Common Ground in Hostile Territory
Many a times we have heard that it is better that we engage in the common good even with non Muslims rather than throwing out the baby with the water. It surely would be difficult if we adopted a mentality of and I quote
“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”
Indeed this attitude now has included the Quilliam Foundation by certain representitives of the Muslim community and I shall later on in this blog include people that I had been silent about before. We should even have “husn al Dhunn” (give them the benefit of the doubt ) for these people. We must remember that the British government had linked its funding with support for this Foundation. Here is the link
http://traditionalislamism.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/support-quilliam-or-else/
What do we mean by common good?
1-We could work for the benefit of the Muslims in drug rehab programs, in providing a “British Muslim” identity, in tackling extremism and so on. It would not matter what the conditions are for this engagement
2-We could work on the “common good” with Non Muslim Governments but on the condition that we are not forced to leave Islam, compromise on our religion, and so on
3-We should never trust Non Muslim Governments and only have a hostile relationship i.e.
“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”
Now the British Government is forcing people like the Radical Middle Way to engage with the Quilliam Foundation and even support them publically. In fact we have other people like Hamza Yusuf having “husn al Dhunn of people like Mockbul Ali a Muslim in the British Government who is said now to have closer relationships with the Quilliam Foundation.
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/martin-bright/2008/04/quilliam-foundation-meeting
Of course in my eyes he had links with MCB before the change in policy, and now with the governments support for this foundation he has changed tact. He clearly is forced because of his position to just push what the Government wants despite what he may personally believe.
Now can we really engage in “Husn al Dhunn” in forming a “British Muslim” identity with entities like the Quilliam Foundation? Well this really makes a mock of this whole notion of “common good” and “Husn al Dhunn”.
Here we have a foundation that calls the prophets edicts barbaric, equates orthodox Islam with the BNP, wants us to seek a re-interpretation on the “abomination” of Homosexuality (well, I shall leave it to Maajid to clarify that one) and takes the Maqasid approach to Kufr and we want to engage with them in forming a British identity?! We want to be “inclusive” with them? I mean that is ridiculous to say the least! So we accept the funding of the British Government as long as we say that they are contributing in a positive and inclusive manner to moulding our identity of Islam. Yeah, well that would be great if it were not for the fact that by adopting this approach we destroy the basis of the whole enterprise! It is like saying, I will unite with Neo Nazis to combat racism! A contradiction, if I ever saw one!
Now of course those people within the Radical Middle Way do see this as a mistake as one supporter clearly said on this site. I quote
I am not disagreeing with you that Ed Hussain has been way out of line – I AGREE, I AGREE, I AGREE. And it was totally unnecessary for Abdulrahman malik to ‘bring’ QF into the comment he was making in that video. It’s his fault and naviety for trying to be inclusive because I think the QF does not do anything worth including or praising.
Well Ed is not just out of line, he is also preaching Kufr! Alhamidullah I know it was a mistake (and this is where I have Husn al Dhunn), but why can’t the Radical Middle Way make it public ? Wallahi, I am not here to be obsessive on mistakes and it would do the foundation a whole lot of good. Unfortunately this approach of a three prong Husn al Dhunn, engagement in an inclusive manner, and an agreement to disagree has also been pushed forward by another “Sufi” “mainstream” figure that is well known. For the moment that figure that we have evidence for shall remain annonymous until the right time comes. Remember we are talking about the Quilliam Foundation here .
Of course there is nothing wrong in engaging with anybody in seeking to root out things like unemployment, crime, and drug addiction but not at the expense of our religion!
