Pride of Lions, Part 12

We continue from Part 11 reviewing The Gina Khan Interview - Part Three (I have fixed a few typos):

This war should be renamed clearly as the war on modern Islamism. Muslims don't have a Caliph, no-one authorised Osama Bin Laden to advocate and start Jihad. If the War is against the West then it's a war against British secular Muslims too - that means we Muslims in the west and our children will not be spared. When will Muslims understand that? No 'ummah' or silly veil can save us if Osama manages his recruits, while we allow Muslim leaders and Islamists to play down the threat. Gordon Brown can only mobilise the mind of the public by better defining the ideology and hopefully he can get his act together - he must understand that the solutions are mainstream even when the subject matter is not. They now know the name of this global ideology so they have to show some backbone.

There's a great deal in that paragraph.

A "War on Terror" is as foolish as it gets -- it lumps the IRA together with Al Qaeda. Terrorism is a method; how can you wage war on a method? That's like waging war on war and, ultimately, it is like having sex to promote virginity.

Terrorism is an abstraction; the more concrete enemy are Islamists who break the law promoting their hateful ideology.

While I disagree with Islam, I point to the Muslims like Gina Khan as why military operations are not against the Islamic world, but rather against those who advocate and promote what Gina calls Islamism -- militant, extremist Islam. It is the difference between a legitimate and much-needed defensive war, targeting the likes of Osama bin Laden, and simple ethnic cleansing that would target innocents and even allies like Gina.

Millions and millions of Muslims, in Saudi Arabia especially, cannot claim to understand the Quran word for word. It is a complex Arabic language that has been preserved but is not spoken even by today's Arabs. A beautiful language has now been turned into ugly aggressive tones by members of Hizb ut Tahrir, Anjem Choudhary, Shahid Butt, Abdu Abdullah. They use theology and politics. The suicide bomber's mind is indoctrinated with all these mens' misinterpretations to subtract the fear of death.

This war isn't just a militant war; it must be against the ideological intellectual Jihadists, Islamists, Imams and organizations who plant the seeds of Jihadism into the minds of Muslims.

But Bush has placed his focus on military operations -- and then done a bad job of that.

We are offered the choice: "Either you're with us, or you're with the terrorists." Both Al Qaeda and the Bush Administration have started wars based on lies, and both profit from those wars; decent folks are left in the middle, seemingly with nowhere to turn.

Q: In Ward End this war is hard to escape?

My son was approached by dynamic Islamists in Ward End. It was only because I had told him to be vigilant that he recognised their motives. These areas lack facilities and youth centres for the youth to access. Whatever sport centres there are, are dominated by sporty mullahs. Women/girls have to go into non Muslim areas or wait for specific women's' programmes. And yet there are mosques, mini mosques every few yards. Difficult to escape them - that's how the Islamists want it. You know the Tablighi pride themselves from spending days inside mosques?! They sleep, exercise and eat in there?

I observed many mosques that are empty all day except on a Friday afternoon. Most serve no purpose at all to women and children or to non Muslims in the community unless you're seeking conversion.

There are book shops where the wrong interpretation is being promoted, I have dozens of books I collected myself in the 90s when I was in search of my religion. Now in hindsight I realise I too could have been indoctrinated. I was pretty depressed back then, searching for peace of mind. I could have easily fallen into this trap.

And that comment gives us insight into why it is so easy to recruit jihadis in the Islamic world. Men are permitted to have up to four wives, plus as many concubines and so on as they are able; many women prefer to be the second or third wife to a rich man, rather than the only wife to a poor man. Frustrated, depressed and hopeless, these men find the promise of an eternity in the arms of virgins, plus a relatively substantial sum for one's family left behind on earth, very tempting indeed.

Q: And in schools?

I read the book Islam Beliefs and Teachings by Ghulam Sarwar. (Ed Husain pointed him out in his book -The Islamist). The first few chapters of Sarwar's book are devoted to the 5 pillars of Islam. He then goes on to discussions and questions on political Islam and Sharia law (which is outdated and was actually initiated by Caliphs not subscribed by Allah or the Prophet in any form), the status of Muslim women and our rights (which is less about rights and more about our duties) and he praises the "great" Islamic states of Iran and Sudan (lovely places?!).

Sarwar's ideas and teachings have been infiltrating British Education in Muslim communities (communities with high concentrations of Muslims) since 1966. These books were aimed at Muslims like me born here. Written in English.

