A less than united front
11:46pm
This weekend there is to be a demonstration in London organised by the Islamists of the re-formed al Muhajiroun calling for sharia law to be enforced in Britain.
When they heard about this, various moderate, anti-Islamist Muslims started suggesting on Facebook and elsewhere that a counter demonstration be held. Within a short space of time, the moderate anti-Islamist British Muslims for a Secular Democracy decided to hold a counter-protest of their own. It was great news that reformist British Muslims were now getting it together to oppose the Islamists like this. But then things got a little bit complicated.
Alarmed by the threat that such moderate Muslims pose to the Islamist stranglehold over public discourse, the Muslim Brotherhood moved swiftly to try to neutralise them. Thus a surprising article appeared on the Guardian’s Comment is free blog by
The struggle for Islam's soul
10:17pm
The tireless Islam scholar and anti-Islamist Dr Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund has written a must-read article in the Fund’s current newsletter which, if his analysis is correct, provides a real chink of light in these dark times. He suggests that the Islamist orthodoxy which has had the Muslim world by the throat is beginning to crack under pressure from reformist Muslims around the world, particularly within Britain. He writes:
...Recent months have seen a number of unexpected and extremely encouraging statements coming out of the Muslim world. Respected, mainstream Muslim leaders in a variety of countries have voiced opinions which are at odds with traditional, conservative Islam. They have challenged aspects of shari‘a and are calling for a liberal, modernist, enlightened Islam compatible with Western norms. Perhaps the most significant of all is a comment by
Posts
