BY Hassan Saleemi 

If the war on terror was doubted by it’s perpetrators, those in the corridors of Westminster or Washington to be a war on Islam itself, there can be no doubt about the latest addition to the guiding text for this war. Tony Blair’s speech at the Labour Party national conference on Saturday 16th July 2005, about the London bombings makes the position for all advocates of this war very clear:

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What does he define as these views and barbaric ideas that we need to confront?

Let us examine this evil ideology that needs to be confronted according to Tony Blair. The idea that Israel should be eliminated, is actually the idea that the Israeli state should cease to exist, the Palestinians return to their homeland, and the Israeli state’s occupation of all of Palestine should end (see Virgina Tilley's view).

This does not mean the elimination of Jews in the Middle East; Jews have always lived among Muslims, in the Islamic world as per Islamic guides on Dhimmis. This is the mainstream view of Muslims, and a view held to be the definitive Islamic view on Israel. Tony Blair categorising this as part of the evil ideology has categorised the majority of Muslims and Islam as such.

The demand that all Westerners should leave Muslim countries, is non-existent, a disingenuous claim and a diversion. Not even Usama bin laden demands that there be some form of ethnic cleansing of all Westerners from Muslim lands. Behind the spin and slogans, he is referring to a very legitimate demand that foreign occupation troops leave Iraq, Afghanistan, and perhaps more importantly for many Muslims; the American military bases in Islamic holy lands, the Hijaz, in Saudi-Arabia. Blair says this is "irrespective of the wishes of people and Government". When were the wishes of the Muslim people ever taken into account, considering they have Western sponsored "democratic" dictatorships arching over them all over the Muslim world? Western military bases, occupations and interference being removed is again the mainstream desire of Muslims, and a view held to be the definitive Islamic view on the issue. Tony Blair categorising this, as part of the evil ideology has again categorised the majority of Muslims and Islam as such.

It is even more absurd to attack the desire for Shariah, and flies straight into the face of every Muslim. Shariah law, is the law of Allah, the law of Islam, manifested in many forms, and at many levels, be it personal law or state law. Every Muslim would agree that Shariah law is to be adhered to and at a state level would be interpreted by the legitimately elected Islamic ruler or Khaleef, which leads me to Tony Blair’s next point.

He mentions the demand for a Caliphate. The desire for a Khilafah, is not the monopoly of a few groups, not the monopoly of a few "young radicals", but is fundamental to Islam. While America has it’s ‘United States’, and Europe has the ‘European Union’, why is Muslims seeking political unity as prescribed by abundant verses of the Quran and Hadith not legitimate in Tony Blair’s view?

The above four points mentioned in the prime ministers speech is most likely to be deeply offensive to Islam and Muslims. He seems to be confirming a widely held perception among Muslims that the war on terror is indeed a war on Islam as a complete personal and political way of life, using terrorism as a proxy. What is possibly even more surprising is that most Muslim groups, Mosques and institutions seemed to have missed this fundamental attack on the elementary teachings of their religion. The most counterproductive thing Mosques and Islamic institutions could do, unduly fearing repercussions, is to discourage debate or promotion of the above four issues in a peaceful way. If you prevent the youth discussing these things inside the Islamic institutions, they will be discussed elsewhere, only with much more resentment, alienation, frustration and eventually possibly even ‘extremism’.

Source: This article appeared in the Muslim Weekly:
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