Christianity QA

Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Islam Attracts Top Britons in a Growing Trend Over 14,000 Britons have embraced Islam, according to the UK’s Sunday Times. Citing the first authoritative study of the phenomenon, the paper said that they had done so because of disillusionment with Western values. Some of Britain’s top landowners, celebrities and the offspring of senior Establishment figures have embraced Islam. The trend is being encouraged by Muslim leaders who are convinced that the conversion of prominent figures will help protect a community stigmatized by terrorism and fundamentalism. Zaki Badawi, chairman of the Imams and Mosques Council, said: "The community has been unfairly targeted and these developments encourage it in a time of difficulty."

Well, the Islamic community can do itself a favor by answering the question, "Are you here to establish Islamic law?" Pretty simple yes/no.  But for some reason it isn’t being asked, and it certainly isn’t being answered.

Response:

Islam Attracts Top Britons in a Growing Trend

Imagine that! Militants infiltrating Britain’s top companies. A lot of the terrorists are on the dole in Britain.  And they have the gall to criticize our President for ‘bungling’ something?  Go figure. How militant Islamists are infiltrating Britain’s top companies 11 September 2005 A militant Islamist group that Tony Blair has said should be banned has members in some of Britain’s most important institutions, including the NHS and blue-chip companies such as IBM and Reuters, an Independent on Sunday investigation has revealed. The Government is due to publish legislation this week to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is already proscribed in European countries such as Germany and in most of the Middle East. The Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, has undertaken to give the wording of the ban to the Opposition to secure cross-party agreement. In contrast to other groups that the Government intends to ban, the membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir is mainly middle-class and well-qualified. A significant proportion are university-educated and work in areas such as finance, information technology, health and education. Recently, the IoS disclosed that The Guardian had employed Dilpazier Aslam, a Hizb member, as a trainee journalist, and articles he wrote after the London bombings did not mention his connection with the group. He lost his job at the paper after refusing to give up his membership. The IoS has now learned that at least two members of Hizb, which seeks to form a global Islamic state regulated by sharia law, work for the computer giant IBM, and that Reuters, the international news and financial information agency, has at least one member among its employees. After being informed of this, a Reuters spokesperson said: "We require our journalists to be very sensitive to any activities which might lead to their impartiality being questioned. We of course recognise the right of people to hold their own views. "We are not aware of any of our employees being members of Hizb ut-Tahrir. If it becomes illegal, then certainly we would review the matter on the ‘Do their private actions impact our public reputation?’ principle." An IBM spokesperson said the company was assessing the impact of any new legislation. It would not disclose personnel information "for reasons of data protection". Sajjad Khan, a prominent member of Hizb who runs classes on the group’s ideology and has delivered speeches at the group’s congresses, said: "Most of our members are graduates who work and pay taxes. Very few of them are unemployed or rely on state benefits." A finance and IT specialist, he said he had worked for a number of large companies, including Tesco. Several members of Hizb are medical practitioners, including its spokesman, Dr Imran Waheed, a psychiatrist practising in London. Its women’s representative, Nazreen Nawaz, is a qualified doctor who worked in cancer research. Another member is a manager at University College Hospital, London. The group is also strong in the education sector, where a former member of the executive board lectures in IT in an east London college. The former headmistress of a prominent Islamic primary school in the same area is also a member of Hizb, as is the landlord of the building. Although Hizb ut-Tahrir insists that it has never supported violence in Britain or the Middle East, security sources accuse it of being among groups which radicalise Muslims to the point where they attract the attention of terrorist recruiters. A former Hizb ut-Tahrir activist told the IoS that behind closed doors he was encouraged to take up boxing and self-defence classes in order to "prepare for jihad". Although he never accepted full membership, he was associated with the group for nearly a decade, and said two members had told him how they had joined the Territorial Army in order to get "real" military training. After TA rules were changed and it was no longer possible to opt out of military action if asked to take part, this stopped. The organisation’s well-designed www.hizb.org.uk website replaced earlier sites such as www.1924.org, which until the London bombings used to contain material from the 100,000 leaflets and flyers handed out at mosques across Britain every Friday. Though Hizb denies being anti-Semitic, a leaflet first published in 1999 said: "The Jews … are a poisoned dagger thrust into the heart of the Islamic Ummah and [sic] evil cancerous gland which spreads deep within the Islamic countries." Until last year the same statement was carried on Hizb’s websites. When Britain’s first successful suicide bomber, Asif Hanif, blew himself up in a Tel Aviv bar in April 2003, he killed three others and injured 55. His partner, Omar Sharif, also from Derby, was found dead floating in the sea two weeks later, after his bomb failed to detonate. The June edition of Khilafah magazine that year said: "This case more than anything has shown that though the Kaffir [unbelievers] wish to seduce the Ummah away from the problems Muslims face with corrupt Western ideas such as nation statehood and the British Muslim identity, it has certainly not deterred these two young men who grew up in Britain." A discussion on a Hizb website about Western citizenship spoke of killing kaffirs – infidels or non-Muslims. "Their bonds, equality and freedoms are lies and false … We saw an Immigrant [muhajir] from Quraysh drawing closer to Allah by killing his kaffir relative," it said. This was removed days after the 7 July attacks in London. Approached for comment, Dr Waheed said the group always espoused non-violence. He denied that the Khilafah article could be interpreted "in any way" as praising violence. He refused to discuss the organisation’s membership beyond saying that they were professionals "serving their local communities". INSIDE HIZB Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) was founded in 1953 by a Palestinian court clerk, Taqiuddin al-Nabhani. Its aim is to establish the Caliphate, a state based upon and governed by Islamic law.In Britain, the party is headed by Jalaluddin Patel, 28, an Indian IT engineer, and has up to 10,000 members. In 2002 it was outlawed in Germany after allegations of anti-Semitism and last year three British members were sentenced to five years in jail in Egypt. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article311824.ece

