www.stand4islam.blogspot.com: Minaret ban & the Global Attack on Islam

About this blog

In recent times a plethora of misconceptions, misrepresentation and myths have been forged about Islam
and Muslims. Many western influentials from politicians, policymakers to judges have taken it upon
themselves to undermine the Islamic beliefs, values and rules so to make it palatable to their
egotistic minds and the secular liberal thoughts.

This blog is dedicated:-

1. To argue the point for Islam in its belief and systems and to refute the misconceptions.
2. To expose the weakness and contradictions of all forms of secularism.

23 Dec 2009

Minaret ban & the Global Attack on Islam

Voters in a nationwide referendum, in Switzerland have approved a ban on the construction of new minarets. Whist for many Muslims in the West this was not surprising considering the rising anti-foreigner attitude in Switzerland. For many Muslims in the Muslim world this may have come as a surprise. The nation in the Alps, known for its ski resorts and banking industry may even be unknown to many Muslims in the Islamic world.

The Swiss ban should not be viewed in isolation, it is part of a general campaign by the Capitalist nations and now Western populations who view Islam with disdain and threatening the very way of life the West has embraced.

The Swiss People's Party, which campaigned for the ban and has concentrated its recent political campaigns almost exclusively on xenophobic messages, has seen a considerable rise in popularity in the last 10 years. With foreigners comprising around 20% of the Swiss population of 7.7 million, the overall anti-foreigner message (which is not exclusively anti-Muslim) has resonated with the traditionally insulated Swiss, particularly in the less cosmopolitan cantons of central Switzerland. A mosque in Geneva was vandalized three times in the run up to the referendum. Switzerland is home to approximately 400,000 Muslims (about 5.1% of the Swiss population), most of whom are from Turkey or various republics of the former Yugoslavia.

The attacks on Islam after 9/11 have created an atmosphere of Nationalism, and right-wing parties have latched onto this opportunity and are on the rise in almost all parts of Western Europe. The rising number of immigrants in Europe has led many Europeans to regard them, most of who are Muslim, as a threat to their culture and jobs. According to a recent study, one in two Europeans believes there are too many immigrants in Europe. In line with this trend, right-wing parties that are openly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim have now gained widespread popular support in Austria, France, Netherlands, Denmark, and in Britain as well.

The Rise of the Far Right in Mainland Europe Post 9/11, has accelerated vocalisation of anti-Muslim fervour that continues to plague Europe. From the publishing of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) infuriating the Global Muslim population to the production of Geert Wilders abhorrent ‘Fitna' video; the subject of Islam has been a target for relentless attack. Further to this, policies in France and parts of Germany banning the Hijab in some public premises has resulted in Muslim women being denied the basic right to education, employment and healthcare facilities. Such a phenomena of hatred towards Muslims and ethnic minorities is in reality ingrained in the history of mainland Europe. History can testify to the lack of welcome of ‘foreigners' by the ‘host population' - many being unforgiving and unforgetful of past differences. Tolerance of the other has been overwritten by the overwhelming sentiment of bitterness and resentment. For instance the tensions between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, the genocide of Muslims in Bosnia by Serbs, the Nazi slaughter of Jews and Gypsies have left bitter scars in peoples' attitudes and perceptions. Tolerance in plural societies is therefore a somewhat farfetched idea when the cause behind such wars have been lack of coexistence or acceptance of differences, and an attempt to forcefully assimilate those of other beliefs and values.

European nations face a catch 22 situation. On the one hand, they need more immigrants from the developing world to guarantee the sustainability of their economic systems due to their ageing populations. On the other hand, every additional immigrant in Europe is turning the average European into a more nationalist and less tolerant person. As noted in a 2004 report by the RAND corporation, "the sheer number of immigrants required to offset population aging in the EU and its member states would be unacceptable in Europe's current socio-political climate." Denmark has attempted to solve this problem. In November 2009 the Danish parliament increased tenfold the amount of money offered to immigrants who permanently return to their home countries. The Danish government is now paying every immigrant 100,000 Danish kroner ($20,000) if he or she chooses to leave Denmark.

