Muslims, Please Do Better

Islam is a religion – the self-proscribed religion of peace. It is an idea, an ideology. An ancient whisper from the deserts of Arabia. It is not a people, a race, or ethnicity. Islam, like all religions, is a belief system and requires faith to be a successful practitioner.

We are told that Muslims in the UK are in danger due to far-right fascists and the widely accepted British pastime of Islamophobia. Let us dispel this myth right now before we go any further.

The number of Muslims murdered in the UK by a British person for being Muslim is approximately one – he was hit and killed by a van outside a mosque. The closest we came to a Muslim martyr was a man murdered for being the wrong type of Muslim. In 2016, a Bradford Muslim man drove to Glasgow and murdered a Muslim shopkeeper. Hate Crime: one dead man and one in jail for 27 years. Do not think for a moment that all Muslims like each other. Islamophobia is real – it is practised within the Muslim world.

If Muslims are not in danger from non-Muslims in the UK - can the reverse be said? The number one terrorist threat in the UK is from Islamists who state they commit their crimes in the name of the Muslim God – Allah.

A quick look on Wikipedia informs us that at least 93 people have been murdered in the UK by Muslims since the London bombing in 2005. The narrative that Muslims are in danger from non-Muslims is false. It is also dangerous for it makes us direct resources in the wrong place for a threat that does not exist.

When Irish Republicans were planting bombs and killing us, the average Irish person was penalised for the actions of their fellow islanders. It made no difference what they thought or believed. If you sounded Irish, you were deemed a threat. Being over-cautious makes perfect sense if you want to reduce your exposure to danger.

Muslims are now being treated the same because they have been categorised as a potential danger by the general public. The Irish were treated much worse because they were white and could not scream racism.

Most people can differentiate between Islamist lunatics and the average Muslim on the street. We do not think that all Muslims are terrorists. However, public opinion regarding Islam is negative. Why is this the case?

Let us put to one side the terrorist threats and dead bodies. What else are Muslims doing wrong in the UK?

The grooming, rape and abuse of up to a hundred thousand poor white working-class girls by predominately Muslim men is a stain on the reputation of Islam and the communities these men come from.

All communities commit horrendous crimes. We only have to look at Jimmy Saville to see the depths people will sink for self-gratification. The difference with the grooming gangs is that virtually no one from the Muslim community was outraged. They closed ranks and made excuses. No one administered any street justice to any paedophile. No wife deserted her perverted husband. No children disowned their paedophilic father. Not one mosque kicked out any convicted child sex abuser from their congregation. Men who completed jail sentences came home to the same communities which welcomed them with open arms. The rest of the country witnessed this acceptance and were unhappy.

This is not how other communities would deal with convicted paedophiles living within their community. These men would be pariahs, shunned from polite society, and constantly open to physical attack.

As a child, I was friendly with an old neighbour and often went to the local shop for him. He told me many stories. One was about a relative of the Moors Murderers who frequented his local pub in the late 1960s. This innocent relative was constantly assaulted for being related to a monster - they were punished for sharing some of the same genes. A society must have justice – even unfair justice.

It is not just perverted Muslim men we are locking up, but many types of Muslim criminals. They are incarcerated at three times the rate they should - they are 6% of the population, yet 18% of the prison population. This is shocking. No one dares mention it - so the Muslim community does nothing about it. We have specific crimes which we identify with the Muslim community: forced marriage, honour killings, acid attacks and female genital mutilation.

A question that needs answering is where are the street protests from the Muslim community for British tragedies? I do not recall marches condemning the London or Manchester terrorist attacks. No protests by Muslim fathers and mothers outraged at the rape of thousands of white girls.

However, I have seen many protests about foreign wars because innocent Muslim children are harmed. I saw a protest in Rochdale against the forceful arrest of two Muslim criminals at Manchester Airport. CCTV footage showed the men attacking the police and breaking a female police officer’s nose. It is clear that Muslims can organise protests– just not for non-Muslim causes.

All religions are compatible with living in the UK. We are an open and tolerant nation. But we must highlight and criticise religious communities that do not meet our expectations. Tough love is needed.

People who follow Islam need to self-reflect on their own communities and collective failings. If they are to improve then the first step is to admit there is a problem.

“There is none so blind as he who will not see” - Singer Ray Stevens

My message to UK Muslims is simple: Please Do Better.