Our Upside Down World - Q-News July 2006, Issue 367

Many British Muslims live with the feeling that they are under the microscope - forced to apologise for the actions of others, compelled to keep quiet lest their words are used by the police to pay them a midnight visit. Enough is enough. Ibrahim Hewitt thinks it’s time to stop apologising and stand up proudly for who we are and what we believe in.

Since the atrocities of the 7 July 2005 Muslims have felt it necessary (again and again) to apologise for the actions of four young men even though the government’s refusal to sanction a public or judicial enquiry means that we are no further forward in knowing their motives and the link - if any - with the faith of two million British citizens. Relations between Muslims and their neighbours have been affected, with an atmosphere of suspicion which - even subconsciously - now taints what were before many generally ‘normal’ relationships. The tabloid media (and some of their ‘respectable’ broadsheet brethren) fuels this distrust with inflammatory headlines, language and disgustingly right-wing, often Zionist, columnists with an anti-Muslim axe to grind.

While most Muslims wish simply to get on with their lives like most of their fellow citizens, it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so. As the targets of draconian “anti-terrorism” laws and a largely hostile media, the average Mr & Mrs Muslim feel vulnerable. When, they wonder, will their door be smashed in at 4 am? When will their son be shot “in the struggle”? When will they be locked up with no reason given nor any evidence produced? Perception is everything and these are genuine fears.

Get involved politically, we are told. Make a difference. But do you know of any MP bold enough to speak the truth about Bush, Blair and their wars of aggression against Muslim states and effect a change government policy? Two million people took to the streets in protest against the invasion of Iraq, but it went ahead regardless. So much for making a difference.

We now live in a world in which halal is haram, haram is halal; the victim is the villain and the villain is cast as the victim. In short, a world in which right and wrong are transposed with alarming regularity. Where think tanks and policy wonks connive to twist and turn Islam into a religion they are comfortable with. A world, in fact, which fits the description of the system to be used by the False Messiah, Dajjal. Muslim scholars and community activists take note.

One of the things I am concerned about is the general trend to slavishly accept the American narrative of the world, even amongst Muslims. Of course, some of this is due to Muslim organisations jockeying for government contracts and funding so they have to toe the official line. Our silence is being sold cheaply, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to march to Washington’s tune, like Judas goats leading the ummah to disaster because, despite everything, ‘we still have many freedoms in Britain’. We don’t have to accept false choices. After 9/11 and 7/7 we were told to pick sides - “You are either with us, or with the terrorists” - dissent was unacceptable. If anything the last year has shown us that dissent is alive and well and remains an essential part of any vibrant democracy. Sorry, Mr Bush, but I can be against you and the terrorists and still be a responsible member of society. Ditto Mr Blair.

That is the challenge for Muslims and our representatives - elected, self-appointed or otherwise: to oppose what is wrong and push for what is right; to support the oppressed and struggle against oppression. The days have long gone when we could hide behind the façade of being temporary residents in this land, keep our heads down and do nothing so that we wouldn’t be “sent back home”. We are back home: Britain is our country and we have as much right as anyone to challenge the status quo and, if necessary, upset a few people along the way. And it’s my guess that in doing so we will win many more friends than make enemies. Being a Muslim - proud and public - is, in 21st century Britain, the ultimate political and religious dissent in the grand tradition of, for example and ironically, the founders of the Labour Party. New Labour lackeys please take note.

As the head of a Muslim school, I am aware of the fears and aspirations of our young people, but I do not hold back in trying to encourage them to wear their faith on their sleeves and be good role models for their peers across society. In doing so I not only remind them of their duties to their neighbours - Muslim and non-Muslim alike - but also to their brothers and sisters in Islam across the globe. Much has been said about the nature of the ummah being incompatible with the modern nation state, and Muslims are in many ways urged to put the latter over and above the former in the interests of “successful integration”. But I believe that teaching young Muslims to practice their faith as much as they can is the best citizenship syllabus they can follow. And, in any case, the word integration doesn’t even belong in a true democracy, whose citizens can be whatever they want as long as it is not at the expense of others.

The battle over the identity of Muslims in Britain is likely to be a major issue in the years ahead. Are we Muslim Britons or British Muslims? British-Asian Muslims, British-African Muslims or British-Arab Muslims? Or just Muslims? Multiple identities are the norm for everyone these days, when we even have strong regional accents in profusion across the once hallowed airwaves of the BBC. So let’s hear it for British-English-Geordie Muslims, and not necessarily in that order! Don’t be pushed around; let us decide who we are. The days of being dictated to are over - standing up for our rights is part of our responsibilities as citizens of this country. We need to stand up and be counted - as Muslims first and foremost - for the benefit of all. The age of divide and rule is long gone in the physical sense, and now it is time to banish it intellectually as well. If we succeed, the future looks bright - if God is willing. And God knows, after all, knows best.

Ibrahim Hewitt is the Headteacher of Al-Aqsa Primary School, an independent Muslim school in Leicester. He is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Palestinian relief charity INTERPAL and recently completed his term as Assistant Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.