How do you react to the news – the result of a major BBC survey - that 11 per cent of British Muslims sympathise with fighting against the West? That 20 per cent of them believe Western liberal society can never be compatible with Islam? That 11 per cent feel that organisations which publish images of the Prophet Mohammed deserve to be attacked?
I find these numbers profoundly disconcerting. But they are far from surprising.
.... Supporting British values might seem like an overt focus on nationality, but really it fosters inclusivity and will help us tackle extremism, building a stronger Britain.
Beyond this, we must break this trend by pushing back against underlying narratives. This will require not just the voice of Muslims, but the whole of civil society standing in solidarity with those Muslims who are brave enough to challenge extremists in their midst.
Islam is an idea: like other ideas, it must be open to scrutiny. But supporting secularism and challenging Islamism is not fighting “Islam”. It is moving from extremism to liberal pluralism. By neglecting to challenge extremist views, we will only increase anti-Muslim bigotry.
This is what happens when you ignore Islamist ideology. It’s time for a wakeup call.
[TOP RATED COMMENT] So one in four Muslims in Britain approve of the merciless slaughter of 12 innocent people armed with pencils because they felt "offended", and it is Whiteh's fault.
Would it be Islamophobic to suggest that the blame lies with the archaic and backward religion from which these murderous savages and their army of nutjob wanna-be Jihadistas draw their inspiration?
We are sitting on a powder keg, yet our politicians and the liberal commentariat are simply too effete, cowardly and dishonest to face up to the real enemy within our midst.
[2ND] "Half of British Muslims interviewed stated that prejudice against Islam makes it very difficult to be a Muslim in this country."
It is an awful lot easier to be a Muslim in this country than it is in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Morocco, Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen, Uzbekistan. You are much more likely to be murdered for your beliefs in any of these countries, especially if you are the wrong kind of Muslim. Or if you are gay, or if you are an apostate, or if you commit adultery, or if you are a woman, or if you smoke, or if you drink alcohol, or if you say the wrong thing, or if you are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, e.g. if a suicide bomber is in the vicinity.
Tens of thousands of Muslims are killed or injured every year as a result of violence perpetrated by their co-religionists.
'Prejudice against Islam makes it very difficult to be a Muslim in this country'?
What absolute nonsense.
[3RD] Some people come from Pakistan, settle in Little Pakistan in East London or West Yorkshire, don't learn a world of English. Their kids learn pigeon playground English but have no hope of integrating or competing in the wider world. The p.c. crowd think this is diversity. It is not, it is division and a recipe for utter disaster.
[4TH] The problem is that Muslims in general will not allow any criticism of their ideology or their founder. They tend to react violently. Buddhism, Mormonism, Hinduism, Christianity, Confucianism etc. are all willing to discuss their ideas without becoming violent and blowing up themselves and other people. Neither do these religions have a concept of a FATWA which allows them to try to kill people e.g. Salman Rushdie.
Additionally most Muslims believe that the penalty for leaving the religion is death. Becoming a Muslim or being born one tends therefore to be a one way trap door. When extremist Muslims encounter those who are more moderate, they accuse the moderates of not being proper Muslims and call them apostates - for which the penalty is death. The moderates then either turn a blind eye or join the extremists.
[5TH] Muslims ought to try to be Christians in Muslim countries, that will give them a wake up call.
No one has to stay in this country, it's not a prison. People are free to leave.
[6TH] I fear for the future of my country and my grandchildren.
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.
For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague." Marcus Tullius Cicero, 58 BC.
[7TH] This is not about western society. Islamic society doesn't mix south, east or North. It is incompatible with other societies unless it dominates. This is all documented in the Koran. This plays out everywhere in the world. North Africa, Europe, Russia, Thailand, Burma, India. Every border. It plays out all through History too.
This is not about needing these people to move away from extremism. We need them to move away from Islam.
.... I can understand as a moderate Muslim you don't want to see the faith as the problem but it is. You are a moderate not because you have a better interpretation of the Koran but because you reject most of it. [The Independent] Read more
