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February 4, 2006
UK: Gloucester Muslim Leader Criticises Freedom of Speech
The head of the Muslim Community for Gloucester has shown his total contempt for freedom of speech, according to the Gloucester Citizen. Shabbir Ahmed Bham said: "We should not allow our valued freedoms in the West to be abused by those deliberately seeking to provoke hatred and division between communities.
"Muslims respect and love the Prophet as being dearer to them than their own families. A civil society has to recognise rights and sensitivities of others around them. It is important to remember that there is no such thing as unlimited freedom of speech," he said.
"It is important that freedom of speech does not spill into expression of hatred of others. It is becoming a worry that the trend of defiance in the name of freedom of speech is being exercised deliberately to hurt and anger Muslims the world over.
"Publishing and printing extremely offensive caricatures of the beloved Prophet of Islam, in this case, worryingly reflects the emergence of an increasingly xenophobic tone being adopted towards Muslims in parts of the Western media. This man's organisation has a website, and there is a page on its website which shows exactly where the attitudes of the Muslim Community for Gloucester lie.
The potential shoe-bomber, Sajid Badat, a friend of Richard Reid, came from Gloucester. The website of the Muslim Community of Gloucester seems to be supporting Badat (pictured), as it states: "If you wish to send a message to Qari Hafiz Sajid Badat, or to the Badat Family, please write to us at support@mcgonline.org.uk (We may not be able to acknowledge your message, but we promise that all messages will be passed on.)" Badat, portrayed as a studious and non-violent individual, recently set off a bomb at his jail in Whitemoor Prison, Cambridge.
The Muslims of Gloucester have over the past few years become strident in their displays of "separation" from non-Muslims. Most young Muslim women attending the University of Gloucestershire's campuses in the city are shrouded in black abayas, hijabs (headscarves) and sometimes nikabs (veils), while many young Muslim men wear the white dresses and skullcaps usually associated with elders from Pakistan.
Personally I don't give a stuff what Shabbir Ahmed Bham thinks about the cartoons, but if he is going to go public and condemn their publication, I would like to hear if he is going to stand up and denounce the demonstrations which took place outside the Danish embassy in London, where protesters called for the murder of the illustrators, and threatened Europe with a 9/11 style retribution.
If Shabbir Ahmed Bham does not condemn such calls for murder, then I suggest that he is part of the Islamic problem currently spreading like a hantavirus, and not a part of any solution. When he made his statement, violent measures were already being threatened by Hamas and others. He did not condemn these, but once again peddled the notion that our freedoms of expression and freedoms of speech should be curtailed when it comes to issues concerning "Muslim sensibilities".
Perhaps there is a need for Gloucester's Muslim community and leadership to be put under a microscope by the UK intelligence services. The UK government's communications headquarters, GCHQ at Cheltenham, lies a mere 7 miles away. Maybe some of its attention should be focusing on what is going on close to its home.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 4, 2006 1:44 PM
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