Nothing Democratic about the IFE

Current defenders of the IFE peddle the line that is merely an organisation of ordinary Muslims involved with democratic engagement with the British polity. One such defender, for example, is their fellow-Mawdudist, Bunglawala:

For a number of years now, British Muslims have been told that they must all eschew terrorism and instead seek to influence policy through the process of democratic engagement. In Tower Hamlets we have seen young people – particularly following the deeply unpopular war against Iraq – seeking to do just that and join the local political parties including George Galloway’s Respect party. And instead of being commended for this they get smeared as being “entryists” by people like Fitzpatrick. Of course, Fitzpatrick’s bitterness would have nothing whatsoever to do with the fact – not mentioned by Gilligan – that he is up against George Galloway in the upcoming general election and his majority of 8000 might not be enough to save him – just as the pro-war Oona King’s 10000+ majority failed to save her in 2005.

But this is a hopeless lie, as Andrew Gilligan points out. There is nothing democratic about the ultimate goals of the IFE.

First of all there is in their training literature, the necessity for their activists to buy into the doctrinal struggle for iqamatud-Deen – establishment of an Islamic social, economic and political order.

Such as, for instance, the transcript of a 2009 recruit training course where the organisation tells its new members: “Our goal is not simply to invite people and give da’wah [call to the faith]. Our goal is to create the True Believer, to then mobilise those believers into an organised force for change who will carry out da’wah, hisbah [enforcement of Islamic law] and jihad [struggle]. This will lead to social change and iqamatud-Deen [an Islamic social, economic and political order].”

Then there is the call to dedicate one’s life to the creation of the Khilafah. Not exactly an institution built on democratic principles.

Or the leaflet where the IFE tells us that it is dedicated to changing the “very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed … from ignorance to Islam.” Or the document where the IFE says it “strives for the establishment of a global [my italics] society, the Khilafah … comprised of individuals who live by the principles of … the Shari’ah.” The IFE’s “primary work” to create this state, the document goes on, “is in Europe [my italics] because it is this continent, despite all the furore about its achievements, which has a moral and spiritual vacuum.”

And finally, there is IFE’s resident Awlaki-lover, Azad Ali, community affairs coordinator, caught on camera categorically dismissing democracy in favour of sharia:

“Democracy, if it means at the expense of not implementing the sharia, of course no one agrees with that”

Wrong. Most Muslims in Tower Hamlets agrees with that and would rather have democracy than sharia. That is why they choose to live in this country. That is why Jamaat-e-Islam suffered a resounding defeat in democratic elections held in 2008 in Bangladesh, when the choice between secular democracy and Islamist theocracy was put to 130 million people. The IFE have learnt well from that lesson.

They know that no electorate will accept sharia or iqamatud-Deen when it is presented with a choice. If asked to take it or leave it, Muslims will leave it, in droves. But the IFE are fully aware of this, which is why they employ dishonesty and deceit by the bucketload:

The IFE’s deceit is borne of necessity. For all their claims that any attack on them is an attack on Islam itself, they know that their support among Muslims is small – as shown in our documentary, where Muslim Londoner after Muslim Londoner lined up to express their outrage at the IFE’s presumptuousness as much as at its views. The fact that fully 70% of our interviewees were Muslim should answer any charge that this was an “Islamophobic” programme.