Due to the approaching Eid al-Fitr, Muslims in London gathered in the famous Trafalgar Square to break their fast and thousands prayed together. Sadiq Khan led the prayers.
This was criticized by Conservative Shadow Minister Nick Timothy, prompting Prime Minister Starmer to call on Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch to dismiss Timothy. He stated, “The UK is a multicultural, multi-religious country. Tolerance and acceptance are fundamental values of our country.”
Starmer is indeed well-intentioned, much like Jeremy Corbyn, who founded Your Party. As a Muslim, I would like to remind him of the following:
1- With few exceptions, nobody in the UK is bothered by the presence of Muslims. As a Muslim, I am very happy to be in this country. But the fact that thousands of people broke their fast and then performed Tarawih prayers in one of the world’s most important squares, like Trafalgar Square, is, unwittingly, a show of force against the state. It’s a display of power, actually. Similar scenes were seen before in White Chapel, where people blocked the road to pray. Streets and squares are not places for mass prayers. Mosques and prayer rooms exist for that purpose.
2- It is reported that 3.8 million Muslims live in London. Across the UK, almost 10 million of the 55 million population are Muslim. There have even been Muslim mayors, council members, and prime ministers. The tolerance in the country hasn’t seen any of this as a problem.
3- Pro-Palestinian Muslims who took to the streets to support the Gaza attacks stopped their protest and started shouting “We want Sharia law in the UK!” And today, there are reports that Sharia courts have been established in some areas and that disputes between Muslims are being heard in these courts, which have been rejected.
4- There is more than one Islam among Muslims. The beliefs of Muslims in each community, sect, or country differ from those in other countries. Many don’t even recognize each other as Muslims. They know the Quran as their holy book, but almost no one lives according to it. Their reference source is mostly sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and the communities, sects, and religious leaders who have built their religions upon these sayings. Their religion contains more narrations than the true Quran, and a significant portion of these are considered fabricated. The opinions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad are considered Sunnah, and even the most accepted Bukhara hadiths were published 200 years after Muhammad’s death. Many fabricated hadiths, not belonging to the Quran, circulate among Muslims as accepted religion.
5- When Muslims are alone, that is, before they gain a majority, they are quite humble and tolerant. But when they become powerful, they can never tolerate differences and will either try to assimilate those differences or eliminate them through oppression. That’s why 9 out of every 10 Muslims killed in the world today are killed by Muslims themselves. Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Al-Nusra, Hezbollah, Boko Haram are just some of the best known.
6- Muslims reproduce and have children much faster than members of other religions. When they gain a majority, they will not tolerate other religions in the regions they control. This is a certainty. All Muslim countries have a similar problem.
7- In 30-40 years, when they gain a majority, the UK will be no different from Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, or Afghanistan. What makes this country important is its ability to tolerate differences. But tolerance is the least common trait among the majority of Muslims.
8- The reaction of non-Muslims is not wrong. Instead of reacting, Starmer needs to try to understand.
Sack top Tory for calling Muslim Trafalgar Square prayers ‘act of domination’, says PM
Osman Faruk -London