A threat to the world

19 August 2006

Stephen Schwartz, who has travelled the world studying the faith to which he converted, says that Britain has allowed doctrinal poison imported from Pakistan to flourish here as nowhere else. We must act, or face terrible consequences

This constellation of crime is backed by senior officers in the Pakistani army, the country’s ISI intelligence establishment and other armed bodies of the state. And the entire system is imported to every country where Pakistani Sunnis reside. Whether in Britain, the US, Canada or elsewhere, these zealots silence moderates through slander and intimidation, stir militancy and intrigue against their most hated enemies: Shia Muslims first, then Jews and, of course, Christians.

It may be impossible for General Musharraf to rid his country of jihadist violence. But Britain need not and must not permit Pakistani religious gangsters to continue their control of British Islam. Britain should require that Muslim clerics be at least trained and certified in Europe, if not in Britain, according to a classical, anti-radical Muslim curriculum that reinforces loyalty to the legitimate authorities. Britain should not, out of fear of the accusation of racism, refrain from investigating jihadism in mosques on British soil. The authorities should take the time to identify and support authentic Muslim moderates, and not be satisfied with schemes turned out on the hoof at ministerial meetings, which involve recruiting ringers for the radicals to play at reform. The alternative to such a programme of action is to encourage the jihadist assault on Britain, and further use of Britain as a base against America and the world.

Stephen Schwartz, author of The Two Faces of Islam, may be contacted at www.islamicpluralism.org.