Silence Isn’t Golden

Silence in the face of oppression isn’t golden: Allah never commanded it and nor did our Prophet (PBUH) tell us such. Allah says in the Quran 16:90-

“Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.”

In the latest news, the so-called English Defence League has set its eyes on areas which it has previously not marched at, such as Walsall and Bristol. To add insult to injury, they now have a formal political voice, via an agreement with the British Freedom Party. The BFP is also Islamophobic and the resources on their site point to the usual Islamophobic propaganda, as used and encouraged by terrorist Anders Breivik and their ilk.

It is pathetic that the most of our mosques ever seem to do is to tell people to stay in their homes and to not go out onto the streets. Furthermore, they tell the Muslims that to engage with the EDL thugs is mindless and pathetic. However, what many of them fail to realise is that when we go inside our homes, they will come knocking on our homes and destroy them. They have absolutely no dignity for any buildings in which Muslims are occupants as demonstrated by their recent march outside East London Mosque.

It’s all very well laughing at the EDL as they end up in police vans, but it is no laughing matter that they now have a legitimised political voice, as well as their persistence in protesting and campaigning against us. 2011 saw the most EDL demonstrations since 2009. The fact that the Home Secretary is yet to do anything official about this rather disruptive group implies that sitting in our homes and mosques will do nothing whatsoever to tackle them.

The solution is that we need dedicated teams of Muslims in mosques to discuss the issues at hand and practical measures we can take in order to stop this group from spreading. Remember, they now have a political voice which has been legitimised, so we have to up our game considerably. For you Londoners, think about the upcoming mayoral elections: do you want to vote for Ken Livingstone who has a fairer approach towards Muslims or Boris Johnson, who beneath his comical exterior has made some rather Islamophobic remarks?