Question: When is a Muslim moderate not so…moderate?

Answer: When his name is Ed Husain, apparently.

Husain, you may recall, became the poster boy for moderate Islam a few years back, when he published ‘The Islamist’, his firsthand account of life inside Hizbut Tahrir (HT).

HT is the extremist Muslim group which – while banned in many Arab nations – was allowed to flourish in Britain and which used Universities across the country as a recruiting ground throughout the 90s.

In fact, not content with belonging to one radical Islamic group, Husain was also an activist for Jamat-e-Islam front organizations in the UK.

In his book, however, Husain explained that he’d seen the error of his ways and that he’d now rejected extremism. He even created Quilliam, which bills itself as an ‘anti terrorism think tank’.

Except that if you check out the Quilliam website, what do you find?  A sadly familiar refrain of trying to blame non Muslim societies for Muslim terrorism:

“…religious rigidity and extremism are products of the failures of wider society to foster a shared sense of belonging and to advance liberal democratic values among all sections of society.”

Despite this, Husain’s book was extremely successful and heralded as ‘proof’ that Extremist Muslims could become Moderate  Muslims.  Ed Husain represented nothing less than hope.

Not surprisingly, he became a frequent contributor to public debates on Islam, terrorism, and related topics.

So far, so good.

Enter Melanie Phillips. A highly respected journalist, Phillips is also the author of the acclaimed ‘Londonistan’, which exposes the way in which numerous Islamic terrorist groups have been given a free pass to organise terror from and in Britain.

Phillips and Husain, while disagreeing on some things, have nevertheless always remained civil and indeed, have met privately to discuss various topics of mutual interest.

So it was a shock to Phillips, and indeed many others, when at the end of last month, Husain suddenly unleashed a torrent of vitriol towards Phillips, accusing her of – among other things – racism and madness.

In his article, which appeared on the Guardian’s ‘Comment Is Free‘ site, Mr Hussein accused Ms Phillips of:

‘displaying zealotry’

‘ignorance’

‘being filled with anger, venom and hatred’

‘being demented’.

So what prompted this little hate-fest?

Quite simply, Ms Phillips expressed concern over a demonstration organised  by Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain. The demo was ostensibly  to oppose the ‘Sharia now’ demonstration by the banned Muslim extremist group, al Muhajiroun.

And this is where Ed Hussein’s behaviour is bizarre. For since he is forever telling us that he is  anti radical Islam,  logically he should be supporting Melanie Phillips in her stance against the Muslim Council Of Britain.

And why has Ms Phillips  challenged the Muslim Council Of Britain’s  participation in the rally?

She explains:

The MCB is an Islamist body which wants to theocratise Britain according to the precepts of Islam.

Last March, the government suspended links with it after its deputy Secretary-General, Daud Abdullah, signed a declaration that was seen as calling for violence against Israel and condoning attacks on British troops in Iraq.

Earlier this year, it boycotted Britain’s annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration ceremony. Its Secretary-General, Dr Abdul Bari, has said Britain should adopt Islamic practices such as arranged marriages and that Britons should follow the teachings of Islam.

Moderate it is not.

As I reported below, Bunglawala told me himself that he wants Britain to become an Islamic state.

Yet Ed Husain, whose Quilliam organisation receives a great deal of money from the government in order to oppose Islamic extremism, actually extols Bunglawala for having moved to embrace liberal attitudes.

Of course, this begs the question: why on earth would leading ‘moderate’ Ed Husain attack Phillips for quite rightly voicing concern over Bunglawala and his true political leanings?

It’s not as though she’s randomly picked someone and then started bashing him. The Muslim Council Of Great Britain is viewed warily by many, and with good reason. To reiterate a vital point:   The British government itself has suspended contact with the MCB.

Now maybe I’m missing something, but I haven’t read about Mr Husain shrieking with rage over the decision by the British government to sever ties with the MCB.

Yet apparently, Melanie Phillips is fair game?

Why, then, is Husain trying so hard to demonise Melanie Phillips…?

In fact, we don’t have to look very far to find the answer.  In the piece he penned for the Guardian, Husain remarks:

Why would she and her acolyte Douglas Murray not cease attacks on Muslim scripture that were based on bin Laden’s understanding of Islam?

And why would they not support Islam’s inherent pluralism and recognise that Islam per se is not the problem, but iconoclastic interpretations of it.

Ah, there it is.

The real reason for Ed Husain’s vicious and extraordinary attack on Melanie Phillips.

She  has the sheer chutzpah to insist that the root of Islamic terrorism is – da da daaahhh - ISLAM.

And she refuses to fall for the old line that Islam is ‘just being hijacked‘ by extremists.

And Mr Husain doesn’t like it.

