Yesterday we heard news of perhaps the biggest political earthquake in a generation, the UK voting to leave the EU, with a slim majority. There have been laughs,[1] there have been regrets;[2] there have been cheers and optimism;[3] there have already been broken promises,[4] there have been doomsday predictions and emboldened racists scaring ethnic minorities;[5] young people angered and over 1.7million people petitioning for a second referendum already;[6] and tears of both joy and sorrow—depending on where you get your news.
There is much analysis to come over the coming days and weeks, and no doubt campaigning to make sure we have a say in what a post-Brexit UK would look like. However, here are some initial—yet insightful—reactions to the referendum result from our regular contributors and readers.
Where do you stand? Let us know in the comments.
Muslims must be optimistic
Whether remaining in Europe or leaving it, Muslims who wanted to stay should not feel that disappointed as they need to remember that this life is nothing but a test. This can be one of the so many tests that we will go through in this life.
“[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed – and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving.”[7]
These Muslims should act like previous Muslims who were in the most difficult times relying on Allah and working hard to transfer any challenge to an opportunity. The same thing is also to be said to those who thought that it is going to solve our problems.
It is worthy of highlighting that the people who voted for Brexit are exiting a continent of people that similar to them in colour, religion and culture. Many EU countries are now pushing for having their own referenda for similar reasons. This means that they are ready to be disunited, and the peoples of the world know what has happened throughout the long and bloody history of Europeans when disunited.
Cameron and many of his allies appear to be unhappy with the results, they should remember that this separationist mentality was a product of their policies when they were attacking Muslims and calling for (their version of) “Britishness” and “British values” to be imposed on others, driving wedges between communities within the UK. It looks as though their chickens may have come home to roost.
Shaikh Dr Haitham al-Haddad
Humble in Victory and Gracious in Defeat
The United Kingdom’s electorate have decided and we as a country are big enough, strong enough and wealthy enough to survive and get through this. Hence, now is not a time to reflect on what next, but a time for self reflection.
The EU referendum would have pitted one Muslim against another, one brother against another, and even father against a son. Having experienced the joys of political victory as well as the deep despair of defeat – I know exactly what each side will be feeling at present. It’s not a time to gloat or to make recriminations. However it is a time to heal the divisions and reflect on the bigger picture. The UK electorate have spoken and Allah’s will has been executed. It’s now time to turn to Allah and make the most of these blessed days that remain. A time to make dua that Allah protects and guides the Muslims of the UK and the country as a whole.
Hence, such times are a test of one’s character and a time to show that as Muslims we are humble in our victory and also gracious in our defeat.
Mukhtar Master
Leaving the European Union and its implications on the reconstruction of British Identity
For some the EU vote was a battle between two competing parts of the establishment neither of which representing the interests of working class individuals. Victory was however obtained by one side masquerading as freedom fighters for Britain’s beleaguered working class. Brexit was sold as a fake revolt to aggrieved citizens at the bottom rung of the economic ladder. Most of whom will be unaware that Nigel Farage is an ex banker that runs a political party UKIP that is more pro austerity than the existing Tory government. In no way shape or form does he represent the interests of this demographic. Yet the Brexit message resonated with them because it tapped into their very real sense of anger. There is a saying that “for every complicated problem there is a solution that is convenient and simple but wrong.” The issue of immigration proved to be a game-changing convenient and simple scapegoat.
For many in Britain, particularly those under 40 years of age, being European is part of their identity. It is how they self-define and conceptualise who they are. Having this identity stripped of them should not be underplayed as a small matter. Brexit will strengthen the hand of those that peddle a right wing agenda. Characterised by an edgy nationalism, greater austerity and one that has less respect for diversity. Many British people will struggle to feel a sense of belonging to this paradigm shift. Attempting to reconstruct British identity with a revised set of British values commensurate with the views expressed by Brexit campaigners is likely to build a growing sense of alienation not cohesion.
