Review: Balti Britain: A Journey Through the British Asian Experience -Ziauddin Sardar - Reviewed by Burhan Wazir
Covering the aftermath of September 11 in Britain led me to meet frequently with members of London-based organisations like Hizb ut Tahrir and al Muhajiroun. Both cults, correctly isolated by Sardar, were in the orbit of three spiritual leaders: the cartoonishly menacing Omar Bakri Mohammad, a Syrian who came to Britain seeking political asylum; the Egyptian Abu Hamza al Masri, an imposing former nightclub bouncer who preached at a mosque in Finsbury Park; and the six foot, 20 stone Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada.
All three openly preached a perverted version of Islam that glorified Osama bin Laden and al Qa’eda. They preyed upon the frustration of poor Muslim youth first to win followers, then to encourage terrorist violence. They spoke stridently of Islamic victimhood, of blaming the West for all the ills of the Arab world. Tapes of their speeches were circulated in Islamic bookshops and over the internet, where they were picked up by the faithful – and curious reporters. For the press, the trio confirmed every possible Islamophobic stereotype. In particular, Abu Hamza was a bogeyman who seemed to have walked off the set of a James Bond film. The preacher wore an eye patch and a menacing silver hook hand, both the result of injuries suffered in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Over the course of a decade, these three men did untold damage to the efforts of liberal Muslims trying to hold an educated conversation with the mass media.
Sardar is unflinching in his dismissal of their one-dimensional version of Islam, a religion stripped to its bare bones and reduced to a call to militancy. He argues that militant Islam, with its brutal denunciation of complexity, opposes all who stand against its specific puritanical vision: “To define Islam in total opposition to all others – not just Christian, Jews, Hindus, secularists and the West, but all other interpretations of Islam as well – is to place Islam in an enclave”. Sardar has previous form here. After September 11, he declared a fatwa on fanatics in a brave op-ed for The Observer.
All three openly preached a perverted version of Islam that glorified Osama bin Laden and al Qa’eda. They preyed upon the frustration of poor Muslim youth first to win followers, then to encourage terrorist violence. They spoke stridently of Islamic victimhood, of blaming the West for all the ills of the Arab world. Tapes of their speeches were circulated in Islamic bookshops and over the internet, where they were picked up by the faithful – and curious reporters. For the press, the trio confirmed every possible Islamophobic stereotype. In particular, Abu Hamza was a bogeyman who seemed to have walked off the set of a James Bond film. The preacher wore an eye patch and a menacing silver hook hand, both the result of injuries suffered in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Over the course of a decade, these three men did untold damage to the efforts of liberal Muslims trying to hold an educated conversation with the mass media.
Sardar is unflinching in his dismissal of their one-dimensional version of Islam, a religion stripped to its bare bones and reduced to a call to militancy. He argues that militant Islam, with its brutal denunciation of complexity, opposes all who stand against its specific puritanical vision: “To define Islam in total opposition to all others – not just Christian, Jews, Hindus, secularists and the West, but all other interpretations of Islam as well – is to place Islam in an enclave”. Sardar has previous form here. After September 11, he declared a fatwa on fanatics in a brave op-ed for The Observer.
posted by temporal at 9/05/2008
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