However it needs to be understood that the Swiss decision on minarets and the general anti-Muslim sentiment, as well as some of the polices to tackle the Ummah in the West reflects a far deeper fear shared by thousands of people in Western Europe. Until the events of 9/11 integration of the Ummah followed two distinct policies. The first was that Muslims would show their loyalty to the host nation and in return their religious needs would be catered for, this was the case in continental Europe. Britain on the other hand viewed integration as a process of offering the Muslims everything in return for their loyalty. The subsequent invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan showed the West that the Ummah held on to Islam and stood shoulder to shoulder with the Ummah under attack.

Muslims in the West have since the events of 9/11 held onto Islam and have in fact become more political, this development is the West's biggest problem. This is because any people who engage in political struggle will lead the call for their own state with their own system of governance. Whilst the Ummah is not looking to establish Islam in the West, the rising Muslim population, with Islamic politics at its centre along with a more aware Ummah becoming more and more in tune with Islam and with many in the West embracing Islam for the West the Ummah is challenging the West's way of life - Capitalism.

The direct attacks on Islam and attempts by the West to ban parts of Islam are in fact Capitalism attempting to defend itself. The direct attacks on Islam shows the Ummah in the West to her credit never integrated or abandoned the deen but actually held onto it. The attacks on Islam and Muslims in Europe are because Muslims refuse to abandon political Islam and support Western policies around the world. European governments understand very well as the Qur'aysh did at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) that political ideas always end with government. This is why the Khilafah is continually branded as totalitarian and dictatorial.

The stage is set for the return of the Khilafah. The Muslims in the Muslim world need to make this happen, and the Ummah in the West stand must stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ummah globally for the return of Allah's (swt) deen.

[Article written by Adnan Khan, December 2009]

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What they said...

“Islam represented the greatest military power on earth…It was the foremost economic power in the world…It had achieved the highest level so far in human history, in the arts and sciences of civilization...Islam in contrast created a world civilization, poly-ethnic, multiracial, international, one might even say intercontinental.”

[Bernard Lewis, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Orientalist and Historian, 2001]

"There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world. It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts…the civilization I'm talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600… Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage"

[Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 2001]

"For the first three centuries of its existence (circ. A.D 650-1000) the realm of Islam was the most civilized and progressive portion of the world. Studded with splendid cities, gracious mosques and quiet universities where the wisdom of the ancient world was preserved and appreciated, the Moslem world offered a striking contrast to the Christian West, then sunk in the night of the Dark Ages."

[Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D (Harvard), American political theorist and historian, 1932]

"Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe;it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills ,trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse."

[Jared Diamond, UCLA sociologist and Author, 1997]

"No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and endeavour so many and so varied races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia, perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and west is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition."

[Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Professor at Harvard University, 1932]

“The Muhammadan Law which is binding on all -- from the crowned head to the meanest subject is a law interwoven with a system of the wisest, the most learned and the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.”

[Edmund Burke, British Statesman and Philosopher, 1789]

"The Exile here is not like in our homeland. The Turks hold respectable Jews in esteem. Here and in Alexandria, Egypt, Jews are the chief officers and administrators of the customs, and the king’s revenues. No injuries are perpetuated against them in all the empire. Only this year, in consequence of the extraordinary expenditure caused by the war against Shah Tahmsap al-Sufi, were the Jews required to make advances of loans to the princes."

[David dei Rossi, Jewish Traveller 17CE, quoted by Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands]

"The notable religious tolerance towards Christians and Jew under Muslim rule had given way to the uncompromising zealotry of Spanish Inquisition. Jews and Muslims thus fled Spain with large numbers of Jews immigrating to the Ottoman Empire which was known for its tolerance to the Jews."

