Descending into a Political Chaos
By Anila Ali
Irvine, Ca
“God, please don’t let it be a Pakistani, please,” I pleaded to the Lord. Now, I want to bury my head in the sand and just disappear.
You see my view of the world is truly multi-dimensional. I grew up in London in the 70s and 80s and spent my formative years with my father who was serving at the Pakistan Embassy in London. My father, himself a graduate from the London School of Economics, was a true reflection of Quaid-i-Azam, more English than the English, and had one message for the Pakistanis in England, “Make it your home. Serve the country you’ve adopted.”
As I visited South Asian communities in the UK with him, like Luton, Bradford, Manchester, East Ham, Ilford, I noticed the clear lack of integration that was causing a disconnect between the immigrants and their adopted home. My father’s message of integration and interfaith was resonating politically but the progression was slow.
After the birth of Pakistan in 1947, Britain suffered from labor shortages and who better to fill the void than the previous subjects of the Queen. Migrants from Indian Punjab, Pakistani Punjab, Bangladeshis (although their large scale migration is a more recent phenomenon compared to other South Asian countries), and Sri Lankans, who are mostly white collar, have faced discrimination but have duly contributed to the political, economic, and social life of the UK. These immigrants were filling up a vacuum, much like the Mexicans are doing in California today.
Noteworthy, is that South Asian migrants followed an Islam that was primarily tolerant and inclusive. Discrimination against women was cultural rather than religious. Women wore no hijabs and men didn’t don beards. Language barriers were more of an obstacle to integration than violent religious dogma against non-Muslims. So what went wrong?
Regents Park Mosque was one of the largest mosques in London. I remember going there occasionally with my father, although a beautiful place of worship, was more a symbol of Arab dominance than a place of worship. I remember feeling a complete disconnect with the sermons. The conversations at the mosques were more about how to spread Islam, Jihad, and less about how to lead a good life as a Muslim Brit. Born in Pakistan, into a family of highly intellectual Muslims, with a matriarchal grandmother, who wrote a dozen books on women’s rights and Islam, this new version of Islam being disseminated by the imams in the UK was not my Islam. My questions to my father, himself, an author of great repute, were incessant and provocative. My biggest conflict was the notion that only Muslims will go to Heaven.
“But what about the Pope, Mother Teresa, Buddha?” I’d ask my father. The push from the Arab clergy to proselytize was completely alien to my understanding of my religion.
“Your deeds are what make you a better human being. How you treat others, is what sets you apart as a Muslim. You could pray a hundred times a day, but if you hurt the feelings of a neighbor, or wayfarer, your prayers are useless.” This new version of Islam was just not my Islam.
As I started growing up as a woman, the rules being forced by the clergy, such as no nail polish, cover all your hair in a hijab, wear black abaya, etc. were taking me away from the mosque. The mosque was a new place of worship for me anyways. In Pakistan, women do not go to the mosque. In Pakistan, the women do not go to the mosque, they pray at home for convenience for “there is no compulsion in Islam.” I asked my scholarly grandmother if I could wear nail polish and pray. “God is the Most Merciful. He is not concerned with your nail color, and your hair covered fully or not. He is concerned about your intentions. Why are you praying? To please him or to show to people you are holy? If it is to please him then he is looking for your intentions to be good. You need to be kind to his creation, respectful to elders and kind to children. In the eyes of God, Rights of Human Beings are more important than prayers for Him.” Then she explained “Huqooq-ul-Ibad” to me. It sounded very much like the teachings of Prophet Jesus- Do unto others as you would like others to do unto you. Without any mention of “others” being only Muslims. God wanted us to be good to all and to give to all irrespective of color or religion. Now, what was being preached was contrary to my beliefs. You see my family for generations, in India and then Pakistan, co-existed with other religions and sects. My grandmother would take me to Shia Majlis and my father took me to churches, Ismaili centers and Shia mosques. “Differences are man-made. We cannot be the judge and jury. Leave it to the Almighty to do that in His infinite MERCY. Live your life like the Prophet said, love God’s Creation and He will love you back,” my father would tell me.
