Just this year, Boko Haram have kidnapped 200 innocent school girls in Nigeria, to the shock of the world. IS have massacred Yazidis in Iraq, and have made very clear their intentions to murder anybody else standing in the way of a Sharia controlled Kalifa in every country on earth. Hamas have continued their struggle to commit genocide upon Israel and the Jewish people, whilst placing Palestinians in unnecessary danger in order to further their own political aims. The common thread of all these atrocities is that they’re carried out in the name of Islam. Killing in the name of any religion is wrong, and we do sometimes hear moderate Muslim voices in the UK telling us that this does not represent their faith, which Im sure it doesn’t. In the last two weeks I’ve engaged with many people about the situation in Israel and Gaza, and another common thread emerges. Many who are campaigning to ‘Free Gaza’, and who are in favour of the creation of a Palestinian State, absolutely refuse to criticise Hamas. Educated and reasonable people literally will not say a bad word about this morally perverse group, and I simply do not understand it. Within those who support the existence of a Jewish state, we hear many different voices. Things aren’t black and white, they’re not mutually exclusive. To those who hate Israel… you can hate Hamas too, it won’t make you a hypocrite, it will just make you slightly more reasonable. There are over 3 million Muslims in the UK, and many more non-Muslims who have been marching to ‘Free Gaza’ in this past month. How incredible would it be if instead of, or even as well as, 100,000 people marching to ‘Free Gaza’ whilst completely ignoring the part Hamas has played in the spiralling and desperate situation of the Palestinian people, we see a march called ‘Not In My Name’, where 100,000 moderate Muslims take to the streets of London denouncing the actions of Boko Haram, IS and Hamas. I would march with them, as would many people of many faiths... it would bring people together and send a message to the world that religious extremism will not be tolerated, in any situation. Why haven’t we seen this? Remember all that is necessary in the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. There are 3 million Muslims in the UK, many many many of them are good people, seemingly doing nothing about this situation. Disparate voices from occasional Muslim commentators simply aren’t enough. We are staring into the face of a clash of civilisations, with Islamic extremists looking to take on those who hold dear the freedom of practising their own religion and the freedom of speech. There are so many groups, councils and other organisations who could have put this march on, but instead all we see are hate fuelled marches, with synagogues on the route advising their congregants to remove anything that identifies them as Jews, and where signs saying ‘Hitler Was Right’ make their way into the crowds. British Muslims, stand together publicly in denouncing extremism and in condemning killing in the name of Islam. Let’s march through London, together.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 07:51:47 +0000
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