The government has been accused of “utterly neglecting” Islamophobia after failing for over two years to produce a definition that can be used to combat anti-Muslim hatred.
A group of MPs and peers called for a working definition to be adopted following a six-month inquiry in 2018, saying the lack of one was allowing Islamophobia to “increase in society to devastating effect”.
The Conservative government rejected the proposals in May 2019 and announced it would commission independent experts to draw up a different definition.
But only one adviser is known to have been appointed and no proposals have ever been published.
Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims, which drew up the 2018 definition, are to raise the issue in parliament on Thursday.
Vice chair Naz Shah told The Independent: “It is astonishing that 845 days on, we are still calling on the government to adopt the APPG definition of Islamophobia.
“The government’s complete and utter neglect on working to accept a definition of Islamophobia highlights how much consideration it gives to tackling the very real form of racism.”
The Labour MP said Islamophobia affected people’s everyday lives and highlighted terror attacks targeting Muslims, including the 2019 mosque shootings in New Zealand.
“We just can not afford an incident like Christchurch to happen in the UK, but while everyday Islamophobia is becoming normalised, the government does not seem to care,” Ms Shah added.
After taking evidence from Muslim organisations, legal experts, academics, MPs and other groups in 2018, the APPG called on the government to use the definition: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
It was adopted by the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the London mayor’s office, but rejected by the Conservative government.
In May 2019, the then communities secretary James Brokenshire said ministers would instead appoint two expert advisers to work on a different definition of Islamophobia.
“To get a firmer grip on the nature of this bigotry and division, we agree there needs to be a formal definition of Islamophobia to help strengthen our efforts,” he said at the time, pledging that the government would “develop an effective definition of Islamophobia which commands widespread support”.
Senior police officers had written to the prime minister with concerns that the definition was too broad and could “undermine many elements of counterterrorism powers and policies”, and critics voiced concern over freedom of speech.
Members of the APPG disagreed and added: “The aim of establishing a working definition of Islamophobia has neither been motivated by, nor is intended to curtail, free speech or criticism of Islam as a religion.”
The group’s report said: “From hate crimes motivated by anti-Muslim feeling, buttressed by stereotypes and racist caricatures prevalent in social and media discourse, to policies which perpetuate discriminatory outcomes for Muslims, a definition of Islamophobia is vital.”
One independent adviser, imam Qari Asim MBE, was appointed in July 2019, but a second adviser was not announced and no proposals have been published.
The row over the definition was noted in a report on Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, which was published in May.
It found that two-thirds of discriminatory incidents reported to the party’s headquarters over six years related to anti-Muslim hatred and warned that “concerns about Islamism should not prevent the party from significantly improving its community outreach efforts into Muslim communities”.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “We have always been clear that this government does not, and will not, tolerate anti-Muslim hatred in any form and will continue to combat such discrimination and intolerance.
“We’re working to agree a robust definition of Islamophobia and it’s important to take the time to get this right – the one proposed by the APPG is not acceptable as it would have severe consequences for freedom of speech.”
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Telling the truth is not islamophobia. For example:
Here is MBS, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia denouncing the Hadiths and most of the Qur'an as foolish and asking for both to be revised and re-written!
He also calls for all the present hadiths and qu'ran to be destroyed. He adds that only the single New hadiths should be accepted for teaching and the New qu'ran adopted as Holy!.
What next? The abolition of Islam?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=olLDPeVlkco&feature=youtu.be
With due respect Sir, when one looks at Islamophobe, the role played by Muslims themselves especially the teachings of some of their Leaders, in provoking people, cannot and SHOULD NOT be ignored. For there in lies the main cause for ISLAMOPHOBE!
FALSE CLAIMS BY THE QUR'AN AND IT'S DIVISIVE MESSAGES ARE ALSO UNHELPFUL.
Here are EXAMPLES! What Muslim Leaders Say about Islam
This list should disabuse any notion that the incessant intolerance, hatred, and even violence against non-Muslims is “fringe.” This is not just a small group of “radicals.” This is Islam, plain and simple. The leaders quoted below are hugely popular, even famous mainstream leaders in the Islamic world. For each quote, I’ve provided an online source. Let’s begin:
ALI GOMAA
Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt, the highest Muslim religious authority in the world, supports murdering non-Muslims. In the daily Al Ahram (April 7, 2008), he said, “Muslims must kill non-believers wherever they are unless they convert to Islam.” He also compares non-Muslims to apes and pigs.
