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The Sex Education Issue

By Guest | Published: August 5, 2009

This is a guest post by Ibn Khaldun

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A lot has recently been made (particularly in Muslim circles) of the idea that the government is attempting to introduce sex education to 5 year olds. Some Muslim parents are up in arms at the idea of their children being taught about sex at the age of five. Islamist groups have also jumped on the bandwagon, spotting an opportunity to spread their propaganda to unwitting Muslim parents. But what is the truth?

Firstly, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has yet to approve any plans, i.e. it is merely being discussed.

Secondly, it is not about ‘sex education’ but rather ‘relationship lessons’, which are a part of a wider initiative to promote Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE).

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Also posted in Islamism, Politics, UK Politics | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Defend the Life of Dr Sayyid al-Qimni

By Guest | Published: August 4, 2009

This is a guest post by David T of Harry’s Place

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Dr Sayyid al-Qimni is a remarkable Egyptian political theorist who started off as a pan-Arabist and Nasserite, and ended up an Egyptian liberal.

It should be a source of shame to us, as fellow liberals and progressives, that his name is not more widely known. His face should be beaming down from posters in Universities and his ideas hotly debated on the European Left. But, instead, he is largely unknown here. He doesn’t even appear to have a Wikipedia page.

Qimni became a controversial figure in Egypt, when he gave an interview in which he expressed the following views:

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Also posted in Freedom of Expression, Secularism | Tagged , | 6 Comments

The Realities of Islamist Rule

By Guest | Published: July 30, 2009

This is a guest post by Bravo56

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Since returning from Baghdad in 2008 I have been amazed to see how Islamist groups have gained such popularity and standing among Muslims in the UK. The Middle Eastern “Islamic” states for over a decade have lived with their ethos and agenda that have failed morally, ethically and practically. How is it that intelligent students, communication-savvy youngsters are so easily radicalised by Islamist preachers who have turned Islam into merely a political code? Why is it not clear to them that Wahabi-inspired Islamists have done nothing but incite and applaud outrageous acts of violence and mayhem that have crippled Muslim majority nations throughout the world?

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Also posted in International Affairs, Islamism, Terrorism | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Our selective moral outrage is shameful

By Guest | Published: July 27, 2009

This is a guest-post by Ibn Khaldun

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Muslims living in Britain and around the world are often outraged when Muslims are killed or Muslim holy sites attacked. This is a normal and often admirable reaction. However, I am increasingly frustrated that this moral outrage is often highly selective and is only ignited when it is non-Muslims who are doing the killing and attacking.

In the mid-90s, I remember the outrage amongst Muslims in Britain when the Bosnia tragedy was unfolding. There were street protests, leaflet campaigns, conferences and a great deal of activism and mobilisation against the war. Muslims were equally vocal about the war in Chechnya and yet there was total silence about the simultaneous events in East Timor. Here we had Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim country – organising and arming militias to conduct an armed campaign which left 1400 dead and made 300,000 into refugees. This followed a 24 year occupation by Indonesia in which an estimated 102,800 died. Did the fact that this time it was Muslims doing the killing make a difference?

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Also posted in Antisemitism, Human Rights, Identity Politics, Moral relativism | 4 Comments

What Inayat Said

By Guest | Published: July 24, 2009

This is a cross-post from the Hitchens-Maher ‘Focus on Islamism’ blog.

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The government has announced it will be conducting a major review into ‘Prevent’, one of the pillars of its overall counter-terrorism strategy known as ‘Contest’. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will be setting up a Committee to examine:

[...] the effectiveness of the ‘Prevent’ programme to date, and its likely effectiveness in the future, with particular reference to the following questions:

  • Is the Prevent programme the right way of addressing the problem of violent extremism, or are there better ways of doing it?
  • How robust is the Government’s analysis of the factors which lead people to become involved in violent extremism? Is the ‘Prevent’ programme appropriately targeted to address the most important of those factors?
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Also posted in PVE | 6 Comments

Islamic Forum Europe blogger misunderstands secularism

By Guest | Published: July 24, 2009

This is a guest post by al-Qanaas al-Masri

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Last week, a blogger on the website of Islamic Forum Europe, a Jamaat-e-Islami front organisation based in East London, weighed into the debate about the ethics of assisted suicide. Unfortunately the writer, one Nahid Mortuza, only showed succeeded in showing themselves hopelessly confused about what secularism is. Mortuza wrote:

“The news of Sir Edward Downes’ and his wife’s decision to end their lives at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland has once more brought forward a discussion on whether an individual should have the freedom and right to die at a time of their choosing, with assistance from others. Although I disagree with the notion, I understand the basis of the argument that the right to die should be as fundamental as the right to live.

