI5 Jonathan Evans said there about 2,000 individuals in the U.K who "posed a direct threat to national security and public safety, because of their support for terrorism."

The MCB would help defuse the "suspicion and unease" about Muslims if they did something about the Islamist ideology that's motivating these 2,000 individuals.

Dr Bari also criticised the head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, for painting a bleak picture of the terrorist threat the night before the Queen's Speech this week. He said: "I don't think it was a good thing to share information in this way, I think it is creating a scare in the community and wider society. It probably helps some people who try to recruit the young to terrorism."

Oh, I'm sorry, he has done something about this problem; he's told us shut up! Sweep the problem under the carpet; don't talk about it and maybe it'll go away!

Despite being described as "moderate" and having close links with the government, there have been accusations of close links between the MCB and terrorist organisations. These accusations have been made in an article published in the Observer on 14 August 2005 and in an edition of the BBC 1 program Panorama first broadcast on 21 August 2005 (transcript here).

While on the subject of Muslim organisations in the UK, an article on the website of MPACUK states:-

Just how oppressive must a government become before we can justifiably say that it has turned a country into a police-state? Midnight knocks on the door? Security squads in black uniforms? The indefinite imprisonment of innocent individuals in prison cells and the immediate assumption of their guilt until proved innocent? Imprisonment for thought crimes? The use of torture to extricate information which may never otherwise be given? The permanent surveillance of a population at large?

This mis-representation, surely, can only be for the purpose of stirring up "tensions in the Muslim community" as described by Muhammad Abdul Bari. The article continues:-

If these were the criteria then there can be no doubt that Britain has become a police-state. Using the pretence of ‘Anti-Terror’ laws, themselves the product of an entirely fabricated ‘War on Terror’ which resulted from a false-flag incident involving the mass-murder of over 3000 innocent people, 911, and again 52 innocents in another false-flag incident involving Britain’s secret services, 7/7.

Ah! Right - while some Muslims celebrate the 9/11 terrorists as "The Magnificent 19", these guys allege that 9/11 was the work of the CIA, or Mossad, or somebody else, anybody other than Muslims. Near the end the article states:-

And 8 million Muslims have died as a direct result of USUK imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 16 years.

OK, I'm seriously off topic now. This is not whining - this is a naked attempt to radicalise Muslims and to foster hatred towards the US and the UK. This is the start of the process that leads British Muslims to try and blow up innocent people on the London transport system.

These are the people Muhammad Abdul Bari should be talking to if he wants to create a better atmosphere between Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK.

Update: The author of the article on the MPACUK site, which I discussed above, is a far-left non-Muslim called Rory Winter. It is very strange to see someone apparently inciting hatred against his own country. I'm sure that what Mr. Winter objects to are the policies of the UK and US governments but it seems to me that he is happy to have his work used to incite hatred between Muslim and non-Muslim citizens of the UK.

It is also strange to see that on his blog Mr. Winter announces that he is anti-fascist, yet fails to see the fascist elements in Islamism!

Re-reading Mr. Winters article has also reminded me that the last thing I want to do is incite hatred of Muslims by non-Muslims. My argument is with Muslims and Muslim organizations like the MCB who claim to represent the interests of Muslims in the UK yet by their whining manage to alienate the majority of UK non-Muslims. Please also read this post.