Response:

Islam Attracts Top Britons in a Growing Trend Over 14,000 Britons have embraced Islam, according to the UK’s Sunday Times. Citing the first authoritative study of the phenomenon, the paper said that they had done so because of disillusionment with Western values. Some of Britain’s top landowners, celebrities and the offspring of senior Establishment figures have embraced Islam. The trend is being encouraged by Muslim leaders who are convinced that the conversion of prominent figures will help protect a community stigmatized by terrorism and fundamentalism. Zaki Badawi, chairman of the Imams and Mosques Council, said: "The community has been unfairly targeted and these developments encourage it in a time of difficulty." Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Britain has co-opted Joe Ahmed-Dobson, son of Frank Dobson, the former Labor health secretary, to chair its regeneration committee. The study by Yahya (formerly Jonathan) Birt, son of Lord Birt, former director-general of the BBC, provides the first reliable data on the sensitive subject of the movement of Christians into Islam. He uses a breakdown of the latest census figures to conclude that there are now 14,200 white converts in Britain. Speaking publicly for the first time about his faith, Birt, whose doctorate at Oxford University is on young British Muslims, argued that an inspirational figure, similar to the American convert Malcolm X for Afro-Caribbeans, would first have to emerge if the next stage, a mass conversion among white Britons, were to happen. "You need great transitional figures to translate something alien (like Islam) into the vernacular," he said. "The image of Islam projected by political Islamic movements is not very attractive." Initially, Birt said, he had no coherent reasons for converting, but: "In the longer term, I think it was the overall profundity, balance, coherence and spirituality of the Muslim way of life which convinced me." The faith has made inroads into the Establishment. It emerged this weekend that the great-granddaughter of a British prime minister has converted. Emma Clark, whose ancestor, the Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, took Britain into the First World War, said: "We’re all the rage; I hope it’s not a passing fashion." Clark, who helped design an Islamic garden for the Prince of Wales at Highgrove, his Gloucestershire home, is now helping create a similar garden for a mosque in Woking, Surrey, on the site of a car park. Many converts have been inspired by the writings of Charles Le Gai Eaton, a former Foreign Office diplomat. Eaton, author of ‘Islam and the Destiny of Man,’ said: "I have received letters from people who are put off by the wishy-washy standards of contemporary Christianity and they are looking for a religion which does not compromise too much with the modern world." Others have come to Islam through love or marriage. Kristiane Backer, a former friend of the cricketer Imran Khan, said she was introduced to the religion by him. She had shrunk from speaking publicly about Islam before because of fears it might affect her work prospects. Some prominent converts are even more wary. The Earl of Yarborough, 40, who owns a 28,000-acre estate in Lincolnshire, declined to discuss anything about his faith. "I have nothing to say to you," said Yarborough, who has apparently taken the name Abdul Mateen. Muslim leaders are harnessing modern campaigning methods to promote their faith. Groups have sprung up on the Internet publishing "trophy lists" of white converts. The state-funded school in London established by Yusuf Islam, formerly the singer Cat Stevens, has turned to Premiership footballers to provide role models. Sources close to the school say converts including Nicolas Anelka, the Manchester City striker, and Omer "Freddie" Kanoute, of Tottenham Hotspur, have made visits. Fresh evidence came this weekend that Islam has received formal acceptance at the heart of the Establishment. The Queen has approved arrangements to allow Muslim staff at Buckingham Palace time off to attend Friday prayers at a mosque: a member of staff in the finance department is the first to take advantage of it. http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=57887