This is Husn al Dhunn taken to far. Rather we should adopt this approach as our beloved Prophet said
A believer is not stung twice from the same hole.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2008/jul/21/butt.nawaz?gusrc=rss&feed=global
Maajid Nawaz: ‘We have cross-party support’
Maajid Nawaz, director of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism thinktank, tells Riazat Butt his organisation has wide support
Ahmad
July 21, 2008 at 11:01 am
Why has the Islamic Society of Britain given any attention to “Ed”?? (From the QF home page – I’m not linking there!):
Ed Husain at ISB’s 2008 Summer Camp
19th July 2008
Quilliam co-director Ed Husain took part in a lively Q&A session at Lincolnshire Showgrounds alongside professor Tariq Ramadan, Yahya Birt, Sabin Malik and Ahtisham Ali on Saturday, 19th July 2008. Questions from the 3,000 strong audience related to identifying and tackling extremism, modes of engagement with central Government, suicide bombings, and roles of ’so-called mainstream’ Muslim organisations. Ed argued that foreign policy and socio-economic deprivation in Britain were not only concerns of Muslims, but other people across society. So why is it that extremist Muslims commit suicide bombings, and not others? He called on Muslims to change our communal discourse, abandon a separatist mindset, stop viewing murderers as martyrs, and openly question whether these acts would result in an afterlife in paradise or hell. At times a challenging audience, Ed declared that Western Muslim communities will not be held hostage by the Palestinian cause, but actively engage in the British political process as full citizens and not merely to further hidden agendas. All of the panel were in agreement that suicide bombings were haram, or scripturally forbidden. The event was an excellent first step, pioneered by the ISB, to build greater dialogue and understanding between British Muslims.
Ali Abdullah
July 21, 2008 at 2:55 pm
ISB members include
Osama Hassan and
Ajmal Masroor
So you probably have the answer there (why don’t you email the ISB and ask them why?)
The ISB did not advertise that they invited the heretic so maybe did not think much of it, but they also probably “forgot” that these guys will exploit any tiny exposure they get within the Muslim community to bolster their cred with the government
Naive and foolish politics
That was the one of the only events within the UK outside of city circle (which is already known to be ‘dodgy’ ) involving muslims that he has been invited to – bad call by the ISB
Abdulla
July 21, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Salam,
‘mataiun qalil’ temporal enjoyment. It will soon run out Insha’Allah.
wslm
Abdullah al-Hasan
July 21, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Some ISB members too close of a relationship with folks like Ed – and I hear they have internal issues due to it. ISB are making bad moves, giving people like this a chance to voice their concern at a non-political event is sheer stupidity. I mean its a cultural family event for people to have fun, not get confused with jibberish clap trap from heretics like Ed.
On another note…
I am sick and tired of these Muslims who fear losing their jobs or they fear that they will be ‘exploited’ by Ed and his cronies and compromise their deen to bend over backwards for enemies of Islaam. People like Moqbul Ali of the FCO who is often seen cuddling up with the Ed or up and down Westminster. How far do these people go to defend the shayateen and not fear Allah?
Ahmad
July 21, 2008 at 11:13 pm
This is on page 6 of that QF launch document (Pulling Together to defeat Terror). Note the organisations QF find favour with!:
There are already positive signs emerging in British Muslim communal
discourse with groups such as the City Circle, JIMAS, Radical Middle Way,
and sections within the Islamic Society of Britain pushing for a more
Western Islam, relevant to our lives in the West, away from the influences of
Indian and Arab cultural practices.
Ali Abdullah
July 22, 2008 at 4:24 am
To be honest – from what we have seen the QF has been wholly and completely rejected by general Muslim sentiment
Anyone who has been linked with them in the past has only suffered and sought to quickly distance themselves from them
No-one can help them build a reputation, it was lost from the start, all that will happen is that those who associate with them will
1. be helping them get more funding from the government since they can point to their involvement in these events
2. hurt their own reputation
So in essense – ruin their own image, and inadvertantly promote the image of these stooges in front of the media/ government
Such games cannot continue forever – at some point it will become clear to even the most blind that these lackeys cannot deliver and are in fact just a caricature, at which point they cease to become useful at all
Abdulla
July 22, 2008 at 11:34 am
It is Moqbul Ali of the FCO who should be confronted on these issues – he holds these organisations together. He is forced, maybe out of his will, to maintain the status quo for QF, RMW and others. He is responsible for not playing a fair game, when he clearly knows the government is pushing an agenda. What use are you Mr Ali to the Muslim community, if you cannot even voice the concern of the majority when you fear the government? Everyone knows you have the means to make sure people like Ed and crew get into more and more press, Muslim organisations and events. The duty is on you to either make the changes now or be held responsible for pushing Ed’s spaced-out agenda. Your reputation is already on the decline, do not expect to recover, but lessen the damage while you can.
Ahmad
July 22, 2008 at 12:06 pm