Ismail Patel: British Muslims are bewildered and
scared
It is easy for a Muslim in 2004 to relate to the pain
of the Jews in early 20th-century Britain
05 August 2004

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=547978

The arrest of 13 suspects on terrorist charges on
Tuesday highlights the precarious position in which
the majority of British Muslims find themselves. The
wider Muslim community is struggling to integrate into
mainstream British life, but the public spotlight
always seems to shine on the extremists. The result is
a dangerous upsurge in Islamophobia.

British Muslims today find themselves caught between a
rock and a hard place. They are told to integrate, but
when they do, via active political participation, they
are informed that the "Muslim vote" poses a threat to
democracy. Labour's flirtation with Muslims during
elections is disingenuous. Sometimes the Prime
Minister can be heard praising the Koran to win
support from Muslims, but he is also happy to unleash
his crusader-like Home Secretary, David Blunkett, when
he feels the need to appeal to popular prejudices.

Mr Blunkett has gone to great lengths to convince us
that the root cause of social disharmony is the
failure of immigrants - a euphemism for Muslims - to
accept "British ways" and demonstrate their
"Englishness". British and English seem to be
interchangeable in this context - much to the
annoyance of Scottish and Welsh Muslims and
non-Muslims.

The efforts made by British Muslims to integrate
always appear to fall short of Mr Blunkett's
"citizenship requirements". What is more, any moves
Muslims make towards integration provokes the ire of
the neo-fascist element in society. There have been
numerous manifestations of this in the media, in this
country and America.

The director of the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organisations, Malcolm Hoenlein, in an
interview with an Israeli newspaper, expressed
sentiments that are echoed by our home-grown
right-wingers. "Europe is the current Muslim
battlefield, but America is their ultimate goal,"
claimed Mr Hoenlein. Writing in The Sunday Telegraph,
someone going under the name of Will Cummins clearly
thinks along the same lines. Mr Cummins warned us
recently about "Muslim foreigners who have forced
themselves on us", and was extremely distressed at the
political engagement of the Muslim community in last
month's Leicester South by-election.

In 2002, after another Blunkett rap on the knuckles
for Muslims, the BNP announced that the Home
Secretary's "attempt to steal the BNP's clothes will
help us win seats!" They went on to quote him, to
their own advantage, in election leaflets. Mr
Blunkett's rhetoric about Muslims engaging in forced
marriages is directly related to Cummins' claim that
"all Muslims, like all dogs, share certain
characteristics". In Washington, Jackie Mason, a talk
show host on the nation's largest radio network,
called "the whole Muslim religion" a "murderous
organisation" that teaches "hate, terrorism and
murder".

This onslaught from both the political left and right
has left many Muslims in this country bewildered and
scared. This is reflected in America where a recent
poll showed that 60 per cent of Muslims in the US live
in fear for the future of their children.

This is where the paradox arises. Go back 100 years
and look at the disgusting abuse and hateful rhetoric
heaped upon the Jewish community. It is easy for a
Muslim in 2004 to relate to the pain of the Jews in
early 20th-century Britain. Seeking to escape the
pogroms of eastern Europe, the Jews were lambasted by
the British media. Mirroring what is being said about
Muslims today, the Jews were accused of being
parasitic, a threat to the British way of life and a
danger to the nation's security. As the East London
Advertiser put it in May 1889: "People of any other
nation, after being in England for only a short time,
assimilate themselves with the native race, and, by
and by, lose nearly all of their foreign trace. But
the Jews never do. A Jew is always a Jew."

Despite such hatred, the Jewish community today boasts
the Leader of the Opposition and nearly 50 Jewish MPs
in Parliament. They have influence across society at
all levels, and no one today would dare to repeat the
race libels that persisted into the Thirties in
newspapers such as the Daily Mail. If the Muslims are
moving towards similar integration - and all
indications are that they are, slowly but surely -
then they need to take a leaf out of British Jews'
history.

Last week, a front-page article in The Times was
headlined "Islamic colleges in Britain linked to
terrorists", and sought to "enlighten" readers about
two of the most prestigious Islamic academic
institutes in Britain. Despite the outrageous claim in
the headline, there was no credible proof or evidence
of such links. It was malevolent mud-slinging at its
worst. But what it illustrates is that success by
Muslims in any field - even academia - is feared.

Muslims do not need to engage in a jihad in foreign
fields. There is a battle at home for the hearts and
minds of the people of this country, which we are
proud to call home. The jihad is for Muslims to be
accepted as equals. No more, no less.

The writer is the chairman of a Leicester-based human
rights organisation






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