Islam

Friday

Martin Bright

What Am I Supposed to Say About This?

It was with great sadness that I left the New Statesman. I always said it was a privilege to work as its political editor. I wish anyone who writes about politics for the New Statesman well. It’s a difficult gig, especially in the present political atmosphere. But Harry’s Place has just published this recording of the magazine’s self-styled Senior Editor (Politics) Mehdi Hasan. The transcript is here: “The kaffar, the disbelievers, the atheists who remain deaf and stubborn to the teachings of Islam, the rational message of the Quran; they are described in the Quran as, quote, “a people of no intelligence”, Allah describes them as; not of no morality,

Wednesday

Martin Bright

The 7/7 Conspiracy Theories Debunked

Last night’s edition of BBC2’s The Conspiracy Files was a fine piece of television. It examined the conspiracy theories surrounding the bombings of July 7 2005 and if you haven’t seen it, watch it again right now. At first I thought it was going to be another piece of gratuitous “what if?” television. But it was so much better than that. By taking the conspiracy theories surrounding the atrocities at face value, the programme makers gave the loons enough rope with which to hang themeslves. The theory that Israelis were somehow warned of the attacks in advance was forensically dismantled and the idea that the bombs were planted under the

Friday

Alex Massie

The Muslim Menace to Our British Nationality. For Real!

Here’s a disturbing report from one of the great institutions of the land: They cannot be assimilated and absorbed into the British race. They remain a people by themselves, segregated by reason of their race, their customs, their traditions and above all by their loyalty to their religion, and are gradually and inevitable dividing Britain, racially, socially and ecclesiastically… Already there is a bitter feeling among the British working classes against the muslim intruders. As the latter increases, and the British people realise the seriousness of the menace to their racial supremacy in their native land, this bitterness will develop into a race antagonism which will have disastrous consequences for

Thursday

Martin Bright

A Very Worrying Development

Harry’s Place reports that Al-Muhajiroun has reformed and it is already returning to its thuggish ways. A debate between Anjem Choudhary and Douglas Murray turned very nasty when a member of the audience insisted on not being segregated and sat with his female friends. Free expression does not equal the right to brutalise those who exercise their choice to sit where they wish, with whoever they wish in a public place. Horrible.

Thursday

Alex Massie

Obama in Cairo

I have no doubt that Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo today will not have gone down well amongst American conservatives. In fact many of them will be appalled by it. How long before someone in the right-wing blogosphere writes something about how terrible, if unsurprising, it was to see an American President protstrate himself in such humiliating fashion. All the right’s worst fears have com to pass! It’s like Jimmy Carter has returned to the White House! And, I guess, you could pull some lines from the speech that made it seem as though Obama was “apologising” for the United States while rarely putting as much emphasis on the sins

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Barack Obama’s Super-Secret Desire to Impose Sharia Law

Melanie Phillips is, of course, correct to point out that Barack Obama’s statement that the US is one of the larger muslim countries in the world is an exaggeration – though also, I would say (though Melanie might not), an understandable one. However she then writes: Just what planet is this US President on? Or is this not a statement but an aspiration? This is intriguing and I’d be interested to learn how the President might make the United States an islamic nation. Surely this was something he should have mentioned on the campaign trail? Clearly, his reticence about this confirms the seriousness of his intent. All the most dangerous

Thursday

Martin Bright

Libel: The New Jihad

Let’s make one thing crystal clear. When I refer to jihad in the headline of this piece, I mean it in the non-violent sense of “holy struggle”, rather than the nastier “holy war” kind. This is an important distinction and I’m happy to make it straight away. You can’t be too careful these days. I waded into serious “dar al-harb” (land of conflict – the Islamic scholars among you will understand) by taking issue with the individuals who signed a letter to the Observer calling on Nick Cohen to find another column to write. Their leader, Sunder Katwala of the Fabian Society, has always insisted that his intention was not to

Tuesday

Martin Bright

When Lefties Fall Out We Do It In Style

Stephen Glover had an interesting take on the row between NIck Cohen and Sunder Katwala, head honcho at the Fabian Society, in his Independent column this week. Just to recap, Nick accused Sunder of being part of the left-wing consensus which failed to recognise the seriousness of the threat of extremist Islam. Sunder then gathered a group of writers and activists together to sign a letter to the Observer suggesting that Nick “needs to find another column to write”, a strangely ambiguous turn of phrase. I agree with Glover when he says the following: “Journalists should not sign letters to newspapers which might possibly be construed as an attempt to have another journalist sacked, and that, whether we agree with him or

Wednesday

Martin Bright

The Left and Radical Islam

There is a part of me that hopes I never have to write another word about the troubled relationship between the British left and radical Islam. But I certainly wouldn’t appreciate being told I could never write about it. This is what I find so mystifying about the campaign by Sunder Katwala, the Fabian Society’s head honcho, to stop Nick Cohen criticising the left for its mealy-mouthed approach to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and its south Asian offshoot Jamaat-i-Islami. He says he finds Nick’s critcism of the Fabians “politically regressive and personally offensive”. So, as a result Sunder has gone on the warpath. I find this very odd. I