Muslims perhaps are in a better position. They have for some time now already been at the receiving end of a British-values agenda that is not inclusive. The Resilience of British Muslims against a re-defining of their identity is one that has been frustrating to the government’s counter-extremism agenda. Muslims have had some experience with the British state trying to covertly re-construct their identity so as to bring about an “acceptable” form of British Islam. However a state sanctioned Islam has not fully penetrated in to the mainstream, despite the effort and resources poured into achieving this aim. For example the so-called false grassroot community groups being architected and given succour by the government’s Research Information and Communications Unit (RICU) which has acted as a control-room attempting to orchestrate this propaganda driven change. (Listen to the Islam21c podcast here about the exposure of RICU)[8]
Governments need to be reminded and pressurised to recognise that we the people are citizens and not subjects. The lesson to be taken, if only they would learn it, is that the forcible recasting of the identity of society is a project in social engineering that often fails and leads to greater division not unity.
Brexit has had a domino effect on the rest of Europe’s far right.
Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders said the Netherlands deserved a “Nexit” vote while Italy’s Northern League said: “Now it’s our turn. Le Pen hailed the UK vote, “Victory for freedom. As I’ve been saying for years, we must now have the same referendum in France and other EU countries.” Mateo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s anti-immigration Northern League: “Hurrah for the courage of free citizens! Heart, brain and pride defeated lies, threats and blackmail. Now it’s our turn”. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats wrote on Twitter that “now we wait for Swexit!” Britain has always been a specialist in divide and conquer. It looks like they are still staying true to their values of dividing but I don’t think there will be must conquering this time!
Far-right organisations across Europe with Neo-conservatives at the helm of western governments are a chilling echo of the time of the battle of Vienna. In many cases across Europe where the anti-Muslim narrative has come to be recognised as a central most feature of the far-right discourse, it appears that we are seeing the re-birth of the Holy Christian League that was formed to defeat the Ottomans before the battle of Vienna. A report conducted in 2013, highlighted the coming together of European far-right organisations across Europe in the same geographical area as in the 17th Century where the Holy Christian League was formed, including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria as well as others such as Britain with the uniting factor being their hatred of Islam and Muslims. The underlying hate has manifested from the paradigms of empires to the construct of nation states and secular liberalism. The tide, at least perceptively, feels as though it is unrelentingly against the Muslims.
Z A Rahman
Both sides lost the gamble
Well – I think no one, not even the leaders of the Brexit campaign, thought this could happen. They were playing politics, and the 52 percent of voters called their bluff. For 20 years Conservative politicians have been attacking Europe for populist political reasons domestically, and using domestic scepticism about Europe as an bargaining counter in European politics, all the while confident that neither the British people or European institutions would let Britain’s place in Europe be jeopardised. But this time they walked too close to the edge, misread the mood of the British people, and toppled into the abyss.
The official leaders of the Brexit campaign were Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. They looked yesterday as if they had been defeated. Why? Because they never wanted or expected to win and now are stuck with this result. That is why the leader in victory yesterday was Nigel Farage, a joke figure who has been campaigning for GB to leave the EU for 20 years without ever winning a seat in parliament in 7 attempts. Indeed, he was not even part of the official Leave campaign. But the media could not find any one else to present as the happy victor.
Now Johnson knows that he will be blamed for this. He was making a classic populist Eurosceptic play for power within the conservative party, but did not expect to be facing this situation. Remember, even after the referendum date was announced, he was vacillating on whether to join the Leave campaign or the Remain one. This was not a matter of principle for him. It was political expedience – which campaign would offer him the best route to 10 Downing Street. Back then he would have thought that a strong showing from Leave would be a 45-55 defeat, which would be enough to weaken Cameron and give him credibility as a populist leader who could stand up for Britain in Europe.
What no one on either side, or in Europe, or among the political commentariat, expected was that the referendum would become the focus for accumulated social and economics grievances, many contradictory, leading a slight majority of people – largely in marginalised and usually disregarded parts of the country and sectors of the population – to mobilise, creating a momentum that has made the unthinkable a reality. What they all forgot was that it is much easier to unite against something than for something.
Democratic politics consists largely of elites manipulating and exploiting popular opinion. This time they got it very wrong. The result is going to be very damaging indeed for two broad reasons. First, those who were manipulated into voting for Leave will expect to get everything they were promised, which their leaders never expected to have to deliver on. And second, Europe is going to punish Britain, make an example of it, so no one else in Europe is tempted to do the same.
Iqbal Siddiqui[9]
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Not a victory for the far right
According to one piece of research only 30% of Muslims voted to leave the EU,[10] so it’s little surprise that our social media is awash with pessimistic memes and fear mongering over a sudden change we didn’t ask for.
