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U.S. and British foreign policy is in danger of being seen as “an indiscriminate war on Islam – what President Bush has slipped into calling a ‘crusade’”
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LONDON,
September 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – A new book on the
repercussions of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States warns
British Prime Minster Tony Blair that he risks ostracizing Britain’s
two-million Muslims through his blind support for America’s
unidentified war against terrorism and its unjustified upcoming war on
12-year-sanction-hit Iraq.
Iqbal
Sacranie, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, suggests
in his new book: The Quest for Sanity — Reflections on September 11
that the U.S. and British foreign policy is in danger of being
perceived as “an indiscriminate war on Islam — what President
[George W.] Bush has slipped into calling a ‘crusade’”, Times
Online said Thursday, September 19.
At
the launch of the book, Sacranie will reiterate the abhorrence felt by
genuine Muslims towards terrorism and the slaughter of innocent
people, the paper said.
“But,
it seems,” Sacranie will add, “the terrorists of September 11 had
not only brought down the world’s two tallest buildings, they also
hit our own high towers of equal rights and equal inclusion,
especially with respect to the British Muslim community ... We should
not make worse what is already terrible.”
The
Muslim Council of Britain, an organization recognized by Downing
Street as representative of mainstream opinion among Islamic
communities, has previously sought to steer clear of controversy.
Sacranie’s
decision to speak out reflects growing fears among Muslim leaders that
a military invasion of Iraq, following so soon after the war on
Afghanistan, will play into the hands of extremists and deliver a
devastating blow to race relations, Times Online added.
He
will urge the British Government to adopt policy which “holds the
entire country together in these difficult times”. The impending
invasion of Iraq “for reasons which do not sound at all convincing
or compelling” makes it more imperative that all voices, including
those of British Muslims, are heard.
The
Council has sent a questionnaire to Muslim community organizations
across the country asking for their views on a war against Iraq. The
survey will be used to draw up a united message for the Government
when Parliament is recalled next week to debate war, Times Online
reported.
Sacranie
will say: “Friends should not be treated as enemies. Muslims are
friends and want to be welcomed and included as friends.
“Prior
to September 11, the community felt it was moving towards inclusion
and integration, but now it simply does not know where it stands. It
is being ostracized and excluded and at the same time lectured about
integration as if the community itself was refusing to integrate.”
His
reference to being lectured on integration is intended as a swipe at
David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, who has recently offended some
groups by calling on ethnic minority families to speak English at
home. The new book: The Quest for Sanity — Reflections on September
11, includes an introduction stating: “There are politicians and
even members of the Government who have singled out the Muslim
community as being ‘integration-resistant’.”
It
suggests that Islam has been demonized by sections of the Western
media and Blunkett should do more to protect Muslims by extending race
relations laws to include discrimination on religious grounds.
The
book, being launched at the Regent’s Park Mosque in London, includes
essays from British Muslims on how they were victimized and vilified
after September 11.
