Another brilliant article from my favourite newspaper columnist Richard Littlejohn, who today has been writing about the fact that stalls selling poppies have been set up at British mosques, in conjunction with the Royal British Legion, and that Julie Siddiqi, the executive director of the Islamic Society of Great Britain, said: ‘British Muslims should be wearing poppies not burning them.’
After all, almost half a million Muslims fought for the British Empire in WWI alone....
RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: When did you last see a poppy on a burka?
Julie Siddiqi says that the anniversary of the outbreak of World War I affords an opportunity to tell younger Muslims that 'we are in this together'
First, the good news. Islamic leaders across the nation are urging members of their congregations to wear the poppy in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.
Stalls selling poppies have been set up at mosques, in conjunction with the Royal British Legion. Julie Siddiqi, the executive director of the Islamic Society of Great Britain, said: ‘British Muslims should be wearing poppies not burning them.’
We should never underestimate the frustration most British Muslims feel at having their religion perverted by head-bangers like the welfare junkie Ram Jam Choudary and his bloodthirsty sidekicks in Al Jolson, or whatever they call themselves this week.
Nor should we forget the millions of Muslims from the Commonwealth, formerly the Empire, who volunteered to fight for Britain in two world wars.
An estimated 400,000 served with distinction in World War I alone, including the sepoy Khudadad Khan who was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in Belgium in 1914.
More than 3.5 million soldiers from the Asian subcontinent fought for Britain in both wars, not just Muslims, but Sikhs and Hindus, too. Tens of thousands were killed in action. Julie Siddiqi says that the anniversary of the outbreak of World War I affords an opportunity to tell younger Muslims that ‘we are in this together’.
She is rightly furious that maniacs such as Choudary purport to speak for her co-religionists and incite an unfair, but wholly understandable, anti-Islamic backlash.
‘How can you question a whole community’s loyalty when thousands of their forefathers died serving this country?’ she said. Amen to that.
It is fervently to be hoped that this year there will be no repeat of the disgusting poppy-burning antics of Ram Jam’s ‘Muslims Against Crusades’ outside the Albert Hall in 2010.
So, the good news is also that Julie Siddiqi represents the overwhelming majority of our Muslim fellow citizens.
Now for the bad news. Unfortunately, there is a sizeable minority of Muslims who appear to hate their adopted homeland.
Well, I say ‘adopted’. Many of the most extreme elements of Islamism were born in Britain and have been radicalised by deranged preachers from both home and overseas. It doesn’t help when rabble-rousers like Choudary are indulged by pusillanimous police chiefs, terrified of appearing to lack cultural ‘sensitivity’.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association is trying to surpass the £20,000 it raised in last year's appeal. The Fazl Mosque, also known as the London Mosque, in Southfields, south west London, was used as a bomb shelter in World War II and is hosting the launch of the appeal
More than 3.5 million soldiers from the Asian subcontinent fought for Britain in both world wars, not just Muslims, but Sikhs and Hindus, too, with tens of thousands killed in action
Frankly, I’ve always believed Choudary, like his oppo Captain Hook, before he was given a one-way ticket to Orange Jump-Suit Land, gets away with it not because he manages to stay a cigarette paper’s-width within the law but because he’s a paid informant for the Old Bill and the Funny People.
That’s what keeps him out of the slammer.