Not least is the claim that the far right have won. In fact according to that research the largest reason (49%) for voting to leave the EU was “the principle that decisions about the UK should be taken in the UK” with 33% saying it “offered the best chance for the UK to regain control over immigration and its own borders.” Which could include security concerns above general immigration. Considering the loud rhetoric especially from the unofficial leave campaign (that many of us mistook for the official one) it is actually quite encouraging that no more than 12% of the electorate turned out to vote against immigration.
The generational divide has been likened to the old folks taking away the young generation’s future due to harking back to a rose-tinted past. I feel it’s more likely that they remember what a democracy should look like while the younger generation have got used to having no expectation of being able to influence their own government. Not that anyone thinks they can influence the EU government any better but seeing over the years the EU implement some popular regulations and our government fight them, the EU has taken the position of a benevolent dictator which the young are now crying to have lost; wailing that there will be no more workers rights, no environmental protection, etc. What does that say about democracy in the UK? That so many of the young people in the UK realise their own elected government is utterly out of the people’s control, in this so called democracy.
Abdullah Thomson
Source: www.islam21c.com
Notes:
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/06/24/the-british-are-frantically-googling-what-the-eu-is-hours-after-voting-to-leave-it/
[2] http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/i-really-regret-my-vote-now-the-brexit-voters-who-wish-theyd-voted-to-remain-a3280361.html
[3] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3659144/Carney-sacked-Lord-Farage-bye-bye-Scotland-Oh-brand-new-party-PETER-OBORNE-looks-crystal-ball-coming-months-hold.html
[4] http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/brexit-three-promises-campaigners-already-11523855
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/24/intolerance-ethnic-minority-poles-uk
[6] https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215
[7] Al-Qur’ān 67:2
[8] https://www.islam21c.com/politics/podcast-was-the-government-caught-deceiving-muslims/
[9] https://www.facebook.com/fahad.ansari.90/posts/10153548372232102?pnref=story
[10] http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2016/06/how-the-united-kingdom-voted-and-why/
I’m a bit late for the conversation, but I will say for anyone who is in any doubt : THE BRITSH, ESPECIALLY THE ENGLISH (EVERY SINGLE PROVINCE) VOTED FOR THE SAME REASON WE FOUGHT TWO WORLD WARS WITH GERMANY, namely to stay independent and self-ruling, the same thing that all of our colonies
rightly demanded. Why should India have independence? Why should Pakistan Muslims have their own independent country? If Scotland wants independence they can have if they vote for it. It would save England 15 billion a year.
It seems that most people of immigrant background here don’t want us to be independent. Very contradictory and strange. Thank God my wife, who is a coloured immigrant, voted for the independence of her adopted home.
It is surprising to see that some of the contributors to this article who publicly supported Brexit, are now trying to console Muslims post-Brexit on the damage it has caused. Not only this, but they are claiming this was a decision ‘we Muslims’ didn’t ask for – even though they actively encouraged Muslims to vote Brexit themself!
If anything, they should be apologising for having helped contribute to the mess we are in, not trying to gloss over the fact that they made a big mistake by encouraging everyone to vote Brexit. Look at the instability and disunity Brexit has caused to the country, and the fitnah it has added towards immigrants and Muslims.
The pro-Brexit authors are also now trying to persuade Muslims that ‘it is not that bad because we’ll get our good EU laws back’ – not a chance. We have every right to be sad that some of our environmental and workplace laws will eventually become void, because people worked so hard for them to become law, and there is no guarantee any of the neocons in government will replace them.
Brexit was also no doubt a victory for the far right – they celebrated across Europe at the break off of one of the member states. Trying to claim it was not is living in denial i’m afraid.
Islam21c really needs to be careful about damaging its credibility by letting such authors add to such articles. If they have supported Brexit, they should either support the Brexit outcome or apologise for having made a mistake (which appears to be the right option in this case). They should not be contributing to an article claiming ‘we didn’t want Brexit’ – because they did. They voted Brexit and encouraged others to. They should also not be trying to claim there is nothing wrong with Muslims losing thier EU workers rights, because it is a huge blow.