"How do we create an Islamic State?" Sarwar asks the children. He tries to compare Sharia law with 'man made laws' but gives no indication what Sharia law will implement in his vision of a Islamic State. "A Muslim's happiest occasion in life is to see the Rule of Allah established on earth", he writes. I don't think so - ask the women of Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, and Afghanistan (countries which are living hellholes for Muslim women). Ask Muslim women here in Britain - Somalians, Iranians or even Pakistani women. Would they dare go back as lone mothers??

Yes, Gina -- and, dear reader, the truth has a certain ring to it, does it not?

These writers - so called scholars and Imams - are indoctrinating our children and as mothers we exert the most power over our children in shaping their minds. We should pulp all these books. Question their ulterior motives and interpretations. We must educate our children against extreme versions and promote the values and principles of our democracy. The problem with Britain is that it still wants to hang onto the history of guilt regarding colonialism and imperialism. Today if India is a successful democracy in Asia, it's because it teaches it's young generation to love and respect it's Motherland. We spend too much time putting this country down instead of promoting our values and principles as a nation. There might be a high rate of teenage pregnancies in the west but at least you guys don't murder you daughters and you don't reject an illegitimate child. Muslim girls have been murdered and the 'bastard' child is stigmatised and abandoned. What kind of God would want that as justice for mankind?

Don't pulp the book -- sit down and read it with your kid, adding in your commentary. That is what will innoculate your children against Islamism. Gina, did you not essentially do this with your son? Innoculate him against Islamism by helping him understand what is out there?

Islamists are hateful fools -- they should certainly be allowed to advertise that fact by communicating their ideas. The alternative is to silence them, in which case others will be silenced as well until, ultimately, we will not know how dangerous some of these people are because we will not know what kind of criminal ideas they harbor.

Of course, Gina makes my point here:

Q: Mothers should be teaching their kids that suicide bombing and Islamism are wrong?

Absolutely.... These Islamists are every modern Muslim mother's nightmare, in fact many non Muslim mothers are very concerned. I would urge Muslims to reject political Islam outright. It's a myth that Islam and politics are one theology. How do I know that? Well millions of Muslims have lived in the West without a Caliph or Sharia law and lived as secular Muslims whether they use that term to define themselves or not. Millions of Muslims in countries like Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia aspire to democracy and reject Sharia laws as being outdated. It doesn't mean they are not Muslims. It means we evolved as Muslim People too. Men like Jinnah and Bhutto and Ghandi Ji studied in Britain and took back the tenets of Democracy to their countries.

Jihadism emerges and opposes the tenets of democracy. If women are fighting for the soul of Pakistan which is what Benazir Bhutto was hoping to implement, then why are we as British Asian Muslim women participating in our own oppression by remaining silent thinking someone else is going to come along and create change? We should let our feelings cascade down onto our kids.

We all have a moral duty to create change and condemn the suicide bombers as pure evil and un-Islamic. We need to get our facts right. They have targeted Muslims born in the west for over 40 years, with their interpretations and indoctrinations on satellite tv, through cds, books. We have to hit back too. So I believe this war will last a minimum of 40 years, silence won't get us anywhere.

Q: The ideology won't just fizzle out even if the Islamists are cracked down on by the government?

Even if Osama bin Laden was arrested or shot dead, the ideology will create another Osama Bin Laden aspiring to be the revived Caliph or Mahdi. Sitting in caves and creating massacres, murdering Muslims who convert or women who seek freedom, assassinating activists and reformers who stand up for their natural rights. Islam does not give Islamists authority over matters of life and death. They will continue to unleash their violence to instil fear into the masses. They want to create this clash of civilizations and anti west propaganda but there's only one civilisation and they're not part of it. They have studied the weaknesses of the countries they want to target and they use our democracy to pursue their own distorted Islamic agendas. MCB are a good example. They should never have been nominated to be the voice of British Islam. Dr Bari should be concerned about the poor people of his own motherland instead of getting on the nerves of British people who don't believe in arranged marriages and don't have to conform to their 'Islamic' ideas. It's bad enough for Muslim women that they advocate our 'status' without consulting us.

They shut down debates. I'd like to see more debates on the veil, on the so-called status and rights of women that Maududi interpreted. Muslim women all over the world fight to free themselves from oppression and abuse, while these leaders are writing Muslim manifestos for our school children without consulting with any of us. They are taking us step by step backwards and manipulating the positioning of being British and Muslims.

What gets me are the likes of Anjem Choudary. If this war wasn't so dangerous I would have laughed at his rants. He lives with a 7th century mindset, believes in Sharia law, and demonises the west and democracy so why is he still here practising as a solicitor?? They are hypocrites -it's an easy life for them here either way and they are the last people to sacrifice the easy way.

As I said in Part 11, we need more debates about Islam.

Anyway, stay tuned to Stop Islamic Conquest as Pride of Lions continues.