The following is a letter of complaint due to a artilce written by a newspaper causing offence to islam,muslims and the prophet muhammed(saw).
Jeannette Arnold
Editorial Manager
The Evening Standard
Northcliffe House
2 Derry Street
London
W8 5TT
24 October 2002
Re: A Noose Around the Globe
Dear Ms. Arnold,
This is a complaint concerning a recent article published in the Evening Standard entitled “A Noose Around the Globe” and written by Brian Sewell. It appeared in the newspaper as well as on your website.
I write on behalf of Hizb ut-Tahrir [The Liberation Party] Britain to convey to you the concerns of the Muslim community in Britain that have been raised by this article. I have received many complaints from concerned Muslims who interpreted the article as being a slur on Islam and defamatory towards the character of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (may peace and blessings be upon him).
The article in question purports to examine the response of the West towards the Islamic world in the aftermath of the recent bomb attacks in Bali. However on occasions it turns into a diatribe against Islam, Muslims and the Islamic heritage.
Of particular concern were the following sections of the article:
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“Was the outrage just one more atrocity engineered by fanatical Muslims against a West that they abhor?”
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“The fact remains that Islam has always been militant; the urge to conquer and convert began with the great imperial thrust of Mohammed himself”
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“And what will Islam gain? It will secure the old certainties of poverty, disease, the suffocating conformism compelled by the beatings, amputations and hideous executions of sharia law”
With respect to the first point of concern, it is concerning that there is an assumption that Muslims have carried out the bomb attacks in Bali. The article does not bring any evidence to prove this assumption and no one has been charged to date for these attacks. Is Brian Sewell party to privileged information that Indonesian officials investigating the attacks are yet to find?
While Islam does not sanction the targeting of innocent civilians, are Muslims expected to apologise for all attacks carried out over the globe? If so, can we expect all Western Capitalists to apologise for the shameful history of Western governments, the ideology of capitalism and its colonialist worldview? Will apologies now be forthcoming to the families of one million children in Iraq who have died under a brutal sanctions regime, or the families of those tens of thousands of civilians killed by weapons of mass destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the people of 23 countries that have been on the receiving end of American bombs since the Second World War?
With respect to the second point of concern, most Muslims find it deeply offensive to suggest that the foreign policy adopted by the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as leader of the Islamic State was “imperialist”.
This is even more offensive considering that in reality colonialism flows through the arteries of Western civilisation; if Capitalism is its soul then colonialism is its heartbeat. British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain said, “the days are for great empires, not little states”. Therefore it is in true imperial tradition, that Tony Blair’s foreign policy adviser Robert Cooper said, “The challenge to the post-modern world is to get used to the idea of double standards. Among ourselves, we operate on the basis of laws and open cooperative security. But when dealing with more old-fashioned kinds of states outside the post-modern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era - force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century world of every state for itself. Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are operating in the jungle, we must also use the laws of the jungle…What is needed then is a new kind of imperialism, one acceptable to a world of human rights and cosmopolitan values. We can already discern its outline: an imperialism which, like all imperialism, aims to bring order and organisation but which rests today on the voluntary principle…”
On the contrary, the Islamic conquests launched by Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) were for conveying the Message of Islam to the world and making the word of Allah (swt) the Highest. They were not designed to exploit and colonise people, or to pillage the resources of a land. The Khilafah (Islamic State) never launched a war to secure jobs for its citizens, to gain contracts for corporate entities or to line the pockets of the ruling class with riches. The Khilafah never looked to people as conqueror and conquered or winners and losers, but rather as citizens. In contrast, the hatred of Western imperialism amongst those who lived and live under the shackles of the imperialists exists to this day.
The Islamic State was a guardian of the affairs of its citizens for over one thousand years. It was the leading nation, the flower of the globe and rising sun amongst nations. The Islamic lands were centres of learning, thinking and contemplation under the Khilafah. Muslims and non-Muslims lived side by side enjoying tranquillity, comfort and security. The masses lived with dignity and honour.
With respect to the third point of concern, most Muslims find your attack on the Islamic penal code to be deeply offensive. Why does Mr Sewell not mention that since 1976, there have been over seven hundred executions in the US and that since 1973, ninety-five death row inmates have been fully exonerated by the courts? He could have mentioned that a recent study of 4,578 cases in twenty-three-year period (1973-1995) concluded that the courts found serious, reversible error in nearly 7 of every 10 capital sentence cases that were fully reviewed during the period. In 85 percent of the death penalty states, the error rates were 60 percent or higher. Three-fifths of these states have error rates of at least 70 percent. The United States, the bastion of Capitalism, is one of the few countries in the world that puts to death the mentally retarded and juvenile offenders. The United States is also the only country besides Somalia that has not signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Supreme Court allows the execution of those who were sixteen years old when they committed a capital offence. This is despite the fact that the same court has ruled that 16-year-olds do not have “the maturity or judgement” to sign contracts. So a child’s diminished capacity for signing contracts is viewed as a legal barrier to enforcing a contract, but when it comes to the right to be executed, a 16-year-old’s capacity is the same as an adults’.
If Mr Sewell wants to write about poverty he should look to the heart of the Capitalist world where thirty-six million Americans do not have enough to eat, and the number is growing. Nearly half of those lining up outside soup kitchens have one or more family members in employment. They are simply too poor to buy food. On a minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, working 50 hours a week there will still not be enough to pay rent and feed a family living in any major US city. That is to say nothing of clothes and any other necessities. This is the issue of poverty.
The Muslim community believes that the greatest threat today is from Western colonialist states - they must be stopped in pursuing their materialistic ambitions over the entire world. The Islamic Khilafah will be a beacon of light for the oppressed peoples of the world including those millions who suffer in silence in the West. Capitalism is a system which has no humility, humanity or compassion and whose foreign policy treats the world and its inhabitants as mere cattle fodder.
We are not eager to bother the Evening Standard with minor inaccuracies but feel that where Islam and Muslims come under attack, as they have done in this article, we are duty bound to respond.
We feel that the Evening Standard has a responsibility to its readers and the public at large to ensure that the level of journalism is maintained to a high standard and that the reporter states the facts and not mere hearsay.
We would be willing to meet with you in order to further convey the concerns of the Muslim community regarding this article.
Thanking you in advance of your reply.
Dr Imran Waheed (MBChB)
Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