Douglas Murray, for those who don’t know, is one of the most eloquent writers and speakers in Britain. He too has tirelessly campaigned against the dangers of allowing radical Islamic preachers and groups to preach with impunity in Britain. He’s also spoken up in defence of Israel’s response to eight years of Hamas terrorism.

No wonder, then, that Ed Husain couldn’t resist taking a pot shot at him along with Melanie Philips. The pair must represent Husain’s nightmare scenario:  articulate, fair minded, intelligent pundits who refuse to take at face value pretty, media – friendly assertions of  ‘I’m a moderate Muslim’.

Of course, there’s another reason for Ed Husain’s spite. Melanie Phillips has stated that logically, a true moderate Muslim would not oppose either Israel’s right to exist OR it’s right to self defence against terrorism.

It appears, though, that Ed Husain takes issue with this, for he accuses Phillips of having an “Israel first” mentality.

Hmmm… that allegation has a rather familiar ring to it, don’t you think…?

My, if I didn’t know better, I’d think Mr Husain was accusing Melanie Phillips of being something other than a loyal British citizen!
Of course, he can’t be saying that – after all, it’s an allegation that is often directed towards Muslims themselves!

More, as a ‘moderate’, surely Mr Husain would never fall for that age-old, anti semitic caricature of the Jew who is never loyal to the country in which he lives…?

Would he…?

Mr Husain himself rushes to assure us of his pro Israel credentials,  noting in the Guardian article:

“I support Israel’s right to exist.”

Wow!!! That’s big of him!

I wasn’t actually aware that Israel’s right to exist rested upon the permission of Mr Husain, but there you go. Learn something new every day…!

Finally, the issue of just where Ed Husain expressed his hatred of Melanie Phillips is also relevant. Perhaps predictably, he chose the Guardian’s ‘Comment Is Free’ forum.

The Guardian, remember,   has repeatedly misrepresented facts on Israel, produced cartoons that the Nazis would frankly have been proud of.  Its ‘Comment Is Free’ forum is heaven for  anti semites the world over, as  time and again, remarks that are blatantly anti Jewish are permitted to remain.

Indeed,  both Jews and non Jews alike have pointed out that when they attempt to counter these slurs, their posts mysteriously disappear.

Following Ed Husain’s character assassination of Melanie Phillips,  the regulars on the ‘Comment Is Free’ site had an absolute ball, bashing Ms Phillips yet further.

And how does the Guardian’s ‘Comment Is Free‘ site  describe Ms Phillips…?:

“In her McCarthy-style paranoid parallel universe, the Spectator columnist views every Muslim a potential Islamist terrorist.”

Hardly going to encouage fair or rational debate now, is it?

As Ms Phillips points out:

I have never said or implied that ‘every Muslim’ is a ‘potential Islamist terrorist’. On the contrary, in everything I have ever written about the subject I have emphasised that there are many Muslims who sign up to secular western values and who are themselves victims of the jihadis.

I have always emphasised that, while jihadi Islamism is a particularly troubling interpretation of Islam because it is based on theology and backed up by the history of Islamic conquest, it is only one interpretation and there are other Muslims who interpret their religion in an entirely peaceful and unthreatening way.

To suggest that I have ever said otherwise is not only a demonstrable falsehood but is a smear which is likely to incite hatred against me.

The hatred being expressed towards Ms Phillips was exacerbated when  one of the Guardian ‘Comment Is Free’  moderators – and I use that term in the loosest sense possible – BELLA M, started joining in with the hateful posts and falsely stated of Melanie Phillips:

I imagine she’s like that character in Little Britain who is violently sick every time she hears the words ‘black or gay.’ Except for Melanie, the word would be ‘Muslim.’

Strange type of ‘moderation’, wouldn’ you say…?

And for those of you wondering who the hell BELLA M is: apparently she’s none other than the daughter of Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger himself.

To give you an idea of how anti semitic the ‘Comment Is Free’  forum has become, an entirely separate site has evolved purely to monitor and protest the bigotry appearing there. It’s simply called: ‘CIF Watch’.

Recently  visitors to this new site are being challenged to see if they can tell where various comments about Jews and Israel are from: the neo Nazi group Stormfront, or the Guardian’s ‘Comment Is Free’ forum.

Of course, this entire debate reflects the fact that in Britain, it’s deemed just fine to be ‘anti Israel’.

Any suggestion that singling out the Jewish state for condemnation – while ignoring the far more serious human rights abuses going on in the region – amounts to anti semitism, is dismissed.

I say:

Thank G-d for Melanie Phillips and Douglas Murray.

And shame on Ed Husain for attacking the very people who espouse support for what he himself claims to believe in: moderate Islam.

Recommended links:

Melanie Phillips’ articles in The Spectator

Melanie Phillips’ website

Douglas Murray:

Centre For Social Cohesion

CIF Watch:

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