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feminist scholars all want to discuss the real or supposed mistreatment of women under religious laws and to ask if secularism offers a better guarantee of women’s rights. In 2001 the Bush administration in the USA referred to the oppression of women under the theocratic Taliban regime as a possible rationale for the invasion of Afghanistan. Since then, the subjection of women under Islam has provided a useful legitimating
standpoint, but also futile and inapplicable.90 According to the anti-Semitic perception adopted by Islamist thought, the web of conspiracy of the vile and despicable Jews is cast across the entire world. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion serves as common ‘proof’ of the Jewish effort to control the world through chicanery. Abdallah Azzam (1941–89), leader of the Arab mujahidin in the 50 Zionism in Arab discourses guerilla war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and one of the most prolific Islamist writers of the latter quarter of the twentieth century
especially the younger generation of British Muslims.’71 Similarly, in 2006, the head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, said: My service needs to understand the motivations behind terrorism to succeed in countering it. The video wills of British suicide bombers make it clear they are motivated by perceived worldwide and long-standing injustices against Muslims; an extreme and minority interpretation of Islam promoted by some preachers and people of influence; and their interpretation as anti-Muslim of UK foreign policy, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan. Killing oneself
refugee camp at Calais, France, popularly called “The Jungle”, which hosts up to 4,000 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan. The British Government under the Conservative David Cameron has spent over £12 million in order to fence the camp and guard it with armed police and sniffer dogs, instead of allowing the refugees to set foot on British soil in order to claim asylum. These refugees are forced to reach Britain illegally by jumping on trains and lorries crossing the English Channel. They are then reviled as “illegals” and economic migrants, and are accused of
information from. He is not himself a practising Muslim, but nevertheless he was brought up in Islam. He has never heard anything like the things I am recounting here. ‘Surely it must be a very small minority of Muslims who hold these beliefs?’ he asks. I point out that what I say here is based on my fieldwork among neo-orthodox Arab, Turkish, Iraqi, Afghan, and Somali Muslims in Aarhus. What I present is by no means representative of all Muslims. The Iranian psychiatrist suggests that he could put me in contact with some Muslim theologians with a deeper and more nuanced
, especially during Ramadan. Ali Riaz notes that ‘According to the weekly Jonomot, the Bangladeshi community in Britain has been annually contributing £5 million to charity’.28 The turn to religion has been boosted by western governments, who have always preferred to deal with more conservative forces than allow the development of alternative groups that might challenge elite interests. They have given support to religious organisations at all levels, from local government to foreign policy – where they have promoted traditional tribal and religious leaders in Afghanistan
revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan followed by the emergence of the Mujahideen (Holy Warriors). The Iranian revolution demonstrated that Islam can be seen as a political ideology rather than merely a religious or theological construct. This line of argument had earlier been advanced by Hasan al-Banna (1906– 49), the Egyptian Islamist and the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (est. 1928), and Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903–79), the South Asian Islamist and the founder of the JI (est. 1941). Their ideas had been debated within activist circles, but the Iranian
mean that the poor should be left to fend for themselves. British foreign policy needs to be subject to a robust debate. If a policy breeds discontent at home and threatens the social fabric, it is more than necessary to open a debate, and change course if needed. The debate should be open and inclusive of all opinions. The debate should not be only about British policy towards Iraq or Afghanistan, but the basic principles of the policy: justice and equality. The double standard of the policy towards Middle Eastern countries and utter disregard of popular opinion in
receive reports that make one shudder. Throughout the world individuals and groups are brutally abused simply because of their faith or belief. Some examples stand out, as the intensity of abuse is severely dehumanising. In Afghanistan, a man was arrested and tried on the criminal charge of conversion from Islam to Christianity in a Kabul court. According to the national law of Afghanistan, the penalty for conversion from Islam is the death sentence. In my 9780719082542_C07.qxd 8/9/11 15:51 Symposium: Freedom of belief Page 139 139 latest communications report I
the outskirts of Aarhus in August 2010. The new owner, a former leader of the so-called ‘immigrant gang’ Black Cobra, had offered the place to the group as a way to expiate for his previous sins, which had included drug dealing, gambling, and other illegal activities. The young men wanted to build a small mosque as a refuge from the demands of parents and the corrupting influences of Danish society. They were children of refugees or immigrants who moved to Denmark from Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Turkey. Some participants in