Why the stereotype, why this town? For years it was often reported in the media that the radical, outlawed group, al-Muhajiroun ² often carried out recruitment drives in Luton. And so hundreds of Muslim men chanted and carried posters to emphasize that Islam was a peaceful religion and to counter the way Muslims and Islam are portrayed in the media.

That was five years ago. Then this past March, we had this view of peaceful, moderate Muslims as 200 soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of The Royal Anglian Regiment marched in a homecoming parade through town to mark their return from Iraq.

Anti-war Islamists protested during an Army parade
in Luton March 2009
Photo Credit: Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion

As we see in this YouTube video the non-Muslims of Luton did not take too kindly to the Muslim protesters.

Here is the problem: moderate Muslims obviously cannot control the whacko extremists among them. It does no good for 900 Muslims to yell, "We hate violence" while a hundred go around with love of violence in their heart. If moderate Muslims want to shatter the stereotype of the violent jihadist, then they need to seriously root out any Muslim that even suggests that Islam is better than western culture. They must turn in to the police any Muslim who says he hates America or Jews or who opines that suicide bombing is excusable or that Israel should be destroyed.

Although a few hundred Luton Muslims did take a stand against some of the extremists among them ³, temporarily chasing them away is not enough. Muslims need to embrace the culture in which they live. They must think of themselves as British or American or French before they think of themselves as Muslim. They must renounce Islam in their hearts. They must assimilate. Otherwise, they are merely making their community a nesting ground for future jihadists.

I have Muslim friends and partners who do not pray 5 times a day, nor do they think of themselves as Muslim first. Some of them even drink alcohol or eat pork. They are Muslim only because they were born Muslim and if they could, without endangering their lives, they would stop being Muslim. And most importantly, they do not live among other Muslims. These Muslims are not a danger to western civilization.

The problem lies with those who go to mosques, live in Muslim enclaves, do not assimilate, do not speak their host country's language (nor do they want to), and view western culture as corrupt and vile. They contribute nothing to, and only drain the resources of, their adopted country. The worst of it is, that they make it easy for extremists to hide among them. When you have self-imposed ghettos within which even the police are fearful to tread, then you have breeding grounds for terrorists ⁴.

It is two types of Muslims that threaten western civilization: the Muslim extremist who wishes for a world Caliphate and strives in the violent path of God to achieve that dream, and the moderate, unassimilated Muslim who wishes for a world Caliphate and strives in the peaceful path of God to achieve that dream. The west will eventually be overcome by Islam, either violently by a few or peacefully by millions ⁵.

The way to stop the stereotype is for Muslims to stop being so stereotypical. You, Ahmed, the one with the vest with fuses sticking out, stop being so violent. And you Farouz, the one asking for museums to remove offensive-to-Muslims paintings and statues, stop asking for accommodations to your religion. Accommodate your life to ours - we didn't ask you to come, you begged to be here. Be the decent fellow and accept our culture.

Related: The English Defence League march in Birmingham, 4th July 2009 video:

Notes

(1):

time and date.com, Prophet's Birthday

There are mixed beliefs on how one observes Muhammed's birthday. Some people see the prophet's birthday as an event worthy of praise. Others view the celebration of birthdays as contradictory to Islamic law. Both sides cite the hadith (books of Islamic law) and events from Muhammed's life to support their views.

Mawlid, or Milad, is celebrated with large street parades in some countries. Homes and mosques are also decorated. Some people donate food and other goods for charity on or around this day. Others listen to their children read out poems about events that occurred in the prophet Muhammed's life. Mawlid is celebrated in this way in many communities across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, or Australia.

...

Mawlid is a public holiday in many Islamic countries but not in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Many schools, stores, businesses and organizations are open. Islamic schools, stores, businesses and organizations may be closed for part of or all of the day.

Muhammed was born in Mecca, now in Saudi Arabia, in the year 570 of the Gregorian calendar. The precise date of his birth is unclear. However, Sunni Muslims observe Muhammed's birthday on the 12th day of the Islamic month of Rabi' al-awwal, while Shi'a Muslims mark it on the 17th day of this month. The 17th day of Rabi' al-awwal commemorates the birth of the sixth Shi'a iman, Ja'far al-Sadiq.

