Humpty Dumpty And Islamophobia Part Two

Continued from Part One

So, if it is fair to suggest that ‘Islamophobia’ is not racism, then it is clear that this word is not designed to protect Muslims from racial discrimination but to protect Islam from criticism. This is an extraordinarily dangerous precedent to be setting in an advanced and secular country like the United Kingdom. Readers familiar with this blog will know my extreme distaste for the economic policies that have dominated the West for the last forty years. But not once have I been accused of ‘neoliberalphobia.’ No ideology should be above criticism.

I took the time to read the book at the centre of the ideology allegedly founded by Muhammad of Mecca. The Koran is a very difficult book to read but I persevered and dedicated four months of my life to getting through the entire book. What I found there disgusted me – the violence, the immorality, the hatred, the sheer misanthropy. Since the Koran is at the centre of ‘Muslimness,’ is my extreme distaste for what I read count as ‘Islamophobia’? Am I to be condemned for my aversion to words on paper?

Looking at other aspects of Islam, or ‘Muslimness’ if you will, one could easily fall foul of this all-encompassing definition. What of the people who object to the gender segregation enforced by some Muslims? Are they ‘Islamophobic’?  The RSPCA could be in breach of this definition – the ritual slaughter of animals for halal meat is a revolting practice that should be banned in any civilised society. Is that ‘Islamophobia’?

Real problems can be seen if the LGBT community choose to object to some aspects of Islamic teaching. The protests in Birmingham by some Muslim parents against a programme for primary school children about same sex couples is an interesting example. The leader of the protests, Amir Ahmed, has said homosexual partnerships are not “valid sexual relationships” (see interview here). Is a gay person objecting to this characterisation of his lifestyle guilty of ‘Islamophobia’? Would women who objected to some protesters saying “God created women for men’s pleasure” (see here) be guilty of ‘Islamophobia’? Incidentally, I’m always mildly amused when I see placards like ‘LGBT against Islamophobia’ but that’s for another day.

Another group of people who could be caught by this definition would be moderate or liberal Muslims deemed ‘insufficiently Muslim’ by their conservative co-religionists. What about those brave individuals who come out as ex-Muslims only to be attacked as ‘Uncle Toms’ – the delightfully racist phrase used by, among others, London’s do-nothing Mayor, Sadiq Khan. Minority Muslim sects would also be at risk. Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan are legally forbidden from calling themselves Muslims or their places of worship mosques and there have been sectarian murders of Ahmadis in the UK. All these beleaguered minorities would be at risk from this definition – liberal Muslims, ex-Muslims, minority sect Muslims. But then the sort of racist who uses words like ‘Islamophobia’ is blissfully unaware that Islam is at least at divided into separate, competing and sometimes hostiles groupings as Christianity or Judaism.

The really dangerous aspect of this open-ended and vague definition is that it is effectively a blasphemy law. Yes, there used to be blasphemy laws to stop people criticising Christianity but they have been abolished. Why on Earth would anyone want to bring back such regressive laws? I’m deadly serious about this. The definition says it is racist to criticise ‘Muslimness.’ A ‘Muslim’ is ‘one who submits’ to god. Are we going to get to the point where someone is going to object to someone else’s atheism as ‘Islamophobia’? I do hope not but this dangerous definition could well be the beginning of an assault on the hard won right to freedom from religious bigotry.

I’ve said before and I’ll say it again – I long for the day when religious thugs can no longer demand respect for their demented beliefs. Why is it that people who claim not just to know but to know everything are always so angry about, well, everything? They claim to have the key to eternal life. Doesn’t make them very happy does it?