[Graham Fuller, Author and former CIA, 1995]

“If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilization owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure, which stems, I think, from the straightjacket of history, which we have inherited. The medieval Islamic world, from central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and systems of beliefs, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history”

[Charles Philip Arthur George, HRH The Prince of Wales, 1993]

"...Not being subject to the Sharia, Jews and Christians were free to go to their own religious authorities for adjudication of disputes; but in many cases they went instead to the [Muslim] Qadi"

[Richard W. Bulliet, Professor of History and Author, 2004]

"Here in the land of the Turks we have nothing to complain of. We possess great fortunes; much gold and silver are in our hands. We are not oppressed by heavy taxes and our commerce is free and unhindered. Rich are the fruits of the earth. Everything is cheap and each one of us lives in freedom. Here a Jew is not compelled to wear a yellow star as a badge of shame as is the case in Germany where even wealth and great fortune is a curse for a Jew because he therewith arouses jealousy among the Christians and they devise all kinds of slander against him to rob him of his gold. Arise my brethren, gird up your loins, collect up your forces and come to us."

[In his book 'Constantinople', Philip Mansel quotes a rabbi in Turkey writing to his brethren in Europe where they were facing increasing persecution after 1453]

"Praise be to the beneficent God for his mercy towards me! Kings of the earth, to whom his [the Caliph’s] magnificence and power are known, bring gifts to him, conciliating his favour by costly presents, such as the king of the Germans, the king of the Gebalim, the king of Constantinople, and others. All their gifts pass through my hands, and I am charged with making gifts in return. (Let my lips express praise to the God in heaven who so far extends his loving kindness towards me without any merit of my own, but in the fullness of his mercies.) I always ask the ambassadors of these monarchs about our brethren the Jews, the remnant of the captivity, whether they have heard anything concerning the deliverance of those who have pined in bondage and had found no rest."

[Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (915-990 CE) Jewish physician, chief minister of Islamic Caliphate in Cordova, 'The Jewish Caravan']

"In Baghdad there are about forty thousand Jews, and they dwell in security, prosperity, and honour under the great Caliph [al-Mustanjid, 1160-70 CE], and amongst them are great sages, the Heads of the Academies engaged in the study of the Law…’"

[Benjamin of Tudela, Rabbi in Baghdad in the year 1168 CE, 'The Jew in the Medieval World']

"Those Eastern thinkers of the ninth century laid down, on the basis of their theology, the principle of the Rights of Man, in those very terms, comprehending the rights of individual liberty, and of inviolability of person and property; described the supreme power in Islam, or Califate, as based on a contract, implying conditions of capacity and performance, and subject to cancellation if the conditions under the contract were not fulfilled; elaborated a Law of War of which the humane, chivalrous prescriptions would have put to the blush certain belligerents in the Great War; expounded a doctrine of toleration of non-Moslem creeds so liberal that our West had to wait a thousand years before seeing equivalent principles adopted.

[Leon Ostorog, French Jurist]

"The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence"

[Robert Briffault, Novelist and Historian, 1928]

"The only effective link between the old and the new science is afforded by the Arabs. The dark ages come as an utter gap in the scientific history of Europe, and for more than a thousand years there was not a scientific man of note except in Arabia"

[Oliver Joseph Lodge, Writer and Professor of Physics, 1893]

“Thus, when Muslims crossed the straits of Gibraltar from North Africa in 711 and invaded the Iberian Peninsula, Jews welcomed them as liberators from Christian Persecution.”

[Zion Zohar, Jewish scholar at Florida International University, 2005]

“Throughout much of the period in question, Arabic served as the global language of scholarship, and learned men of all stripes could travel widely and hold serious and nuanced discussions in this lingua franca. Medieval Western scholars who wanted access to the latest findings also needed to master the Arabic Tongue or work from translations by those who had done so.”

[Jonathan Lyons, Author, Writer and Lecturer, 2009]