The Identity Crisis Facing British Muslims

Whatever way you want to look at it, British Muslims are facing an identity crisis. I myself still haven’t decided what label to give myself. I could harp on about how labelling of groups is wrong, but in this case it is important.

The liberals or the lefty amongst you will probably whince at such a thought but take a moment to reflect. In the media and amongst members of the public, British Muslims are seen as two dimensional beings. They’re either Muslim or they’re not. This in turn tars every single British Muslim with the crude brush of scorn. So when the Captain Hook tribute, Abhu Hamzar says death to America what happens is that this racist and bigoted view is applied to every Muslim.

Which poses a problem. Hence why I believe we should be careful not to generalise Muslims in to one dumping ground of scorn or opinion. So what are these types of Muslims that we have in Britain? Firstly we have the Islamist. A wonderful caricature which suits both the media and angry little men brigade just fine. An Islamist simply wants to Islamify the world. Everything in the world from politics to law must be governed by Islamic beliefs according to them. These people simply have no place in a democratic and multi-cultural country like England. They are not willing nor are they able to tolerate anything or anybody apart from their small minded Islamist views.

Now I’m not demanding that we ship these people out or witch hunt them all. After all we do live in a democratic country where people are entitled to their opinions, aren't we? We can further break these Islamists down to two more categories; literal or militant Islamists or idealist Islamists. It is the literal Islamists that are a danger to society and to everything this country stands for, whilst it is the militant literalists who are the biggest threat to Britain’s security. They are different from idealist Islamists in that they will act on their Islamists views. Worst still, they see it as their God given mission to embark on some sort of Jihad. So to make it clear an idealist Islamist is one who would, ideally like the world to be Muslim and governed by Islam but will not act on this idealism.

I know the angry little men brigade will read this and think that they do not exist. They do exist. Not every Islamist is a ruck-suck wearing, beard wielding, hate mongering criminal. Whether you like it or not.

Next up we have Secular, Progressive Muslims. A category I attribute myself to. Secular & Progressive Muslims are completely compatible with British society and culture. They are not Islamists, they do not seek to Islamify the world nor do they see Islam as an idealogy. They see Islam as what it is, a religion. These secular and progressive Muslims tend to be born in Britain, however there is still a significant amount who have come from other countries. They believe in living in a democratic society, one which is not governed or dictated by religion or religious idealism but by liberty and democracy. This group of Muslims make up a significant portion of the Muslim population of Britain. Whether the angry little men brigade like it or not.

I have trouble coming up with a catchy name for the final group. I think the best name for them are what a friend of mine said when someone said to him ah you have a Muslim name, are you a Muslim? To which he responded, well by name I am. Muslims by name. In this group we have British Muslims who have been born in to, or have relatives or have a family cultural background related to Islam. So by name they might be Muslim, or see or call themselves Muslims but they either do not adhere to the religion at all or are selective about which parts they do adhere to or believe in. Even with these three main types of Muslims we have in Britain there are certainly some overlaps and differences. For example I’d say I’m somewhere between ‘Muslim by name’ and Secular & Progressive. It is important that we distinguish between the different groups of Muslims in Britain for several reasons. The most important of all being that we don’t force them in to the militant Islamist category. The angry man brigade are professionals at doing this. Claiming all Muslims are war mongering anti-western individuals and to say anything else is political correctness gone mad. In fact some of these belonging to the angry man brigade seek to directly goad Muslims in to a reaction, in to becoming militant to justify their damaged views.

An example of this is when I came across an unfortunate fellow who is still a branch chairman in UKIP, who upon meeting me for the first time absolutely tore in to Islam calling it a war mongerers religion and that I wasn’t a Muslim because I didn’t follow his stereotype of what a Muslim should be in his damaged little mind. I could tell from his body language and his rhetoric how badly he wanted me to react, to which I asked him to let me know when I’m meant to interrupt him and declare a jihad or issue a fatwa. As a British and a Muslim I believe Islamism is not only wrong but completely incompatible with Britain. The literal interpretation of Islam is a dangerous one, as is a literal interpretation of any other religion or idea. If people truly want to rid this country of fundamentalism and people intent on Islamifying everything then all of us collectively have a duty to be careful with our rhetoric and be more specific to whom it is aimed at. Otherwise we’re simply adding another brick in the wall between Muslims and Britain.