BRITISH VALUES FIT ISLAM:MCB LEADER

London, 1 Dzulqa’dah 1436/16 August 2015 (MINA) – Slamming Prime Minister’s speech, in which he conflated extremism and terrorism with cohesion and integration, the general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain stressed that British values fit well with Islam.

“As individuals and communities, we have long been part of the fabric of this country,” Dr Shuja Shafi, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, wrote in the Sunday People, Mirror reported on Saturday, August 15.

“We’ve given much and have much more to give.” OnIslam.net quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Shafi was speaking about David Cameron’s last month speech that raised concerns among the British Muslim community, with many warning that it would only lead to linking the vast moderate Muslim community with terror.

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Addressing the nation from Birmingham on July 20, PM Cameron spoke rather inflammatory words when he proposed that Muslims shared in the guilt of ISIL under allegations they failed to make their condemnation more vocal and clearer.

The PM has set out four pillars to combat extremism in the country, including offering a counter-narrative to the “warped” ideology of the so-called Islamic State (ISIL), stemming the process of radicalization, ensuring moderate Muslim voices are heard and reversing the “identity crises” among some British-born Muslims.

Calling it “the struggle of our generation”, Cameron urged authorities, community and religious leaders, schools and families, and British society to work together to “de-glamorize” extremist ideologies propagated by terrorist groups like ISIL.

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In his article, the Muslim leader asked what exactly are British values and who gets to define them?

“That way of life includes respecting democracy and the rule of law, freedom of speech, of worship and of press plus equal rights regardless of race, sex, sexuality or faith,” Shafi said.

“These human values resonate positively in our Islamic faith, even though both extremists and the anti-Muslim bigots who thrive on negative stereotypes of Muslims would have you think otherwise.

“I have no problem in supporting these values. I only wished they were applied consistently.”

He went on saying: “And while we struggle to get to grips with British values, we find it even harder to agree on the history taught in our schools from which we derive our values.”

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Meanwhile, he called for celebrating the heroism of Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish soldiers who fought for in WWI and WWII.

In a July interview with RT, the Quilliam Foundation slammed such a reductionist view on terror, emphasizing that studies had already established a cause and effect link between Britain’s foreign policy footprint in the Middle East and radicalization at home.

Interestingly, it was CIA director John Brennan who recently said the West’s foreign policy is one of the factors pushing terrorism. (T/P007/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)