by Tim Dieppe, The Critic
How should we respond to the growing impact of Islam on British politics?
Millions of modern people . . . have forgotten all about Islam. They have never come into contact with it. They take for granted that it is decaying, and that, anyway, it is just a foreign religion which will not concern them.
The above quote is obviously from another age. Ever since 9/11, it has been hard for us in the West to “forget all about Islam”. The question of the increasing influence of Islam on the West and how we should respond is very much a live question.
The above quote is actually from Hilaire Belloc’s book: The Great Heresies, first published in 1938. It is interesting to note that in the context of the rise of Nazism, Belloc was writing about a future threat from Islam. His words now look quite prescient. Islam is no longer “a foreign religion” which “does not concern us”. It is right here on our streets, in our towns, and increasingly in our politics too.
At the last general election there was for the first time a concerted national campaign to coordinate Muslim votes. Several independent candidates backed by this campaign are now MPs. The majorities of many other MPs were slashed by the campaign. In thirty constituencies, Muslims represent more than 25 per cent of the population. We already have one local council run by an Islamic political party. Islam is now very much a part of British politics and looks here to stay.
Earlier this year, desperate to win back some Muslim votes, the government formally adopted an official definition of anti-Muslim hostility which gives special protection to Muslims that those of other faiths do not have. Last year, a man was charged with burning a book. The original charge accused him of “intent to cause against [the] religious institution of Islam, harassment, alarm or distress.” Only after a public outcry was the charge amended, since the “religious institution of Islam” is not a “person” in English law. The book he burned was not just any book, after all, it was a Qur’an. Had it been any other book, I doubt he would have been charged at all.
We should all remember the fate of the Batley Grammar School teacher who taught a lesson on free speech. This was the most powerful lesson he ever taught. He ended up being intimidated into hiding, and we all learned that we no longer have free speech in relation to Islam in this country. Actually, we started to lose our freedom of speech in the aftermath of the publication of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses, back in 1989. Publishers have been cautious about the possibility of offending Islam ever since.
Read also: Will Burnham enable Islamic extremism? by Arthur Reynolds . ‘The Prime Minister has a history of unfortunate radical associations’