News Editor
This weekend, friends, I am honoured to be published in the Jewish Chronicle, in circulation since 1841 and hence the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. I also share an interview from today’s The National, the widest-circulating newspaper of the most modernised Arab Muslim country: the United Arab Emirates. We need much more of this Jewish-Muslim advancement of belonging in Britain, America and Europe. The articles below show the consequences of our neglect to date.
I welcome your feedback.
Warmest wishes,
Ed
The evolution of British Muslim society will shape the UK’s future
The Jewish Chronicle
Here’s a confession: I am a Muslim and I feel much safer in Delhi or Dubai than I do in Derby or Doncaster. No, I do not fear the old far-right racists. I worry about the new racist bigots who wish for Islamic supremacy.
Who are these people? What do they want?
We recently caught a snapshot of their mind and behaviour: from Bradford they came to Finchley in a convoy of cars and shouted “F*** the Jews. Rape their women”. Not 1930s Leopoldstadt, but London in 2021. We ignore this rise of hatred and communalism at our peril. For unless confronted and uprooted, this will get worse.
To research my new book, I journeyed across Britain’s towns and cities, holding conversations with Muslims and others, watching people and places. With almost five million Muslims and 2,000 mosques, and Office for National Statistics estimates of 13 million Muslims by 2050, what happens inside this demographic will shape the future of this great country. There is good news and bad.
In Manchester’s Central Mosque, not far from the city’s synagogues, Muslims gathered for weekly prayers at noon on Friday. The beauty of the calligraphy, the large chandelier, and the eastern architecture of the mosque all came alive as the Imam called to God. The total focus on the one God that unites the children of Abrahamin the Torah and the Quran was not a slogan but a reality. The smoke of Arabian incense filled the air as we prayed facing Mecca, a town where Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael lived and built a house of worship, the Ka’bah.
In a world where we are distracted by media headlines, mortgages and making money, this constant connection to God gives life a higher meaning and purpose. In Muslim homes in Manchester, Rochdale and Bradford, the family unit was strong with a great culture of hospitality for guests. Again and again, I was invited into the homes of strangers with love and warmth. Values of faith and family remain robust among Britain’s Muslims.
But some Muslims are struggling with the flag. When I visit synagogues,I hear prayers for the Queen. British Jews have always been loyal to Britain and its institutions. No prayer is said for the Royal Family in Britain’s mosques.
In America, I see the stars and stripes in mosques: I’ve never seen a mosque fly the Union Jack in Britain. Why does this matter? Loyalty to the British nation state and its secular laws, love for the land and its liberties that join us together as citizens will not come about by accident.
The hatred of British history, the obsession with Balfour, the failure to remember that millions of Muslims fought and died for Britain in two world wars, is creating a generation of angry young activist Muslims. They call for Muslim armies to take Jerusalem. They shout “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” alongside the Socialist Workers’ Party and they seek to remove the Jewish State.
Just as their understanding of history and geography is selective, so is their reading of the Quran. The Prophet Mohamed recited this verse of the Quran repeatedly, remembering God’s command to Moses: “O my people! Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and do not turn tail, otherwise you will be losers.”(Quran5:20-21)
Again and again, the Quran teaches Muslims to honour the Hebrew prophets. Entire chapters of the Quran are named after the pro