MUHAMMAD SAYYID AL TANTAWI
Muhammad Sayyid Al Tantawi, president of Al Azhar University (the most prominent and authoritative institute of Islamic jurisprudence in the world) also approves of killing and maiming Christians, Jews, and other infidels. He added, “This is not my personal view. This what the Shari’a Law says, the law of Allah, the only valid law on the earth.”
SYED ABUL ALA MAUDUDI
Syed Abul Ala Maududi, founder of the Pakistani political party Jamaat-e-Islami, said non-Muslims have “absolutely no right to seize the reins of power in any part of God’s earth nor to direct the collective affairs of human beings according to their own misconceived doctrines.” If they do, “the believers would be under an obligation to do their utmost to dislodge them from political power and to make them live in subservience to the Islamic way of life.”
SHEIK ABDULLAH BIN MUHAMMAD BIN HUMAID
The Chief Justice of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh abdullah bin Muhammad bin Humaid teaches that “at first fighting was forbidden, then it was permitted, and after that it was made obligatory.” He clearly identifies two groups Muslims are obligated to fight: “(1) they who start fighting against Muslims, and (2) they who worship gods other than Allah.”
The most prominent Muslim scholar of the 20th century, Sheikh Abu Ala Maududi, stated in his book, Islamic Law and Constitution, on p. 262, that the Islamic State “seeks to mould every aspect of life and activity. In such a state no one can regard any field of his affairs as personal and private. Considered from this aspect the Islamic State bears a kind of resemblance to the Fascist and Communist states.” Maududi added “Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam.”
HASAN AL_ BANNA
Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (the largest international Islamic organization in the world) wrote, “Islam is an all-embracing concept which regulates every aspect of life, adjudicating on every one of its concerns and prescribing for it a solid and rigorous order.” Hasan al-Banna acknowledged there are many levels of jihad, including mere “interior spiritual struggle,” which he deemed the lowest level. According to al-Banna, waging warfare against the infidels is the highest expression of fidelity.
Hasan al-Banna also wrote, “it is a duty incumbent on every Muslim to struggle towards the aim of making every people Muslim and the whole world Islamic, so that the banner of Islam can flutter over the earth and the call of the Muezzin can resound in all the corners of the world.” Now remember, this is the founder of the largest international Muslim organization in the world. Source: Robert Spencer’s book, Stealth Jihad.
Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed al Sheikh said on Iqra’ TV channel, “Killing producers who show women unveiled is legal.” Source
SHEIK SALEH AL-LEHADAN
The Saudi Sheikh Saleh Al-Lehadan, head of the Supreme Judiciary Council, told Al Watan Daily, (March 25, 2008) “After getting rid of the Jews in our Arab land, we must turn to the Christians. They have three options: either they convert to Islam, or leave, or pay Jizia (protection taxes).”
Late Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi says: “There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe without swords, without guns, without conquest. We don’t need terrorists, we don’t need homicide bombers. The 50+ million Muslims [in Europe] will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.”
The modernist versions of Islam (Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat e Islami, Milli Gorus, the Deobandi, the Taliban, A.R. Khomeini, the Wahhabi sect) promote an extremist version of Islam that is gaining the hearts ad minds of a whole generation. This modern Islam is very active in the so-called anti-Islamophobia campaign. For instance, the European report on Islamophobia is elaborated by a Turkish think tank close to Erdogan.
Check how many Muslim countries have passed legislation against civil rights and religious freedom in the last three decades.
Islamophobia is an excuse to blame non-Muslims for their economic failure. Kemalism failed because of the persecution of minorities: Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Shia Muslims. Pan-Arabism failed for similar reasons. Islamism thus far has only produced authoritarian regimes. Turkey is an interesting case because it combined the late success of Kemalism industrialisation and secularism, with new religious populism while being a member of NATO. Well, Nazi Germany also experienced an economic boom before its doom. Let's see how the war in Ukraine will develop, as Turkey is eager to turn it into a new jihad war at a profit.