In its infinite wisdom, the Labour government appears to be reconsidering the introduction of a blasphemy law in the UK. It has picked up this idea despite it being so idiotic that it was even rejected by the last Conservative government.
That well-known theologian Angela Rayner has decided to set up a council to look into the question of ‘Islamophobia’. As mentioned, there was a push to do this during the Conservative era, when a committee including some of the worst people then in public life – Dominic Grieve, Naz Shah, Anna Soubry – looked into the same thing.
Their scholarship foundered, as it always will, on how you protect Muslims without simply protecting the feelings of Muslims. Because for some Muslims, what they ‘feel’ and what ‘is’ are one and the same thing – to say a thing is offensive is to deem it so – and there is much that may offend them. Allow me to cite just a few examples from recent weeks that might signify the problem.
Until recently, there was a rather brave Iraqi refugee who had found sanctuary in Scandinavia. Unlike many Iraqis who have found sanctuary in northern Europe, Salwan Momika, a Christian turned atheist, was not a fan of Islam’s holy book. In fact, he seemed to feel that the Quran and attempts to implement its teachings into governance was one of the things that had wrecked his country of birth; and so in 2023 he decided to burn a copy in Stockholm. He went on to burn more copies at public demonstrations.
Mr Momika was a man of flair as well as conviction. He had a penchant for lighting up a cigar at the same time as he lit up a Quran and these displays brought him a certain notoriety, as well as negative attention. In August 2023 alone he was charged in the Swedish courts on four occasions with ‘agitation against an ethnic group’. Last month he was livestreaming from an apartment in Södertälje when a group of armed men came in and shot him live on air.
The idea of a blasphemy law is so idiotic that it was even rejected by
the last Conservative government
This is the moment when many modern westerners might look away. Who are we to say? On the one hand, Mr Momika was clearly a provocateur. On the other, he was also asserting a right that Europeans used to hold dear: the right to be able to have a view and express it. Besides, since when was being a provocateur a bad thing – let alone deserving of a death sentence?
Sadly, Mr Momika overestimated the tolerance limits of modern Europe for free expression when it comes to the question of Islam. For while his burning of a Bible would have passed without incident – indeed would doubtless have been defended as a right by all the deracinated churches of Sweden – the people who shot him clearly saw things differently.
So the trouble that could not be addressed in the Swedish courts was addressed by an armed gang instead. That that appears to be a feature of 21st-century Europe.
Last week, an incident took place in London when a man is alleged to have burned a Quran, this time outside the Turkish embassy in London. Another man is alleged to have promptly attacked him while holding a knife. Both men have been charged, though the alleged Quran-burner was first remanded in custody before being released on conditional bail.
By now anyone with a sense of awareness, or even merely the survival instincts of the species, has probably worked out the rules. You may march through the centre of London or Stockholm week after week supporting groups that want to annihilate the Jewish race – but don’t get caught upsetting Muslims. These are the rules of the game and everyone knows it.
Which is why it also came as a non-news news story this week when we learned of the killing of Muhsin Hendricks of South Africa, a 57-year-old gay imam. He was certainly not the only gay imam in the world, but he was the first one to be openly gay. That on its own caused a certain amount of comment. Indeed, he often said in recent years that his life was in peril. He was one of those brave, fascinating and forsaken figures of the modern age who said at one and the same time that Islam is a peaceful religion and that he lived in constant fear for his life.
His life was ended last Saturday, a short while after he had officiated a wedding ceremony between two lesbians. A pair of men approached his car in broad daylight and shot him dead.
You might say that ‘gay imam murdered’ is an unsurprising story. As unsurprising as ‘Quran-burner shot during livestream’. Except that it should be surprising, really, shouldn’t it? After all, the rules of the game are either on the terms of the men of violence,or they are on the terms of the countries they are in. And if the terms of the country they are in say it is still illegal to shoot or stab people, then you might ask why it is so easy for these vulnerable targets to be picked off one by one?
Doubtless Rayner’s Islamophobia council will be able to get to the bottom of all this – there is nothing I am aware of that the woman cannot do. But while her council of experts looks into how to protect the feelings of Muslims, perhaps they could also look into how to protect the sensitivities of others? Iraqi refugees and gay imams included.
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