Posted on 01/30/2007 7:22:18 PM PST by blam
Cameron attacks Muslim hardliners
By Graeme Wilson, Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:12am GMT 31/01/2007
David Cameron yesterday endorsed a new Conservative report which condemned the "hardline" views of the Muslim Council of Britain and other Islamic groups.
The Conservative leader argued that the Government must not bow to the "loudest voices" in the Muslim community when he attended the launch of the report by his national and international security policy group.
He went on to argue that extremists had to be confronted to drain the "sea" in which terrorist groups can swim.
The report, Uniting the Country, singled out the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), widely seen as the mainstream voice of Muslims in the UK, for allowing "hardline members... to dominate policy and crowd out more moderate voices."
The Tory policy group, chaired by Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, the former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, also challenged the MCB's approval of extremist clerics like Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who supports the death penalty for gays, as well as its failure to participate in Holocaust Memorial Day.
Mr Cameron said: "Policy makers should stop assuming that the loudest voices and the most organised elements within the Muslim community necessarily represent the Muslim population as a whole.
"There's a danger that groups with agendas aimed at separation rather than integration are deferred to when they should be challenged."
The charge drew a stinging response from Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, the MCB's secretary general, who accused the Tory leader of surrounding himself with "rabid" and "ill-informed" advisers.
However, Dame Pauline said the scale of the challenge facing the country had been illustrated by a survey this week which showed that young Muslims are adopting increasingly fundamentalist views on a whole range of political and social issues.
Her report spelt out how many British Muslims feel alienated from mainstream British society, a problem made worse by low educational attainment and the pernicious influence of extremists.
The report challenged the MCB over its approval of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an extremist cleric who believes all Muslims should live under Sharia law, and that wives should be their husbands' subjects. Similar criticisms were levelled against other groups, including the Islamic Society of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain.
Mr Cameron said one of the most important ways to improve the integration of Muslims was to ensure inner-city schools provided a decent education. Women needed equal access to education and jobs too.
However, the MCB rejected the criticism, with Dr Bari voicing dismay at Mr Cameron's intervention. Dr Bari condemned the report's "ill-informed attack" on Muslim groups, adding that the Tory leader's reference to "uncontrolled immigration" this week was equally unhelpful.
"Mr Cameron places at par the BNP and those Muslims who seek a Sharia state in Britain. The MCB finds this equivalence unreal given the participation of one in mainstream British political life, and the latter's restriction to the outer fringes of Muslim conversation," he said.
"The politest comment we can make is that David Cameron's choice of advisers seem to be motivated by the rabid, though discredited, form of neo-conservatism emanating from the other side of the Atlantic and their alarmist 'Eurabia' thesis.
"The MCB has regularly advocated to the community that with rights comes responsibilities. It has been unremitting in its active condemnation of extremism with a plea to British Muslims to fulfil their Islamic obligations and reach out to fellow Britons."
The key points
Education
The report says that the easiest way to improve integration is to improve inner-city schools. For many families, Islamic faith schools are seen as a better alternative to failing comprehensives. History should teach children about the "various peoples who now inhabit these islands".
Imams
British Muslims voice concern that foreign imams are playing such a pivotal role in many mosques. The report calls for tougher controls on them.
Women
Muslim groups should give women a more prominent role in their leadership. Forced marriages are still a major problem.
British identity
A command of English is an "essential element in competent citizenship". The Queen's birthday should be our equivalent of a National Day. There should be an Asian version of the Notting Hill carnival, such as a Brick Lane festival.
I wish him luck.
I wish us luck. I am currently perusing the website of the Islamic Society of Fargo-Moorhead.
Check out this page. They are almost "there" raising $ for a mosque. Look at the list of potential services.
http://www.islamnd.org/main.php
yep
I could only find one current poster from North Dakota.
I represent that remark!
Proud member of The Frozen Chosen up here on the tundra, where all round the home, the goyim do roam, and the deer and the antelope play!
AIPAC member, and highly sensitive antenae for Islamofascism.
Fully public Freeper with nerve and credentials in Fargo.
Gotta project?
Not sure, Brad. I remember our last conversation. ;)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1711651/posts?page=35#35
D'oh! I was hoping this was either James Cameron, or the chick from House...
Yeah, well, whatever. If there is a legitimate beef to be had, I'm in. If its an illegitimate witch hunt, count me out.
I'm a watcher. This group uses Deedat's teachings. A radical. I have his original booklets printed eons ago.
BTW, here...I haven't read these yet. Read at your leisure, if you wish to ay all.
http://www.aswatalislam.net/DisplayFilesP.aspx?TitleID=50016
ay=at
Radical islam will not stay at the same level. It will get either get more and more violent or dwindle. The only ones who can rein in radical islam are the moderates. No one else can do it.
If you can show me a good link from the Mosque to radical teaching, I can get local press on it. The FOX News affiliate New Director is a friend.
And, I could smoke out that lady who claimed to be a moderate. She could either disavow and call out the radicals, or be shown a hypocrite.
Whatcha got?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.