The term Mawlid is used in Egypt and Sudan to refer to the birthdays of both Muhammed and local Sufi saints. The birthdays of about 3000 Sufi saints are marked or celebrated.

[Rabi' al-awwal "beginning of spring" (ربيع الأول) is the third month in the Islamic calendar.]

(2):

Discoverthenetworks.org, AL-MUHAJIROUN

Established on February 16, 1996 by Omar Bakri Mohammed (who also founded Hizb ut-Tahrir), Al-Muhajiroun (Arabic for "The Emigrants," a name its founder says "refers to the early followers of the Prophet Muhammad") was a radical Muslim organization based in England that also had branches in many other nations. The group’s disbandment was announced on October 13, 2004, though it is now believed to be operating as several splinter groups, among which are The Savior Sect, the Islamic Thinkers Society, and the Salafi Youth Movement. According to Islam scholar Daniel Pipes, Al-Muhajiroun was "the most extreme Islamist group operating in the West."

Al-Muhajiroun described itself as "not a group or a political party,” but as a Jama'ah (collective body) within Ahl us-Sunnah wal Jama'ah (The minority saviour sect) working towards the world-wide domination of Islam." Closely allied to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, Al-Muhajiroun taught its recruits that Israel, the Jews and the West are evil and that it is their Muslim duty to fight them. The organization referred to the 9/11 hijackers as “the Magnificent 19.”

The avowed aim of Al-Muhajiroun was to restore and expand the Caliphate, or Muslim empire, which would operate according to the principles of divinely-given Islamic Sharia law. The new Caliph, called Al-Khalifah or "leader" on Al-Muhajiroun's website, was to be one "whose foreign policy is to conquer the whole world by Jihad."

(3):

The Independent (UK), Luton fights back against right-wing extremists

Two weeks earlier those same men – most of whom are former members of the banned Islamist group Al Muhajiroun – had greeted soldiers of the Royal Anglian regiment who were returning from Iraq with screams of abuse and placards declaring them "Butchers of Basra", "murderers" and "baby-killers".

The protest outraged whole swaths of Britain, not least Luton's 25,000 Muslims who knew all too well that their town would once again be associated with extremism.

Once the Masjid Al Ghurabaa was firebombed, in what police suspect was a retaliatory hate attack, Mr Latif sadly concluded that Luton's ordinary Muslims were paying the price for the actions of the "Al Muhajiroun boys". Which is why he decided to act against them. Shortly after Friday prayers last week he and 300 supporters marched down to Dunstable Road where the sect often set up their stall and told them in no uncertain terms that they were no longer welcome in Luton. His group was spontaneously joined by a number of shopkeepers who were equally fed up with the Islamists putting off their customers with their firebrand preaching.

Despite retaliating with angry taunts of "shame on you" and "go back to your synagogue", the extremists eventually backed down and sloped off towards the town centre. They have vowed to return but many within Luton's Muslim community say they will now get the same treatment if they ever come back.

For outside observers the fact that Luton's Muslims turned on the extremists in their midst shows how angry many British Muslims are at the small number of Islamists who routinely give them a bad name. But within Luton itself, it wasn't the liberal Muslims of the community that turned on the extremists – it was the ultra-orthodox conservatives that finally snapped.

(4):

Planck's COnstant, How to differentiate Moderate Muslims from Extremists

But why even bother uttering the obvious? Of course, not all 1.5 billion Muslims are terrorists. But so what? The problem with allowing Muslims into our country is not that there might be one terrorist out of a thousand; the problem is that the other 999 make a fertile media in which the terrorist may thrive.

(5):

Planck's Constant, Forget Waldo - Where`s Waleed? The Moderate Muslim

the danger to western civilization is not from Islamic Terrorists, these are easy to understand and fight against. The real threat to western civilization is in fact the moderate Muslim. That seemingly nice cab driver who doesn't blow up schools and hospitals but who wants us to accommodate his religion. To remove all depictions from libraries and museums that are offensive to HIS eyes, to remove food in schools that are offensive to HIS tongue, to remove all music offensive to HIS ears. And once he has accomplished this, we can all live in harmony in HIS world.