People need dramatic examples to shock them out of complacency. Islamic history is full of examples where shock tactics have been necessary to elicit change. When the Prophet (pbuh) smashed the idols in the Kabah, he was giving the Quraish a dramatic, powerful lesson in the singularity of Allah - an open challenge, a declaration of intent. When Isa (Jesus pbuh), overturned the tables of the money lenders in the old temple he was throwing down the gauntlet. He was provoking a fight, a fight where he was right and they had abused the House of God. He was cleansing the ‘Temple’ publicly.

And so we get on to MPACUK picking fights, MPACUK’s style of discourse, our rhetoric, why we do what we do and whether it is justified and right.

Some of the questions we are often asked revolve around our ‘thunder and brimstone articles or rants’. The following is a conversation I had whilst discussing the topic.

Abid Skywalker: Do you always have to kick the Ummah or abuse them, in particular the mosque committees, to make your point?

Zulfi Bukhari: We have different methods to make our point, sober articles attract certain people, and rants attract certain people.

Abid Skywalker: But abusing fellow Muslims (even if they deserve it) is not right

Zulfi Bukhari: Why not? If I called all Muslims jahil (ignorant) would that be wrong?

Abid Skywalker: Yes - not all Muslims are jahil

Zulfi Bukhari: Agreed, but Syed Qutb didn't make the distinction, in fact his book ‘Milestones’ is scathing on the ummah. It shocked and woke up the Muslims
and that accusation is not levelled at him. I don't agree with him, I agree with you. Not all Muslims are in a state of jahilia , but I understand what he was trying to do.

Abid Skywalker: A number of people have already mentioned that we are 'too angry' sometimes

Zulfi Bukhari: And they have since we started MPACUK. But the question is 'what’s wrong with being angry at injustice?' In other times, that anger would be called passion, that passion would be praised. Muslims have sunk low and that means they will do anything to have a quiet life, including trying to muffle our voice. Our voice hurts, some people like you will be offended and put off, some who are hypocrites will cling to it as proof of our immaturity, but others will wake up.

Abid Skywalker: Yes, but you have accepted that people like me will be put off.

Zulfi Bukhari: Yes, rants are not for everyone. To make the website more appealing we have other articles, some may consider them boring, and others thought-provoking. Our methods are diverse just as the ummah is diverse. Our objective of activating Musllims from their slumber is consistent.

Abid Skywalker: I agree that we are asleep but I still think we don't have to 'shock' people into action

Zulfi Bukhari: Let me give you an example. You're sitting in your jim-jams on your sofa, watching East Enders, just before Asr, and the house is on fire and your kids are upstairs. I can't put the fire out on my own. I can’t wake you up with a nudge, I need to shock you into action. I need to make you aware of the immediacy of the problem 

Abid Skywalker: But most people can't see the problem we're in is that serious - so they will just get offended and not react

Zulfi Bukhari: With our current capability, MPACUK are only interested in those who can wake up, the rest will burn, or if Allah wills, we will help save them. At the moment we are looking for those who are inspired by passion and anger at the flames, and those people are waking up

Abid Skywalker: What happens to those who are turned off by MPACUK's approach?

Zulfi Bukhari: That is for Allah to decide, to wake them up or not, however I do not believe those people who are sincere in helping the deen are put off by the MPACUK style. The people who are put off generally have a power structure to protect. That includes the mafia-run mosques in Blackburn; that includes the indoctrinated armchair Jihadists of HT, or the selfish members of TJ who think they can perfect themselves whilst doing nothing to protect the ummah from constant assaults.

Abid Skywalker: Why do you generalise when referring to Muslims?

Zulfi Bukhari: We have been doing election campaigns for nealy 7 years now, and the Iraq war and the injustice of Palestine has been a major motivation in what we do, yet in the Southall By-election, Muslims were voting and behaving with the same village mentality that they always have. We could have quietly shaken our heads and continued silently with our door-to-door campaign or we could have exposed the groups, the special interests, Muslims who are complacent, and either motivate them to action or shame them into action. Telling the truth to these people and their leaders, even if harsh, makes people hurt, but does not allow them to mentally switch off.

Abid Skywalker: Has this approach ever worked?

Zulfi Bukhari: Mosque reform - 7 years of fighting without compromise, with massive resistance from the masses and their vanguards - we kept the pressure on, took the fight to them, were loud and noisy enough to keep the agenda in the public eye, and now it is a major issue in Britain. We didn’t compromise and they are reforming.

So in summary, MPACUK is passionate, MPACUK is angry, MPACUK has different approaches to reach different people, but the obligation Muslims have to become organised to defend the oppressed is paramount. And if it takes a harsh word or unkind jibe, we do that as technique, not because we ‘hate’ mosque committees, or Muslim groups, but because we actually love our fellow brothers and sisters and we know they could be doing so much more. MPACUK would love to see the day when we don’t have to, we would love to see the day, when we are held to account for failing Palestine. But until that day, we will continue to rant against apathy.

Our rants work, our webiste is the UK's biggest civil liberties Muslim website with over 7 million hits a month. Our forum is one of the busiest in the country and the work we do is only because Allah has blessed us with a large scattered group of friends who support and agree with us. Our enemies are an irrelevancy as they do nothing to defend the Ummah and they can't defend themselves. If our style is what is takes, then so be it.

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