Far from being a threat to British society, Muslims in the UK are facing a concerted media circus and attacks from self-styled liberals aimed at having their values eroded. Alexander Baron explains.
Far away from the villages of Iraq, the backwaters of Afghanistan or the handful of self-styled imams protesting in Wootton Bassett against the British occupation of Islamic lands, another jihad is being fought. It is a jihad in which Islam is a major – the major – player, only this time it is on the receiving end. Not only that, but just as most capitalists don’t realise that the communists are waging a relentless class war against them, most Moslems don’t realise they are the targets of this particular jihad, or even that it is being waged. For this is a disguised jihad, it uses the same Orwellian newspeak as the “pro-choice” lobby, which speaks not of murdering unborn babies in the womb or even of abortion, but of freedom from male oppression and the right to choose – i.e. abortion on demand regardless of the circumstances. The very same newspeak is used by the self-styled anti-fascist lobby and its umbrella organisations when they appeal for tolerance – which means banning anyone they brand fascists, racists, sexists, Holocaust deniers. And homophobes.
This jihad is the war being waged by liberal “progressives” in the mass media against especially, but not exclusively, Islamic values, in particular against the Islamic intolerance of male homosexuality. For the moment, traditional Islam appears to have prevailed, but the reader – and more especially the viewer – should not be deceived. The liberal élite will ensure the scriptwriters declare the gay lobby the eventual winner. And round two could start sooner than you think.
At this point the reader will doubtless ask: What is he talking about? The soap opera EastEnders, that’s what. But first, let us go back in time a little.
After the Second World War, there was, we are told, a labour shortage in Britain, a shortage that was so acute that the necessary labour (read cheap labour) had to be imported, so large numbers of unassimilable immigrants were recruited from what was left of the once mighty British Empire to fill vacancies for menial and low paid jobs. This was of course only phase one of the con. In a free market, or a relatively free market, there is no such thing as a labour shortage, wages and salaries simply rise until the vacancies are filled.
Obviously most indigenous Britons were not too happy about the huge influxes of immigrants, but those who protested were shouted down as racist, by, surprise, surprise, those great champions of the working class, the communists and socialists. Many of them went further, branding all opposition to uncontrolled immigration not only racist but Nazi by focusing on the handful of genuine extremists among the anti-immigration lobby – and don’t forget those six million exterminated Jews!
So, immigrants kept flooding into the country. Now it has to be said that this has not been entirely detrimental either to the economy or to Britain as a whole. The vast majority of immigrants to any country are generally as law-abiding as the indigenous population, the vast majority, but by no means all, and while some people – most notably the noble Gurkhas – have been kept out, we have seen the spectre of all manner of undesirables slinking into Britain: criminal gangs, prostitutes, and people who have openly declared war on both Britain and Western values.
So where does Islam stand here? Islam is not a race, but a religion, and like all the world’s true religions – great and not so great – it welcomes converts from all backgrounds. Islam was imported into Britain by white converts: solicitor William Quilliam founded a mosque in Liverpool in 1889; and the Qur’an was translated into English by the British scholar and Moslem convert Marmaduke Pickthall in 1930.
Apart from total abstention from alcohol, traditional Islamic values are not so different from the traditional British ones. This is hardly surprising in view of their common ancestry. Moslems from especially North Africa and the sub-Continent have integrated far better into British society than most minorities. By and large they do not demand special privileges, keep themselves to themselves, and many work in family businesses. In other words, they live in peaceful co-existence with the indigenous white population. Now of course there are many third generation Moslems in Britain, but peaceful co-existence is not the goal of the organised left, and never was, especially with a religion which opposes collectivism (including socialism and communism), forced race-mixing (by and large), Zionism, and, shock, horror, homosexuality.
And now, back to EastEnders. In 2007, the writers of this soap opera decided to introduce a (slightly dysfunctional) Moslem family into the show. Matriarch Zainab Masood is by far the dominant character, although her slightly henpecked husband doesn’t let her get her own way all the time.
In April 2009, the eldest son made his first appearance. Played by an actor with the very un-Islamic name of Marc Elliott, Syed is the black sheep of the family, but he does have one strong point, he finds himself a stunningly attractive Moslem girlfriend who soon becomes his fiancée. Amira is not only a virgin but has many of those qualities white women sorely lack nowadays (if they ever had them in the first place); the black sheep is reconciled with his slightly estranged father, and inducted into the family business, with the marriage imminent it seems everything is falling into place, and Syed will live happily ever after. But for one tiny problem, Christian the local butch queen who is involved in the family business through his sister, whose husband has formed a partnership with the Masoods.