Also implying the youth are detached from reality whilst the elders (i.e. the white working class over 50’s who voted us out) – were right, is completely wrong. The majority of them as we know from the demographics, are less educated and often bigoted. To say these individuals made the right decision over the educated youth is ridiculous.
Nevertheless the focus should now be on how do Muslims move forward with this result. May Allah guide us to the truth and help unite us.
And Allah knows best.
It’s only early days so it’s unwise to draw any conclusions. Round my way a small minority of scumbags and social inadequates have been scrawling graffiti on Polish shops and acting in an intimidating way to foreigners but the vast majority of people who voted to leave the EU utterly condemns such puerile behaviour.
The media is squarely to blame to transforming the issue of whether Britain should remain in or leave the EU into a political left vs a political right or a xenophobic vs progressive issue because they are the only wavelengths that media apparatchiks think along. The reality is that whether Britain remains in or leaves the EU is above and beyond left wing vs right wing or tolerant vs xenophobic positions. Opposition to the EU is just as strong on the political left as it is on the political right but the media ignores campaigns by people outside of the small sphere of Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, and other like-minded individuals.
Unless Britain voted to remain in the EU by a good margin (at least 65%) then the alternative would have been worse for Muslims. If the result was close then Muslims would have taken much of the blame for determining the outcome of the referendum so would be seen as the worst of the villains. Even more so if heavily Muslim towns and cities had voted to remain in the EU which thankfully didn’t happen as almost all voted to leave. On top of that it would be a UKIP government in 2020.
Blaming the uneducated white working class over 50’s for Brexit is simple but disingenuous and is actually very untrue. A significant fraction of older folk own investment property and they voted to remain in the EU because uncontrolled immigration provides an almost unlimited supply of tenants for them. They fear that if Britain leaves the EU then immigration from other EU countries will reduce to a trickle and it will crash the rental market in many towns and cities. At the same time a significant fraction of 20 and 30 somethings who are priced out of the housing market blamed mass immigration from EU countries for fuelling buy-to-let so voted to leave the EU in the hope that it will crash the rental market and result in more affordable homes for first time buyers.
The strongest opposition to the EU came from the 40 somethings with adolescent and teenage children who live in the English provinces and south Wales who grew up under Margaret Thatcher who destroyed the local industries that their parent’s and grandparents generation worked in, and ultimately their working class lives, then Tony Blair who trampled over the remains of their broken communities with his NuLab project. It is these people who snapped up the opportunity to vote to leave the EU because of both the perceived and the real unfairness of the political regime since 1979. The EU did not do any favours for them or benefit their local communities and they do not want their children to suffer in the future in the same way as they had done in the past. Voting to remain in the EU would have been more of the same from both the EU and the Westminster government in the future. Therefore the only option available to them to send a stinging retaliation to the political establishment which has failed them and will fail their children was to vote to leave the EU.
The EU worker’s rights argument is a misconception because only a small fraction of worker’s rights are implemented via EU legislation to start with. Most of the employment, health and safety, equal pay, and trade union rights in Britain have been implemented by the British government – including 28 days paid holiday compared with only 20 days required under EU law, and 52 weeks maternity leave (39 paid) compared with only 14 weeks under EU law. Neither is the EU able to enforce a statutory minimum wage; the right for workers to strike; the right to join a trade union; or protect workers against lock-outs, because EU legislation in these areas are prohibited under Article 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU).
When Britain signed up to the Common Market back in 1973, Ted Heath said that “it’s only a trading arrangement”. At the time there was no evidence that our immigration controls would be compromised. Passports, visas, and work permits were required for a citizen of one country in the Common Market to live and work in another country in the Common Market during the 1970s. The idea that hundreds of thousands of people who then lived in countries behind the Iron Curtain could just walk into Britain then settle here permanently and take our jobs was laughable to the extreme.
It was the Maastricht Treaty that was responsible for creating the open-doors immigration policy for people from eastern Europe. The John Major government should have held a referendum on whether Britain accepted the Maastricht Treaty back in 1991 but they didn’t because a referendum would not be in accordance with British constitutional convention.
The majority of the British public at the time would have agreed with the free movement of goods, services, and money within the EU. They would not have agreed with the fourth freedom which is the free movement of people because it would override British immigration controls and enable anybody from another EU country to settle in Britain permanently without a visa and take any job without a work permit. This would have resulted in the public rejecting the Maastricht Treaty if a referendum was held unless there was a permanent British opt out for the free movement of people.
