Letter to BBC, after they've repeatedly replayed the good Lady's complaints. I felt like, "enough, already".... I know they won't read this one out; it's more along the lines of hoping some of their sub-editors may read it and consider some of its points.
Baroness Warsi complains (20 Jan) that "anti-Muslim prejudice is seen as normal". 'Prejudice' means to pre judge from ME, from OF, from Latin, praejudicium, from prae 'in advance' + judicium 'judgement'.
In my case, concern about Islam did not arise from "judgement in advance", but from study of the basic documents of the ideology of Islam.
I still remember, some time after 9/11, reading my first copy of the Koran, the Dawood Penguin edition. I still remember the hair standing up at the back of my neck, as I thought " if this is what we're dealing with, we've got a real problem".
I've since read a lot more about Islam, and the Koran in a couple of other translations; there's nothing, nothing, to suggest that the problem is not just as real and as great as I first thought on closing the last pages of the Koran.
So, when baroness Warsi talks of "prejudice" she does we critics an injustice, for we've studied the documents of Islam and our concerns flow directly from that study, not from pre-judging.
The baroness goes on:
And what's this about not dividing Muslims into "moderates and extremists"? Isn't that done by the Islam apologists, to try to show that it's just a "small minority of extremists" who are doing damage to Islam? Does she suggest that all Muslims are basically the same? In which case, are they all orthodox, all to follow the letter of Islamic law and all its draconian, hateful and bigoted tenets?
I don't get it.
Postscript: just after sending this, I hear on BBC radio that an imam in the UK is saying Muslims should not join the armed forces or the police. Not because they're peaceniks, mind, but because they are expected to swear allegiance to the Queen (and Muslims can only pay allegiance to Muhammad/Allah -- in that order, btw). "Why do we have to pledge allegiance to the Queen?" he asks. Well my friend, because that's what the police and armed forces are there to do, to protect the public and the State and the Queen is the Head of State. Do we think that sentiments such as those of this imam will help to dispel the "Islamophobia" of which Lady Warsi complains? Is in not fair to expect some respect for the laws of the UK in return for the respect which Warsi craves?
Baroness Warsi complains (20 Jan) that "anti-Muslim prejudice is seen as normal". 'Prejudice' means to pre judge from ME, from OF, from Latin, praejudicium, from prae 'in advance' + judicium 'judgement'.
In my case, concern about Islam did not arise from "judgement in advance", but from study of the basic documents of the ideology of Islam.
I still remember, some time after 9/11, reading my first copy of the Koran, the Dawood Penguin edition. I still remember the hair standing up at the back of my neck, as I thought " if this is what we're dealing with, we've got a real problem".
I've since read a lot more about Islam, and the Koran in a couple of other translations; there's nothing, nothing, to suggest that the problem is not just as real and as great as I first thought on closing the last pages of the Koran.
So, when baroness Warsi talks of "prejudice" she does we critics an injustice, for we've studied the documents of Islam and our concerns flow directly from that study, not from pre-judging.
The baroness goes on:
[She] will say anti-Muslim prejudice is now seen by many Britons as normal and uncontroversial, and she will use her position to fight an "ongoing battle against bigotry".“On-going battle against bigotry”: Well, why doesn't she fight the bigotry in Islam: its clear and unequivocal downgrading of the status women, its hatred of non-Muslims, especially Christians and Jews, its intolerance of all non-Islamic worldviews, its hatred of bida, or innovation, its hostility to freedom and democracy. Wouldn't fighting these make rather more sense, if she wants to fight bigotry? Wouldn't fighting these go some way to reducing the alleged "Islamophobia" of the critics of Islam?
And what's this about not dividing Muslims into "moderates and extremists"? Isn't that done by the Islam apologists, to try to show that it's just a "small minority of extremists" who are doing damage to Islam? Does she suggest that all Muslims are basically the same? In which case, are they all orthodox, all to follow the letter of Islamic law and all its draconian, hateful and bigoted tenets?
I don't get it.
Postscript: just after sending this, I hear on BBC radio that an imam in the UK is saying Muslims should not join the armed forces or the police. Not because they're peaceniks, mind, but because they are expected to swear allegiance to the Queen (and Muslims can only pay allegiance to Muhammad/Allah -- in that order, btw). "Why do we have to pledge allegiance to the Queen?" he asks. Well my friend, because that's what the police and armed forces are there to do, to protect the public and the State and the Queen is the Head of State. Do we think that sentiments such as those of this imam will help to dispel the "Islamophobia" of which Lady Warsi complains? Is in not fair to expect some respect for the laws of the UK in return for the respect which Warsi craves?