Syed’s first encounter with Christian is not entirely favourable, but he soon develops a fascination with him. Many teenagers and slightly older young men often go through phases which in later life they look back on with embarrassment or dismay. Anti-social behaviour such as shoplifting, hanging out in “gangs”, and minor acts of vandalism are among the least desirable of these. Alcohol and even drugs (hard and soft) are a rite of passage for some youths, especially in the West, while angry young men (of both sexes) often develop involvements with “radical” i.e. left wing politics – if only we can abolish the profit motive and put all power in the hands of the state (i.e. us) the world will be all peace and light. And, alas, homosexuality.
When it comes to behaviour that is instantly recognisable as anti-social or self-destructive, the advice given by responsible people – elders and peers alike – is get thee behind me Satan, or at worst, get it out of your system, move on, and grow up. Quick. But the advice given to those who are tempted by the spiritual sickness of homosexuality always seems to be to “come out”. And this is the advice given to Syed, by Christian – predictably.
Fortunately, the confused Syed consults an imam who gives him some sound advice: put it out of your mind, get involved in other things, and the madness will pass. This is very sensible. Man is dominated by his instincts, and sometimes these instincts are very base indeed. The advise to “follow your heart”, “if it feels good, do it”, and other such 60s slogans may sound good in theory, but all manner of evils can feel good to the perpetrator. No one in his right mind would tell a man who has committed a murder that if the first one felt good he should follow his heart, or a teenage shoplifter that he should “come out” as a thief, and perhaps consider a career in organised crime.
True, consensual homosexual acts between adult males are a lot closer in the hierarchy of sins to shoplifting than to serial murder, but they are still debased, depraved and unclean, in Islamic eyes, if not in the eyes of BBC scriptwriters.
Just before his wedding to the lovely and totally unsuspecting Amira, Syed’s mother finds out what has been going on between the not-so Christian Christian and the groom-to-be. Although Zainab is revolted by the mere thought of homosexuality, she is not an intolerant person, and has had no qualms about working alongside him in her business, as long as he leaves his sexuality at home – an admirable quality, although I’m not sure I’d like him preparing my prawn biriyani. She is though understandably horrified at the betrayal of trust, even more so when her son tells her: Mum, I’m gay.
Happily, although the show’s scriptwriters have clearly overstepped the mark, they don’t appear to be totally depraved; Syed does not jilt his fiancée at the altar and ride off into the sunset to Brokeback Mountain and live happily ever after with his butch queen until one of them dies of AIDS. There is though the sad prospect of this storyline being revisited.
The most disturbing things about this whole sorry saga though are that there appears not to have been even a whisper of dissent from the countless Moslems who surely watch this programme or have at least heard about it, and that this sick storyline was no accident.
In 1993, the BBC screened a one-off crime drama set in the Orthodox Jewish enclave of Stamford Hill in North London which centred on a ritual murder. Not a Jewish ritual murder of a young boy as portrayed in the classical anti-Semitic folklore, but of an adult male. Even though the script was written by two long established Jewish writers, there was uproar in the Jewish establishment, and a pre-screening. Yet this EastEnders saga went on for weeks or months, and on at least one occasion we saw a Moslem male clench lips in a passionate embrace with his catamite before the watershed, and not one Moslem group appears to have protested.
Marc Elliott himself defended this sick plot, and was quoted on the EastEnders blog: “I actually got a letter from a gay Muslim who had the same situation as Syed 10 years ago. He told his family and now they’ve accepted him and his partner. I have lots of lovely letters and, surprisingly, no bad feedback at all.”
He appears too to have researched this plot in some depth, though hopefully not in some sordid London bathhouse.
It is time for mainstream Islamic organisations to take a stand against this sort of poison. Although it by no means as topical as the current mess in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the attempted subversion of Islam by the forces of darkness in liberal garb is every bit as dangerous as that of the so-called Islamist fifth column. And Moslems would very likely receive considerable support from the non-Moslem majority who have been largely cowed into silent acquiescence by the tyranny of political correctness.
[The above was published originally January 13, 2010 by Mathaba; if I recall, the italicised introduction was not written by me. A few very minor corrections have been implemented, including the corrected spelling of the name Quilliam.]
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