This one's for you Pastorius.You can usually find at least one in any saloon bar, ready to give you the benefit of their peppery views on the parlous state of Britain today.
This particular example is a clean shaven, middle-aged man with the de rigueur attire of carefully knotted mustard tie and blue, golf club-style blazer.
Brass cuff buttons flash as he pounds an angry fist on to his knee.
'I will give £5 to anyone in Britain who wants to live under Sharia law,' he declares. 'It will help pay for their ticket to Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, or wherever it is customary to live under Sharia law.
'Please, please go and leave us alone. This is Britain, not 10th century Arabia!'
We are indeed sitting in a bar, on a busy main road in Oxford.
But the man before me is no stereotypical Islamophobe.
For one, he is sipping a glass of water rather than something more inflammatory.
More importantly, though by no means obviously, Dr Taj Hargey is himself an Islamic cleric; perhaps the most controversial imam in Britain today.
He has little or no time for the Government's 'pussyfooting' policy of encouraging multiculturalism.
'That is the biggest disaster to happen to Britain since World War II,' he says. 'It has given the extremist mullahs the green light for radicalism and segregation.
We have to, we must, adjust to British society. And we can do so without losing our faith.'
Hardly surprisingly, such statements have made him wildly unpopular among those who adhere to the brand of ultra-conservative Saudi-funded Wahhabi Islam which currently makes most noise in Britain and around the world.
Certainly, if you Google Dr Hargey's name you will find him vilified as a 'charlatan' on any number of Islamic website forums.
Rest here>>>
8 comments:
Christine,
Well this is good to hear.
I saw this in the Daily Mail the other day and surprisingly my comment didn't get published. A noble attempt at Taqiyya methinks because it's not just the Hadith that lead people to violence and radicalism, there's equally as much in the Quaran. Indeed the verse of thw sword 9:5 is in the Quaran so ignoring the Hadith is a rather pointless exercise.
If he wants to present an exegis of Islam that isn't violent and is peaceful then 80% of the Quaran will need to be either ignored or re-interpreted but you'll still have the Saudi clerics brandishing their copies that have the violent passages present in all their glory.
The only approach that will work in addressing Islamism is from a culturist angle, not a religious angle. The teachings of Islam are far too established around the world for a abbreivated peaceful version to take hold in time to prevent a war of civilisations which in my opinion will be happening a lot sooner.
If you check the article comments out the majority are calling for the Government to listen to this guy instead of the other representative bodies such as the MCB but this would be as useless as a chocolate teapot because he would be telling them the same thing, that Islam is a religion of peace that has been hijacked and around and around we go.
Just Cause makes a good point. "Around and around we go". Yes, indeed.
However, I do believe this guy is probably sincere.
On an individual level, I believe, this man deserves to be respected unless he does or says something which makes it clear that he is just practicing taqiyya (deception).
Anyway, the larger point, as it applies to the conversation of the last few days is, here is a Muslim who believe we can remove Sharia law from Islam and still practice something he believes to be Islam.
The whole notion of the First Amendment (as it pertains to religion) is that the individual gets to choose his religion, and define it for himself.
His religion is not defined or chosen by blood, by his parents, by the government, or by any other human being or human organization.
If this guy wants to refrain from eating pork, pray five times a day, visit Mecca, attend Mosque, where a Muslim skullcap and robes, wear a beard, etc.,
and call himself a Muslim,
while not calling for the stoning of gays, adulterers, and apostates, and not calling for Jihad against the Infidels,
then,
good for him, and good for us. That's one less potential human monster to worry about.
He is a free human being, and he gets to define his religion for himself.
Pastorius,
I agree
Christine,
By the way, sorry I forgot to tell you this, but your link is not working. When I click on the blue text nothing happens. I can't read the rest of the story
Christine -- excellent post, but link not working. A perfect example of what Pasto & I have been trying to say.
Yes, I do have some serious issues with regards to Muslims. But I am more than willing to highlight the one's, who have the balls to stand up and do the right thing.
Now, if we could find a few hundred thousand of them, we just might get somewhere.
Thanks for pointing out the link problem, it's fixed now.
Christine,
Thanks for fixing the link.
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