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Muslims pay taxes and so have rights
• I DON’T see the point in even considering incorporating Muslim holidays into British culture while the many concessions already made to welcome and accommodate them into our country’s way of life has created more separation, not less.
Surely we should expect to see some real attempts at integration before we give in to any further demands.
It is offensive to British Christian women to see how isolated, subservient and powerless Muslim women are in a country where we have all fought hard for equal rights, a voice and freedom to choose how we live our lives.
All Muslims owe it to us and themselves to make the moderate voices amongst them more prominent than the extremists.
More young people are being radicalised and more women wear the veil now than they ever did before.
British people are simply not convinced that these are merely signs of devoutness, we are fully aware that it is a politicisation of religion.
Essentially, as far as I am aware, Islam is as much about peace and love and all people as Christianity. A lot of Muslims know it has been taken down a purely political route, including the subjugation of females for the ends of idiots who have a hidden agenda of psychopathic proportions.
Unfortunately, the Koran is open to misinterpretation by these people but moderate Muslims know that it could just as easily be viewed as an epistle on peace.
Surely there are more moderate Muslims enjoying life here and all the freedoms and benefits that brings, to stand up with our full backing, in law and morality as Christians, to those who would pollute Mohammed’s message, and reign their tyranny here?
S GANT
Bridgeway Street, NW1
• I WOULD like to correct Councillor Faruque Ansari on four of issues he raised: (Muslim holiday call is a fraught issue, May 10).
Common agreement on about when the Eid Festivals Fall: As a Muslim Cllr Ansari should know that our religious holidays are based on the lunar calendar which is different from the normal one and no one can accurately fix the two Eid days in advance (only two days in the whole year).
He was totally wrong to suggest that other boroughs have fixed days for Eid.
Burial grounds for Muslim funerals in Camden: Cllr Ansari should be well advised to know his facts first before taking credit for his party for everything that is good. The sites that are available for Muslim burial (St Pancras Cemetery) are jointly managed by both Camden and Islington Councils and we have been negotiating with both councils for a number of years. One site (Trent Park) has been in use for Muslim burial, I believe, from 2003. The other site near East Finchley was finally agreed well before the last election in 2006.
Muslim community leaders and councillors visited this site few times, the last time in January 2007.
Purpose-built mosque and Islamic centre in Camden: The need for such a project was discussed within the Faith Communities Partnership in Camden since 2003 and following their unanimous approval for a project of this kind it was put to Camden Council, as it happened, just after the last local election. At its first meeting attended by all three party leaders, Muslim councillors, chairs of local mosques and community leaders it was agreed to take the project forward. It was also agreed that it is a non-partisan issue and party politics should not play any part in it.
Cllr Ansari was present at that meeting but he kept violating this agreement by writing to local press to propagate himself and his party (Lib Dem).
Parking concerns for Friday prayers: Again this is an issue which I originally raised with the Faith Communities Partnership some time (2004) in the presence of head of Camden Parking Cllr Nasim Ali and Nina Rahel of Camden Equalities Unit were tasked to carry it forward. Ex councillor Abdul Quadir and others also worked on this matter. Then the election came and the new administration had to look into this. Our request to the council was for all the places of worship. To my knowledge this issue is still unresolved; I will urge local authority to expedite resolving this important issue.
MOHAMMED JOYNAL UDDIN
Stanhope Street, NW1
• AS a Liberal Democrat I deplore the tone of the letter you printed last week from Clem Alford (Muslim holiday call is a fraught issue, May 10). And frankly I don’t much like your headline either.
I really do not think the idea that Muslim schoolchildren might be allowed absence from school to observe their families’ religious holidays should be talked up as “a fraught issue”.
What is distinctive about Muslims in Camden is not, as Mr Alford claims, their “lack of community spirit” – a wholly undeserved slur – but the importance of Muslim numbers among the community. More than one in nine of the borough’s population is Muslim.
Where Muslim pupils are a large minority within a school, or even a majority, it is not unreasonable to expect that school arrangements should make provision for their needs as they already do for those of other faith groups (eg Jewish and Catholic).
Mr Alford claims that when he lived in the Indian subcontinent he did as the subcontinentals did and “made no demands”.
Even if that is true the difference Mr Alford appears to overlook is that he was evidently a temporary visitor.
British Muslims have made this country their home and very many of them were born and brought up here.
They have contributed hugely to the British economy (Indian restaurants alone generate £3 billion worth of business a year), they pay their taxes, and they should unquestionably have the same rights and consideration as any other citizens – without having to “demand” them.
ROBIN YOUNG
Bedford Court Mansions WC1
• MAGNUS Nielsen’s last point (Letters, May 10), would have had an added piquancy if instead of mentioning the Binomial Theorem, he had mentioned algebra.
A sound grasp of basic algebra is a prerequisite for understanding this theorem, and the very word ‘Algebra’ is of Arabic derivation. It comes from title of the justly famous ninth century Arabic mathematical text ‘al-jebr w’almuquabala ‘by Mohammed ibn Musa Al-Khowarizmi of Baghdad and Damascus.
AZIZ RATTANSI
Drummond Street, NW1 |
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