Nick Timothy MP, writing in the Telegraph
The domination of public spaces is, as students of Islamism know, fundamental to the modus operandi of radical Islam. As Ed Husain, the former extremist turned scholar, says, the “total Islamisation of the public space” is an expression of power and intimidation. Islamisation, he explains, includes women in hijab, Islamist posters and open prayers.
So many were concerned when a Ramadan event in Trafalgar Square saw not only the adhan – the call to Muslim prayer – but the synchronised ritual prayer of Muslim men beside the National Gallery and the old Anglican church, St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Some MPs and commentators say public concern is misplaced. Some have even called it racist or – to use the recent invention – “Islamophobic”. They claim this exhibition of faith is no different from Trafalgar Square hosting dancing Sikhs, drinking football fans, or an Easter Passion Play.
… this is wrong. First, the adhan makes the theological claim that there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger. . . When proclaimed publicly, it is not just private devotion made visible; it is a declaration of dominance.
Some claim the adhan is no different from the peal of church bells, or the recital of the Nicene Creed in church. But this is wrong on three counts. First, church bells simply ring out, and do not assert any theological message or criticism of other faiths. Second, the Nicene Creed is a personal statement of faith that begins, “I believe”.
The adhan … explicitly rejects the Christian belief in Jesus and the Holy Trinity, and asserts the truth of the Islamic faith. Indeed, historically the adhan was not only a communal call to prayer, but a declaration of Islamic control over a territory.
when such declarations are projected into shared civic spaces – including monuments of national history and identity such as Trafalgar Square – the line between freedom of religion and the imposition of religious rituals blurs.
None of this is to say all those who attended Trafalgar Square are extremists. But the normalisation of large-scale religious assertions in our institutions and civic spaces aligns with a broader pattern associated with hard-edged ideological aims.
And that pattern is clear. We have seen protestors take a break from their marches against Israel to pray in the open air. We have seen symbolic ritual worship in front of national monuments such as the Houses of Parliament.
These are all acts of domination: an expression of power. And that power is now shaping our public life. The politics of communalism are already corrupting important institutions like the police, as we saw with the scandal of the ban on Israeli supporters from a football match in Birmingham. We are likely to see it at the ballot box in the local elections in May. And of course, these political trends are behind the Government’s new “Islamophobia” definition.
The purpose of that definition is to shut down debate, and stifle scrutiny of religious ideas and associated political beliefs. . . If we lose the ability to challenge ideas, beliefs and even actions, we can no longer call ourselves a free country.
A memorial to national independence, Trafalgar Square belongs to us all. To use it as a stage for this act of domination and division is completely wrong, and it should never be allowed to happen again.
2 Responses
I agree. As a practical measure Muslims have to go. Then are bullies.
Just this week, the leftist mayor of Turin, Italy praised Ramadan and the local Islamic community as they took over public space to do their end-of-fast prayers. The same week, migrant crime in Turin continued with the arrest of a gang of 4 Egyptians who were violently robbing people on the street of their necklaces and posting their trophies on social media.
Giulia Sorrentino, a valiant Italian journalist who writes about these problems on Il Giornale, pointed out that Christians could never hold these mass public prayers in open spaces.