A cynical drive is under way to shut down any criticism of Islam - and that will only cause further division: DR TAJ HARGEY

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Freedom of expression is one of the pillars of British civilisation. It is the noble idea that lay at the heart of the Magna Carta, pioneered the development of parliamentary democracy and inspired the defeat of Nazi tyranny.
But I fear this essential liberty is under grave threat from an ugly alliance of Muslim extremists and supine British officials who are conspiring – in the name of multicultural sensitivity – to give Islam a special status in our society.
Dressed up as a form of trendy tolerance, this sinister strategy is already corroding public discourse and breeding a new form of 'two-tier justice'.
That is the only conclusion I can draw from the disturbing case of Hamit Coskun, a Kurdish-Armenian protester who was convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence on Monday after he burnt a copy of the Koran outside Turkey's consulate in London.
Attacked by a knifeman at the time (who, farcically, will not face trial until 2027), the 50-year-old has now been punished by the British state and fined almost £350.
As a progressive imam and Islamic theologian, I found Coksun's actions distasteful, offensive and utterly against the spirit of Britain where respect for people's beliefs and faiths is a central feature of our culture.
And yet I am deeply troubled by the decision of the authorities to treat his conduct as a criminal offence. No one has been put in physical danger. The damage to property is slight. Nor is the legislation under which he has been charged being deployed as its makers intended.
The Public Order Act is meant to deal with dangerous and abusive behaviour, not hurt feelings or religious sensibilities.
This decision does not show British law operating at its majestic, impartial best. On the contrary, the depressing episode exposes the cynical drive to shut down any criticism of Islam.
The conviction of Coskun is not an isolated case. It is part of a concerted push to erect a judicial forcefield around Islam – that will only sow further division.
Anyone who thinks this is an exaggeration should consider the case of the schoolteacher in Batley, West Yorkshire, who showed his pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in 2021.
Four years on and the teacher is living in hiding, fearing for his life after being targeted by Islamists.
The drawing was presented during a classroom discussion about the Charlie Hebdo massacre in 2015, when terrorists targeted the French satirical magazine after it published drawings of the prophet.
'Je Suis Charlie,' Western leaders cried at the time as they expressed solidarity with the 12 victims of this horrific atrocity. But those were just empty words.
In Britain, Europe and most of the West the concern of political elites and policymakers was to avoid offending Islam rather than defending our cherished democratic principles.
That is why the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was absolutely right to warn that, under Sir Keir Starmer's government, we could be seeing a specific blasphemy law to protect Islam creeping in by the back door.
In 2008, the traditional British blasphemy laws were finally abolished. It is extraordinary that now, in the face of Muslim fundamentalists and fanatics, those laws could be resurrected to prop up a creed that barely existed in Britain before the mid-20th century.
Islam is no more part of Britain's historic identity than Christianity is part of Morocco's or Pakistan's. Yet now the faith is being given a uniquely privileged position above all other religions in this country.
That is a reflection not of some celestial truth but fear – given the demands and grievances of fundamentalist Muslims often come laced with the menace of violence.
Any quasi-blasphemy law is little more than a form of appeasement by a cowardly political establishment that always offers the path of least resistance to hardliners.
Little wonder that the Tories' justice spokesman Robert Jenrick warned this week that the policy will create a two-tier legal system – the very opposite of equality that is meant to be Labour's lodestar.
This is not the road to peace. This will lead to more oppression, violence and extremism – such as we saw with the Charlie Hebdo killings and the savage attack on the great writer Salman Rushdie in 2022. The signs of surrender are all too clear.
One glaring example of this institutional feebleness is the plan to introduce a new wide-ranging definition of Islamophobia under the 2010 Equality Act which – as its architect Harriet Harman declared – created 'a new social order in Britain'.
Part of that new order could be the criminalisation of any criticism of Islam – a move that our forefathers would have found despicable and incomprehensible.
Some supporters of this crackdown on free speech want to widen the definition of racially aggravated crimes to include any attacks on Islam or its believers. But that just illustrates the intellectual weakness of the fundamentalists' position. Islam is not a race, it is a religion, and people from all sorts of ethnic minorities are adherents.
But the greater intellectual flaw is the pretence that blasphemy rules are sanctioned by the Koran.
As a Muslim scholar, I can say categorically that this is a complete fabrication.
There is nothing scriptural about the concept of blasphemy. In truth, the Koran advocates freedom of religion and mutual coexistence by welcoming other beliefs and viewpoints. 'To you, is your religion, and to me, mine,' says one striking verse in Islam's book.
The tragedy of contemporary Islam, especially in the West, is that fundamentalists have been allowed to take charge. They have dictated the agenda, resulting in a triumph for radicalism.
I believe orthodox Muslims' obsession with blasphemy stems not from Islam's transcendent text but from three manufactured additions to Islamic theology.
I call them the 'Toxic Trio' because their influence has been so malign.
First, there is the 'hadith', the reported sayings of Prophet Mohammed compiled centuries after his death. Second, is the 'sharia', a patriarchal concoction of medieval codes that justify authoritarianism and treat women as second-class citizens. Third, there are the 'fatwas', the risible opinions of self-important and politically motivated clerics.
Their aim is not to promote spiritual enlightenment but to enhance the rulers' stranglehold on power.
While the Toxic Trio is routinely used to justify blasphemy laws in Islam, it has no place in a liberal democracy like Britain. It is wrong on so many levels.
By giving a unique status or protected standing to Islam, it contravenes the British imperative to fairness and justice. This is bound to cause resentment since other believers will not feel that they have the same protection.
Indeed, it is hard to imagine that the state would have been as tough with someone who burnt a copy of the Bible outside the Italian Embassy in London.
I am not arguing that we should widen a blasphemy law to cover every faith.
Freedom of speech has already been undermined too much in modern Britain, as shown by the spread of cancel culture and the vast diversity industry, which only encourages people to feel perpetual offence.
We should be moving in the opposite direction – towards a greater embrace of liberty, not by constricting hard-fought historic rights for free speech. That is the truly British way.