Post by Iftikhar on Feb 13, 2006 12:31:13 GMT -5
The Good Guys v The Bad Guys
London bombing is nothing to do with the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Times; it is the consequence of extremist views “disseminated” in Masajid by ill –educated Imams, brought over from villages in Pakistan, unable to speak English and ill-equipped to guide young Muslims in a Western society. It is absurd to think that Muslim clergy is the major source of hatred for the West. Anne Cryer, British Member of Parliament – posited a “direct connection” between difficulties in learning English, arranged marriages, and the acute poverty in British Muslim community. Margaret Hodge MP suggests that Muslim schools which shun pupils from other religions should be closed down and immigrants are required to learn English. The way she says it, is yet another example of the Government’s insensitive and careless approach to integration. Muslim schools promote tolerance, self respect and respect for each other. They provide a high quality of academic education, which encouraging students to reach their full potential as tolerant, outward-looking members of a good society.
David Blanket MP urged Asian families to speak English at home and refrain from speaking their mother tongues in order to overcome what he called “schizophrenic rifts between generations of families”. He also urged Imams to begin addressing their congregations in English rather than in Arabic or Urdu. It is blatantly racist belief that Muslim languages like Arabic or Urdu are somehow inherently programmed to promote a militant Islamic mindset that have a special dislocating effect on young Muslim men and which can only then be corrected by greater exposure to English. It is always the good guys who speak English and it’s mostly the bad guys who speak Arabic or Urdu. West must overcome its “unthinkable prejudices” about Islam and its customs and laws. In the West since Crusade, Islam is promoted as uniquely evil, or uniquely backward. The Netherlands is likely to become the first country in Europe to ban the Burka. In the United Kingdom, a Christian organization is trying to ban the sale of the book of the Holly Quran, because it preaches hate. Newspapers across Europe published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that have inflamed the Muslim World. It is obviously an offensive and provocative anti-Muslim action.
Turkophobia and Islamophobia are common every where in the West. The divide between the Christians and Muslim worlds will grow even wider if Turkey is not brought into the EU. Muslims are bilingual or trilingual. The young generation must learn mother tongues; otherwise, they will behave like notoriously monolingual Britis. Muslims do not believe in Clash of Civilisation .They believe in the Dialogue of Civilisation. Now the President of the United States is urging his fellow Americans to learn the languages and cultures of Muslim countries.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk