Bishop Nazir-Ali's article is mostly about how British society is becoming less "Christian". For this he blames immigration and multiculturalism.

Presumably he thinks new immigrants to this country should be made to become Christian or that only Christians should be allowed to come to this country. I don't know.

This is the only part of the article which is specifically about Muslims:

Quote:

... there has been a worldwide resurgence of the ideology of Islamic extremism. One of the results of this has been to further alienate the young from the nation in which they were growing up and also to turn already separate communities into "no-go" areas where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability.

Those of a different faith or race may find it difficult to live or work there because of hostility to them. In many ways, this is but the other side of the coin to far-Right intimidation. Attempts have been made to impose an "Islamic" character on certain areas, for example, by insisting on artificial amplification for the Adhan, the call to prayer.

Such amplification was, of course, unknown throughout most of history and its use raises all sorts of questions about noise levels and whether non-Muslims wish to be told the creed of a particular faith five times a day on the loudspeaker.

This is happening here even though some Muslim-majority communities are trying to reduce noise levels from multiple mosques announcing this call, one after the other, over quite a small geographical area.

There is pressure already to relate aspects of the sharia to civil law in Britain. To some extent this is already true of arrangements for sharia-compliant banking but have the far-reaching implications of this been fully considered?

[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=TKBQW2WWUVSN5QFIQM... Telegraph[/url]

He seems to have 3 main gripes against Muslims
1 - extremism is creating "no-go" areas for non-Muslims
2 - an "Islamic character" is being imposed by Muslims wanting to say adhan over a loudspeaker
3 - he doesn't want sharia to be introduced into civil law and he doesn't know why he doesn't like sharia-compliant banking.

He says that as a result of Islamic extremism there are "no-go" areas in Britain where non-Muslims "may find it difficult to live or work there because of hostility to them." However, he provides no examples of cases where this has happened nor does he name any areas specifically that are "no-go" areas.

There was a story recently in the Daily Mail and the Sun about how a mosque in Oxford wants to announce the adhan over a loudspeaker three times a day. The mosque is going to be submitting an application to the local council to do so. Quite how applying for permission from a local council to say the adhan is "imposing an Islamic character" is beyond me. The bishop here is clearly taking a hyped tabloid story and exaggerating it some more.

He doesn't try to negatively characterise sharia civil law and just says that there a calls for aspects of sharia to be introduced into civil law. However, if sharia civil law were to be introduced in British courts it would only to Muslims and would deal with marriage, divorce, food, etc. It would not impinge on non-Muslims and no-one would be flogged, amputated or beheaded. Bishop Nazir-Ali most likely mentioned sharia so that readers would conjure up images of such floggings, amputations and beheading. He desperately wants to say something about the "dangers" of sharia-compliant banking but can't think of anything.

There are certainly areas I wouldn't venture alone. These include gang-warfare areas like Moss Side, where I would have minimised the risks until I got mugged there, areas where there are high ethnic tensions be these down to specifically Muslims, Asians, White Pride types or whoever else, and areas that I think are dominated by louts of all creeds and colours, particularly around the more insular and "proud" estates (I feel safe, for instance, on and around the main roads of Brixton or on most main roads in London, but I am familiar with nasty problem estates). These aren't the be-all-and-end-all of social problems either. I therefore don't find the Bishop's remarks comprehensive and they may be unfair, but I think we ALL, regardless of the community to which we belong, must take responsibility for creating a friendly atmosphere in our public spaces, and that can often mean enlisting the support of our friends and being willing to chastise them just as in any matter where we find people behaving irresponsibly. I worry about Islamist extremism and attempts to dominate or stir the pot, for sure, and I also worry about other extremes and attempts to dominate the environment or inculcate cynicism. I find the Bishop non-specific and therefore offensive, but there is that element of stark truth in what he is saying. An example that springs to mind where ethnic tensions are spoiling an area that has been civil and fun since the 50s, is the Whitechapel/Brick Lane area. I'm happy to hang around there, but I do see crowds of Muslim youth fighting and exchanging abuse, and I have also found some shopkeepers hostile to me presumably as a youngish white non-Muslim, which is never a pleasant experience no matter the reasoning.

Has anyone noticed the similarity between the Bishop's name and 'Nazi-Rally' ?

hmm...

why? He was born and raised in Pakistan I think.

Salam

How come Bishop Ali missed all the beauty of Islam and settled for next best ?

I simply dont know.

I would love to talk to the Bishop and invite him to our weekend discussion circles.

Anyone here knows the phone number of Bishop Ali ?

Omrow

EDIT BY ADMIN - line deleted.