In other words, Britain joining the then Common Market in 1973 came with plenty of undesirable baggage and hidden extras that would not materialise until several years later. Ted Heath lied and deceived the public. He knew that the EU was more than just a trading arrangement. He knew about the single currency. He knew that the EU was on course to becoming a superstate run by unelected dictators.
Now we need to focus on the economy and getting on with trade talks with the EU, not point dragging your feet over article 50 it is making matters worse. We need to accept this as a country and move on and with a competent leader (not sure where they gonna find one, but anways).
As for the Muslim hate, when is there not Muslim hatred? Since 9/11 it has escalated and continued to do so, only got to look @ Trump to see it is not confined to Europe. We don’t have to start panicking, it is what it is and we live here, most of us are born here. We don’t need to take abuse, give as good as you get! We are CITIZENS not SUBJECTS.
With hindsight the Muslim community has handled this referendum very badly. What should have been done many years ago (even as far back as the 1990s) is form a panel of technical experts from the Muslim community who have a comprehensive in-depth knowledge of the workings of the EU. These people will not necessarily be scholars or senior officials of prominent Muslim organisations but ordinary Muslims who are experts in the field. Their research and findings will then be presented to the public, in conjunction with advice from scholars, in order that rank and file Muslims are able to understand the pros and cons of EU membership, from an Islamic perspective, therefore enabling them to make a judicious decision whether EU membership is beneficial or detrimental to the interests of Muslims years ahead of the referendum. Such a repository of advice and information will cut through the confusing propaganda put forwards by both the official leave the EU and remain in the EU camps.
The so called leaders of the Muslim communities and prominent Muslim organisations cannot continue to function the way that they have done in the past. The world has become a more complicated place since the time of the Prophet, and 1960s Pakistan, so scholars and local community leaders should no longer be expected to be technical experts in real world matters – including the EU – any more than the church warden of a C of E church is. The Muslim communities probably already have around 90% of the technical experts within their ranks but they are usually widely scattered low profile individuals rather than famous or influential figures.
” a panel of technical experts from the Muslim community who have a comprehensive in-depth knowledge of the workings of the EU. These people will not necessarily be scholars or senior officials of prominent Muslim organisations but ordinary Muslims who are experts in the field. ”
Anyone who had a “comprehensive in-depth knowledge of the workings of the EU” would be an extra-ordinarily knowledgeable and well-paid person. The EU’s directives are so complex and detailed that no-one knows all of them and some have been forgotten and ignored ever since someone wrote them down.
Hector,
The only thing that you are a technical expert in is trolling.
“The EU’s directives are so complex and detailed that no-one knows all of them and some have been forgotten and ignored ever since someone wrote them down.”
Another compelling reason to vote to leave the EU. Only a fool would sign up to join an institution that they do not know what it contains or how it works.
It’s difficult to deny that the EU came with plenty of hidden extras since we joined what Ted Heath claimed was just a trading arrangement. If we had voted to remain in the EU then God only knows what hidden extras would have emerged over the next 40 or so years that were not apparent in 2016.
Come, come, M Risbrook, where have I claimed to be a “technical expert” in anything? As you agree with me that it’s impossible to find ”a panel of technical experts from the Muslim community” – or any other community – “who have a comprehensive in-depth knowledge of the workings of the EU”, are you going to join me under the bridge?
There is no need to be a “technical expert” in the EU’s technical workings to know its directives are so complex and detailed that no-one knows all of them. The mere fact that there are versions of the Treaty of Lisbon in twenty three languages ensures that that is the case.
JazaKumuAllahu khayr, all comments moSt valid.
David Cameron definitely sowed the seeds to his own downfall, fanning the flames of islamophobia in the UK for so long.
Brother IQBAL siddiqui comment about even the leave campaign leaders Boris and Gove not really expecting to win was insightful.
A Worrying failure of democracy is when fundamental decisions such as this are made by so many unqualified and misinformed people. I don’t mean this in a derogatory way, but decisions such as these should be made by correctly informed and able people who can then make a wise and just decision. To insure that the all the voting public really knew all the pros and cons and were able to be wise and just is simply impossible.
A majority view doesn’t necessitate you are right.
