Don't kill the fattened calf for Ed & co
An unusually perceptive Ziauddin Sardar finally delivers a dissenting view of the media's lionising of "Sir Edward Husain" and his clique in today's Guardian, on the grounds that it ignores those who always resisted falling into the hands of the extremists:
The embrace of former extremists is a slap in the face for Muslims who have worked tirelessly to build a British Muslim identity and foster inclusion by constructive community activity. It's another attempt at the marginalisation of the overwhelming majority who never had a moment's doubt that Islam gives no sanction for such murderous and misguided perversion of belief.
I am troubled by the fact that former extremists are seen as the only people who know how to deal with extremism. Just because you have been an inmate of a mental hospital does not mean you are an expert in clinical psychology. But former extremists are being lionised because they confirm the basic tabloid prejudice that violence is a natural part of being a Muslim. So whose ignorance is being vindicated? Certainly the potential of an open, unapologetic belief in Islam as a valuable part of British society is not on the agenda.
Comments
The interesting thing is that Ziauddin Sardar also assumes that HuT and the khilafah-now brigade are extremists of the same kind and in the same way as the short-cut-to-paradise boyos. The former are no better qualified to discuss the motives of the latter than marxists are to discuss anarchists.
Posted by: Thersites | April 25, 2008 12:21 AM
Yes, that's a good point, and it is a misconception the media are burdened with as well, although Eddie was involved at the time when the people who would later become al-Muhajiroun and progressed into the Salafi-jihadi stream were in charge of the HT group in London. Many of the latter type are actually contemptuous of HT; I recall listening to a "Shaikh" Faisal lecture in which he ridiculed HT's talk of seeking nusrah (help) from the powers that be. He said something to the effect that the only nusrah you'll get from them is assistance in getting killed. They are much less into ideology.
Posted by: Indigo Jo
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April 25, 2008 1:14 PM