British Muslims Want Islamic Law...in Britain (but at least their women are attractive)

June 07, 2006

British Muslims Want Islamic Law...in Britain (but at least their women are attractive)
Posted by Shadi Hamid

I must say I'm a bit troubled by this poll which indicates, among other things, that 40% of British Muslims want Islamic law to be implemented in….ummm….Britain. This particular survey is a few months old but as relevant as ever in light of heightening tensions in Europe over Muslim immigrants. This is bad news. More troubling is the fact that 20% of respondents sympathize with the “feelings and motives” of the terrorists who killed 52 of their countrymen on July 7, 2006. I guess the positive part is that 99% thought the 7/7 attacks were “wrong.” What a relief. Isn’t it strange that we’ve reached the point where “good news” is when Muslims agree that slaughtering people in cold blood is wrong? The moral compass of British Muslims, one suspects, is not in the best of shape. It may even be upside down (or was it knocked over?).

At least the Blair government is responding constructively, reaching out to the Muslim community, strengthening moderate voices, and encouraging Muslims to play a greater role in mainstream political life. (Then you have the French way of dealing with minorities which is, shall we say, a bit less post-enlightenment).

The Brits certainly have their work cut out for them in a country where so despicable a personage as Yvonne Ridley is relatively mainstream and even popular among Muslims. You may recall that this is the same woman who was captured by the Taliban in 2001 and then suffered from a rather acute case of Stockholm Syndrome. Once a journalist for the Sunday Express, she is currently Britain’s resident terror apologist. Yes, in case you didn't know, she hates her country. Not surprisingly, she has allied herself with the infamous George Galloway, who Hitchens thankfully dispensed with several months ago. In common, Ridley/Galloway have an irritating way with words. Ridley’s prose style is a study in colloquialism, coarseness, and self-caricature. Not only does she openly sympathize with terrorist attacks against innocents but has managed to write the the closest thing I've ever seen to a pro-Zarqawi missive.

Enough of Yvonne Ridley. I now turn my attention to someone more worthy of attention - Miss England 2005. Her name is Hammasa Kohistani (she is ravishing, by the way). As a Muslim and as someone who fled the Taliban regime when she was a young girl, her victory holds special significance for those working for integration. Britain is quite unique in this regard - there are some British Muslims who are quite well-assimilated (there are Muslims in the House of Commons and the House of Lords) but then are those (and their numbers seem to be growing) who appear intent on recreating a mythical Islamic state in Liverpool, where, God knows, they'd probably ban the Beatles. Now that would be blasphemy.

June 07, 2006 at 10:54 AM in Europe | Permalink

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June 07, 2006