Response:

Islam Attracts Top Britons in a Growing Trend Over 14,000 Britons have embraced Islam, according to the UK’s Sunday Times. Citing the first authoritative study of the phenomenon, the paper said that they had done so because of disillusionment with Western values. Some of Britain’s top landowners, celebrities and the offspring of senior Establishment figures have embraced Islam. The trend is being encouraged by Muslim leaders who are convinced that the conversion of prominent figures will help protect a community stigmatized by terrorism and fundamentalism. Zaki Badawi, chairman of the Imams and Mosques Council, said: "The community has been unfairly targeted and these developments encourage it in a time of difficulty." Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Britain has co-opted Joe Ahmed-Dobson, son of Frank Dobson, the former Labor health secretary, to chair its regeneration committee. The study by Yahya (formerly Jonathan) Birt, son of Lord Birt, former director-general of the BBC, provides the first reliable data on the sensitive subject of the movement of Christians into Islam. He uses a breakdown of the latest census figures to conclude that there are now 14,200 white converts in Britain. Speaking publicly for the first time about his faith, Birt, whose doctorate at Oxford University is on young British Muslims, argued that an inspirational figure, similar to the American convert Malcolm X for Afro-Caribbeans, would first have to emerge if the next stage, a mass conversion among white Britons, were to happen. "You need great transitional figures to translate something alien (like Islam) into the vernacular," he said. "The image of Islam projected by political Islamic movements is not very attractive." Initially, Birt said, he had no coherent reasons for converting, but: "In the longer term, I think it was the overall profundity, balance, coherence and spirituality of the Muslim way of life which convinced me." The faith has made inroads into the Establishment. It emerged this weekend that the great-granddaughter of a British prime minister has converted. Emma Clark, whose ancestor, the Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, took Britain into the First World War, said: "We’re all the rage; I hope it’s not a passing fashion." Clark, who helped design an Islamic garden for the Prince of Wales at Highgrove, his Gloucestershire home, is now helping create a similar garden for a mosque in Woking, Surrey, on the site of a car park. Many converts have been inspired by the writings of Charles Le Gai Eaton, a former Foreign Office diplomat. Eaton, author of ‘Islam and the Destiny of Man,’ said: "I have received letters from people who are put off by the wishy-washy standards of contemporary Christianity and they are looking for a religion which does not compromise too much with the modern world." Others have come to Islam through love or marriage. Kristiane Backer, a former friend of the cricketer Imran Khan, said she was introduced to the religion by him. She had shrunk from speaking publicly about Islam before because of fears it might affect her work prospects. Some prominent converts are even more wary. The Earl of Yarborough, 40, who owns a 28,000-acre estate in Lincolnshire, declined to discuss anything about his faith. "I have nothing to say to you," said Yarborough, who has apparently taken the name Abdul Mateen. Muslim leaders are harnessing modern campaigning methods to promote their faith. Groups have sprung up on the Internet publishing "trophy lists" of white converts. The state-funded school in London established by Yusuf Islam, formerly the singer Cat Stevens, has turned to Premiership footballers to provide role models. Sources close to the school say converts including Nicolas Anelka, the Manchester City striker, and Omer "Freddie" Kanoute, of Tottenham Hotspur, have made visits. Fresh evidence came this weekend that Islam has received formal acceptance at the heart of the Establishment. The Queen has approved arrangements to allow Muslim staff at Buckingham Palace time off to attend Friday prayers at a mosque: a member of staff in the finance department is the first to take advantage of it. http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=57887

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