A glance at the referendum results reveals that it was Scotland; London; an affluent tract of the south of England; the Catholic and Republican parts of Northern Ireland; the Welsh speaking parts of north and west Wales; and a handful of other towns and cities, versus the rest of Britain. Most of these other towns and cities are either exclusive places like St. Albans, Tunbridge Wells, and Warwick or are trendy cities full of young graduates and well-off intellectual types with a liberal disposition who read the Guardian like Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, Bristol, and Manchester.
It is difficult to tell exactly how Muslims voted. The percentage who voted Leave in the local authorities outside of London with the highest proportion of Muslims are:
Burnley 66.6%
Hyndburn 66.2%
Pendle 63.2%
Oldham 60.9%
Rochdale 60.1%
Bolton 58.3%
Luton 56.5%
Blackburn with Darwen 56.3%
Calderdale 55.7%
Kirklees 54.7%
Slough 54.3%
Bradford 54.2%
Birmingham 50.4%
Leicester 48.9%
Manchester 39.6%
Also very strong leave votes from:
Walsall 67.9%
Sandwell 66.7%
Which have a smaller but still sizeable Muslim populations.
The figures point in a direction that a significant proportion of Muslims must have voted to Leave the EU. It’s plausible that in some local authorities the proportion of Muslims voting to Leave is similar to that of the white non-Muslim voters. Leicester voted slightly in favour of Remain but this could be the result of the Hindu and Sikh votes. Manchester was a strong Remain city but that was predictable.
London voted strongly in favour of Remain with only five outer boroughs voting to Leave. The percentage who voted Leave in the London boroughs with the highest proportion of Muslims are:
Newham 47.2%
Redbridge 46.0%
Waltham Forest 40.9%
Brent 40.3%
Tower Hamlets 32.5%
Compare these with
Lambeth 21.4%
Southwark 27.2%
Islington 24.8%
All with smaller Muslim populations.
It’s difficult to deny that the majority of Muslims in London voted to Remain in the EU (unless further information proves otherwise) but figures from the boroughs with the highest proportion of Muslims indicate that there must have been a sizeable fraction who voted to Leave – possibly comparable with that of non-Muslim voters. The Newham vote is higher than I anticipated it would be and looks more like that for a Conservative voting middle class outer London borough rather than a poorer inner London borough with a majority ethnic population and politically close to a one party Labour state in the local elections.
According to the 2011 census the population of Burnley is 87.4% white and 10.7% Asian.
Hyndburn is 90.2% white, 8.3% Asian.
Even if all the Asians in these two districts – and not all of them are muslims – voted and voted to keavr, the vote to leave must have had very strong support among white people, whatever their reasons.
A good article. Jazakhallah khayr to the contributors.
There are many lessons to take here. One is, in such proportional representation votes, to be careful who you vote for. I feel we should have been more united in who we voted for as Muslims.
I cannot really understand why some Muslims thought it would be a good idea to vote Brexit. They were completely duped by the Leave propaganda and false promises of a ‘Better Britain’ – which were very quickly retracted as soon as it was confirmed Leave had won. Look at the level of disunity and instability it has left us in.
I have met Muslims who have deeply regretted voting leave, and even signed the petition for a second EU referendum. Look at the hostile reaction towards Muslims and immigrants we are already seeing. Muslims who voted Brexit need to understand (as much as they disagree with it and didn’t intend it), that they have helped cause that by taking the side of the white, working-class right-wing bigots when they voted – who far outnumbered any ‘conscientious Brexit voters’ on that side. We all knew this was going to be the case as well before the results came in. This is why we have to be careful with who we vote for in such referendums, as they have huge consequences on the lives of the public. In this case, it seemed obvious to me that the negative consequences were going to be felt more by the minorities and those helpful towards Muslims if we voted leave.
All the arguments for voting leave were responded to well on this website as well, so i don’t understand the rationale by many Muslims, especially those in places like Bradford and Birmingham. Most, but not all, seemed to be Muslims who were just angry and frustrated with the current system and who wanted some type of change, but who didn’t really understand holistically, the gravity of what they were getting themselves into.
Now the UK will have to undergo an entire review of its legislation – what a huge cost to the taxpayer (who’ll also be paying higher taxes), and what huge momentum there is now to strengthen security laws against Muslims ‘to ensure they are strong for an independent Britain’.
