The Spectator has finally published a reply to Patrick Sookhdeo's diatribe in the "Eurabia" issue two weeks ago. Headed "Eirenic Islam", it's not in the online edition, so here's an extract:
I imagine many people, when confronted by the choice of Tory v. Labour, run into the same emotional conflict as I do. We have a basic and practical sympathy for the social and economic views of the Conservatives, but have a terrible suspicion that, lurking under the skin of the reasonable Tory, there is a racist, intolerant bigot - the kind of fellow-traveller who passively elected the Nazis in the early 1930s.
Your issue of 12 November is a confirmation that our suspicion is justified.
The letter writer, John Goodman of Bombay, goes onto explain that he has never heard of the "doctrine of sacred space" to which the Sookhdevil refers in all the years he has studied and discussed Islam; were it true, Muslims "would be angrily laying claim to Spain, Austria, chunks of China, most of the Balkans and the 800-million-strong Hindu population of India".
This confirms for Muslims that, while we may sympathise with some of the social and economic views associated with the Tories, we should not vote for anyone who is as soft on bigotry as the editor of this magazine (he is MP for Henley on Thames; I'm not sure if many Muslims will face the choice of whether or not to vote for him). It's all very well publishing this letter two weeks after the original article (then again, the original may have taken some time to reach Bombay); the fact is that there should have been some balance in the "Eurabia" issue, and indeed, in the issue which discussed the July bombings as well.
Assalamu alaikum, this reminds me of the quandery thatt at least I am in, when trying to decide who to vote for in this country, whehter I vot Democractice or Republican. I agree with most Republicans on certain moral / social issues, but disgree with them on certain other things, and the same goes with the Democratics. However, I'm not sure that the situations in the US and UK could be interchangeable. Not sure if I'm making snese, but it's just a thought.
As a Muslim, my HEART always says to vote Conservative. They seem to be the natural home for me. But my HEAD overules my heart everytime...I am just so scared of what they might do to us once in office.
I think so many Muslims in this country would vote Tory at the drop of a hat...it won't happen of course b/c some Tory MPs are so busy scaring us away. Boris Johnson, MP and editor of the Spectator magazine, would do well to remember the fear faced by his paternal grandfather, Osman Ali, before he fled Turkey for Britain.
It's worth remembering that there are muslims who are "angrily laying claim to Spain, Austria, chunks of China, most of the Balkans and the 800-million-strong Hindu population of India". They may not ne the most common, but they are among the loudest.