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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think we all need to take responsibility for challenging islamophobia

540 replies

karbonfootprint · 24/06/2015 18:38

It is so common and so hurtful to some of our fellow citizens. I don't think any of us should let it pass when we hear it, in private, but especially in public.

OP posts:
PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:00

But what the heck has that got to do with anything?Confused
So Muslims are fair game because some Muslims want Jews to be held responsible for Israel?

KoalaKoo · 27/06/2015 15:01

Quite. Sometimes I totally wonder where traditional British moral values have disappeared to.

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:01

But everybody else wants us to be held responsible for ISIS so it's exactly the same rhkng

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:01

Thing

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:02

Koala I don't think anyone is going to agree with us. Muslims are clearly fair game and Islamaphobia a 'construct'

Inkanta · 27/06/2015 15:09

My angle is that Islamaphobia can be used to shut people up, when they are not being Islamaphobic at all but simply discussing issues pertaining to Islam and the wider issues of culture and race.

They need discussing - very thoroughly I would say, as we should discuss all religion and the ramifications of it's influence on behaviour and day to day lives.

Nullandvoid · 27/06/2015 15:09

Nonsense Pyjamas. You're hijacking a very genuine fear people have and saying people hold it against you. They don't.

As I said before, non Muslims in the west are seeking reassurance that their Muslim neighbours do not condone such behaviour. We hear David Cameron saying these atrocities are 'not the real Islam' or some such and want to know that that is the case.

Instead there is relative silence on the issue. Look at this thread for example! And very very few British Muslims on Twitter (though there are some, thank God) condemning the cruelties we now see every day.

If I were a kind, peace-loving Muslim right now, I would be saying no, this is not in my name. I want to co-exist happily. I want to live in peace. I do not want what these terrorists are saying they want.

Instead we are hearing cries of 'Islamophobia'. And I think it is on the rise. In my workplace, where people are usually extremely open-minded, tolerant, and relaxed, I hear anti-Muslim conversations every single day.

There would be less of it if the peace-loving Muslims were more vociferous in telling us what their religion IS, and ISN'T, about.

(And PS as a Catholic growing up during the Troubles, I was on the receiving end of a LOT of aggro for what the IRA did. But even as a child I always said this is not what I want. Not what I believe. As did my parents).

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:14

I and other Muslims have said many many many times that we just want to live happily and peacefully. Then people like Mistress come on and accuse us of all sorts and demand a theological debate about how Islam is bad when I don't want to get into that. Muslims never come onto these threads because people just shout at them and criticise and nitpick and accuse and they prob can't be arsed to get involved. I find myself getting sucked in and then wish I hadnt

KoalaKoo · 27/06/2015 15:14

Inkanta, that isnt what Islamophobia is, please read my posts above where I explained what Islamophobia looks like.

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:15

And for the MILLIONTH time ffs lots and lots of Islamic organisations have indeed come out and said not in my name and decried ISIS. You ppl just don't want to listen. I've said it 4x on Thai thread alonf

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:15

This thread alone

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:17

So your colleagues who are so liberal and open minded are saying anti Muslim things and that's my fault because I'm not walking around with a fucking banner saying I hate ISIS. Do you want all Muslims to get a badge made up? What do you want us TO DO?!?!

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:19

m.facebook.com/pages/Muslims-Against-ISIS/1444672609121662

Happy?

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:21

rt.com/uk/184112-british-muslim-fatwa-isis/

Nullandvoid · 27/06/2015 15:23

No. My heart is breaking for all those people gunned down yesterday.

Just 13,000 members of the Facebook page out of 2.8m Muslims in the UK?

One Belfast Telegraph piece about a group I've never heard of?

I don't want to get personal. My heart is breaking for all those who have suffered, and their relations who will now suffer for the rest of their lives.

And all for what?

Inkanta · 27/06/2015 15:23

KaolakKoo - I'm coming from MY angle - please don't close me down. Discuss or don't discuss but don't close my angle down.

Discussion of all thing Islam related should be up for discussion.

Inkanta · 27/06/2015 15:27

'Do you want all Muslims to get a badge made up? What do you want us TO DO?!?!'

Just discuss it - no drama.

maxxytoe · 27/06/2015 15:27

Where I live , there is a big Muslim community who simply do not integrate . It gives off an us against them vibe.
I think a lot of tensions are due to that aswell

KoalaKoo · 27/06/2015 15:33

Inkanta I dont understand your problem here. Discussing issues about beliefs in strong terms is fine and it is not islamophobia. In what way is that statement shutting you down?

Gemauve · 27/06/2015 15:33

"The edict was issued by Sheik Usama Hasan, a former imam from east London,"

Yeah, that's me convinced.

PyjamasLlamas · 27/06/2015 15:34

I do try and discuss it and I get shut down all the time.
You're acting like Muslims don't give a shit about people dying like you have the monopoly on heart breaking.
I was referring
To the million posts about Muslims not saying anything. I post a few random links from
Google and still get shut down.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 27/06/2015 15:36

Some suggestions here from Shamsi Ali, Chairman of an American mosque, as reported in the New York Times:

The fact of the matter is that Muslim citizens must force themselves back into the national conversation during times like these. They must face suspicions head-on and take responsibility for reclaiming Islam back from terrorists who are trying to mold this grand faith to suit their agenda

Muslims in the West should become well-versed in their religion and keep building awareness that Islam teaches compassion, unity and cooperation with all people. They should stand up to community members who ignorantly try to condone actions of extremists due to their own misguided understanding of Islam

The community should close the doors of mosques and community centers to known or suspected extremists who try to propagate their sacrilegious ideologies, and be vigilant about protecting our young from coming under their influence. In addition, the Muslim community must be courageous enough to report any activity of their respective members that may possibly lead into extreme violent acts

Finally, the time has come for Muslims to be courageous enough to look into a new interpretation of the holy text, in particular those religious texts related to human relations. In recent years, there has been a tendency to understand Islam in a literal fashion — a trend that is also known as Wahhabism — instead of following the principles and methods of jurisprudence established by prestigious Muslim scholars

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