I cannot help but also feel that some Muslim leaders in the UK are partly responsible for not uniting behind a remain vote, and making this public at khutbas and masaajid. More should have been done.
Despite this we have to remain optimistic like the Sheikh said, and try and make the best of our situation. I am optimistic we will be able to try and help stabilise the country. I also hope the lib dems offer a 2nd referendum in their manifesto for the next general election. May Allah make it easy for the Muslims in this country and around the world.
Amusingly, looking for evidence of the existence of Mr Rahman’s “Holy Christian League”, another of the rare and unreferenced mentions on the internet also somes from him here: https://www.islam21c.com/politics/the-croissant/ where he claims it consisted of “the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Viennese [sic] Republic. The Tsardom of Russia would later join”.
It certainly seems to be an eclectic organisation.
There was, it seems a long time ago, what came to be known as ARAB Spring. The USA, the British and the NATo did not allow the fruits of the Arab Spring to be harvested by the Middle Eastern and Nort-West African people. The harvest turned out to be an evil harvest. Now there comes the time to harvest what the USA-UK-France- NaTO sowed: European Spring. Withthe Grace of the Creator of the Universe, it will be a bitter harvest: ساءَ ما يزرون، وا ساءَ ما حصيدون
…and another chapter of Z A Rahman’s “1453 and All That”: all the history Mr Rahman can make up.
Even by his standards Mr Rahman is a little imprecise here. We’ll leave aside his disapproval of the Vennese not being over-enthusiastic about an Ottoman conquest, an “anti-Muslim narrative [which] has come to be recognised as a central most feature of the far-right discourse” and actually resisting it, but Mr Rahman reveals the existence of a “Holy Christian League that was formed to defeat the Ottomans before the battle of Vienna”, formed of the countries then in a “geographical area as in the 17th Century including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria as well as others such as Britain ” This is a rather… curious, shall we say?…organisation; To begin with, of the areas he lists, what are now Czechia and Slovakia (Mr Rahman isn’t too well-informed on nonmuslim current affairs either, it seems), what is now Germany, parts of Italy and Austria were parts of the Holy Roman Empire (famous for being “neither holy nor Roman nor an empire”). This did not function as a unified body, especially after the Thirty Years’ War; the Habsburgs’ power depended on family lands: Austria, parts of Italy, southern Germany, what are now Czechia and Slovakia, sometimes supported by, sometimes supporting the other Habsburg branch based in Spain, which governed part of the Netherlands.
The curious aspect is that Mr Rahman’s alleged Holy Christian League, included not just Habsurg lands and Poland, but also – it seems – Britain (another country that did not then exist) and France. Britain – actually the separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, sharing the same monarch but with different – often hostile governments – was not in a political or military position to intervene in eastern Europe, even if it wanted to. France was in fact at war with Spain and the Dutch Republic so it was most unlikely that any of them could intervene to help the Austrian Habsburgs – indeed, the fact that the Austrian Habsburgs had lent troops to Charles II of Spain and the French had made unofficial arrangements to aid the Ottomans both in attempts to encourage Magyar revolts against the Habsburgs and by posting troops on France’s eastern border shows how preposterous this claim is.
However, if the Holy Christian League ever existed at all, it certainly was not in the form Mr Rahman ascribes to it: where and when and by whom was it agreed to? Is Mr Rahman thinking of one of the several Holy Leagues led by the pope in the previous century? The most effective formed the fleets that were victorious at Lepanto, but if that is what Mr Rahman is thinking of, it’s questionable which is worse: his knowledge of history or his knowledge of geography.
Before the Brexit we Muslims were highly unpopular and I for one have had “Get back to your own country” or “Get that veil off your face, this is England” So nothing new here, in terms of abuse. A majority of us have experienced Muslim hate, especially us sisters. And especially visible sisters with niqab or hijab.
Is this a “new” wave of abuse or just the same old, same old, but being perceived from a different angle? Time will tell.
It is not like Europe is tolerant of Muslims, quite the opposite. Niqab is banned in France, Belgium and Holland. Hijab is banned in schools in France. So it would be wrong to feel we have lost any friends. Only time will tell if this is going to spark a heightened wave of new xenophobia or anti Muslim sentiment in the UK.
Either way we should be prepared and steadfast.