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Also posted in Secularism | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Alaa al-Aswany is wrong to accuse the West of double standards

By Guest | Published: July 23, 2009

This is a guest post by Shiraz Maher from the Hitchens-Maher ‘Focus on Islamism’ blog.

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Alaa al-Aswany is a good novelist. I enjoyed the Yacoubian building, a clever and witty exposition of Egypt after the rise of Nasser. Aswany’s writing has sensitively chronicled modern Egypt ever since. All this makes his paranoid ramblings in the Guardian on Monday even more disappointing.

He argues the West is inherently hostile to Islam, fuelled by a series of double standards and inconsistencies. Unfortunately, the arguments he offers are little more than straw men.

For example, Aswany writes:

Elections recently took place in Iran and the winner was President Ahmadinejad. But there were allegations of vote-rigging. Western governments were up in arms, issuing strongly worded statements in support of democracy in Iran.

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Also posted in Anti Muslim bigotry, Democracy | 2 Comments

What Muslim Women Want

By Guest | Published: July 17, 2009

This is a guest post by Lucy James, a research fellow at Quilliam

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South Asian Muslim women are the most economically disadvantaged group in terms of religion, ethnicity and gender in the UK today. A recent poll of unemployed South Asian Muslim women showed that not only are they disadvantaged, but that they are misunderstood and not being given sufficient support in order to break a cycle that, given the chance, will transmit similar attitudes on to future generations. The poll— published in Quilliam’s latest report Immigrant, Muslim, Female: Triple Paralysis [pdf]— established what these Muslim women want: they want to work. Over 600 women were interviewed, 57% of which said that they wanted a paid job. This figure is really positive. Although 39% said that they didn’t want to work, many of these women may have said so because of a lack of confidence rather than as a downright refusal to work.

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Also posted in Feature, Identity Politics, UK Politics | Tagged , | 10 Comments

The Islamo-Stalinist (Part II)

By Guest | Published: July 16, 2009

This is a guest post by Raziq

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Taqiuddin al-Nabhani (Founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir)

Taqiuddin al-Nabhani (Founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir)

This is not your average granddad who has just been dragged away from his game of chess.  This is a rare picture of the great Mujtahid Mutlaq Sheikh Taqiuddin al-Nabhani.

Despite his medieval political outlook, as we can see from the picture, Nabhani obviously liked wearing ‘Western’ suits. He was also quite progressive in other matters.  For example he allowed looking at pornography, touching the opposite sex and even kissing girls. However, these opinions did not help his group wherever they came into contact with regular Muslims; many were outraged by his opinions. Politically his group suffered even worse.

In my previous article I highlighted his links with Arab nationalism and Ba’athism, here we will examine his links with other twentieth century political ideologies.

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Also posted in Islamism, Politics | Tagged , | 24 Comments

The BNP and the Online Fascist Network

By Guest | Published: July 14, 2009

This is a cross-post of an article by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens from his blog.

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Yesterday, the Centre for Social Cohesion released its latest report ‘The BNP and the Online Fascist Network’.  Authored by Edmund Standing, it is an investigation into the BNP’s online support network which includes blogs of official members and activists and official BNP YouTube accounts.  The full report can be downloaded by clicking here.

The main purpose of this investigation was to challenge the BNP’s assertions that they have moderated.  In the run up to the European elections Griffin has engaged in something of a clean up operation, attempting to distance the party from its racist neo-Nazi past.  The small success they have enjoyed is a testament to the success of this programme.

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Also posted in Anti Fascism | 3 Comments

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