The new ideas being floated about the almost infidel status of Muslims sects were totally alien to my belief system. I was not going to believe, even for a moment, that I was going to Heaven, Jannat, just because I was a Sunni Muslim. This was all contrary to my beliefs. This was not my Islam. The radical change in thinking of Muslims in the UK has been happening for over thirty years now. I saw the seedlings of it while growing up. Now we see it in full bloom. The UK government failed to curb the hateful and toxic ideology that was poisoning the minds of the Muslim immigrants in the UK. Saudi Arabia’s financial strength and UK’s financial crash, led to the unchecked flow of money into the UK. It failed to check the flow of money into the mosques coming in from Saudi Arabia. In the name of free speech, seeds of radical Islamic ideologies, grew into a poison tree. No doubt, factors such as discrimination against the “Pakis” (slur spewed at all South Asians), Western society’s bias towards Israel, inadequate efforts to integrate immigrants into the society, are all factors that contributed to the marginalization of the Muslims in the UK. But what truly changed the face of Islam today was the dangerous growth of radical Islamism in the UK. Clerics were given a free reign to spew hate and promote radical ideologies of “seek them out and kill them,” and with our obsession to uphold free speech in the West, they found playing fields, "space spaces" on the Internet. Teresa May, in her many years as Home Secretary, allowed radicals freedoms unprecedented to call for violent jihad.
Now, Muslims are slowly coming around to acknowledge the reality. Radical Islam is real. It is dangerous; their child could be the next target or they could be collateral damage for a Jihadi. Radical Islamic ideologies call for Jihad against all those that are not Muslims or are moderate Muslims, are considered collateral damage in the name of God. The sword and hatchet yielding misguided Jihadis roam the streets of London killing in the name of Islam- in the name of Allah, and for Prophet Muhammad. Ironically, I was in DC attending a conference on radicalization. My taxi driver was a Pakistani from Rawalpindi. He asked me if I were Sunni or Shia. "Sunni," I admitted hesitantly. "Baji, you know the ISIS flag was seen by Rasool Allah in dream. He knew there would be Shias who will do tauheen to our Prophet and then a group will rise to stop them That group is ISIS." I gave him a lecture on what I know Islam to be and what I know the Prophet PBUH would have done. I asked him who was feeding him with such hateful ideas; he said it was a Syrian friend who preaches at the desi Chai places in DC.
So how can we say that this is not Islam and that these people are not Muslims. That denial is not serving us anymore.
Khurram Shahzad Butt, one of the London Bridge attackers last week, was a Pakistani, to my horror. He was radicalized, about two years ago. His neighbor, whose son he tried to proselytize, reported him to the police. No action was taken. He appeared on a documentary called the Jihadi Next Door, with a picture of him in front of Regents Park Mosque with an ISIS flag praying to the same God as mine. So yes, ISIS and other extremist groups are using Islam and perverting it. Noteworthy is also the fact that Teresa May, who is now calling for tough measures on extremist groups, allowed Anjum Chaudhry to spew his poison, instead of putting him in prison when she was the Home Secretary. The UK Counter Terrorism Force, dropped the ball on this one!
The truth is that concerned citizens both in the UK and the USA, are reporting unseemly behaviors and are more aware of Jihadi behaviors and indicators than ever before. But extremist groups are evolving and ahead of the game. Today, they do not shy away from flaunting their violent beliefs. Videos, chats, tweets, are proof of their brazenness for violence and determination to create an Islamic Caliphate. However, they are now using their relationships to indoctrinate and radicalize. Their messages call for Jihad to establish an “Islamic Caliphate” in which everyone follows an ascetic version of Islam. Their message is appealing to young people in particular, who may be feeling isolated, marginalized and the enticement of glory and notoriety spurs extremism into action.
Since 9/11 and the spread of radical Islamism, there has been a seriousness in the US government’s efforts to fight radicalization.
However, the efforts to curb radical groups who often operate as non-profits, guising as civil rights groups is also now an area of concern. President Obama, seen as soft on terror, was not soft on terror abroad, only at home. There were more drone attacks and increase in troops in his era than Bush's. His administration was seen by many as coddling the radical groups, giving more voice to Islamist groups than to progressive, moderate groups. For it is in the absence of moderate voices, that the radical voices take over the narrative. That is where we can all fill the void as Muslim Americans. Take back the narratives.
President Bush, President Obama, in an effort to be sensitive called it Countering Violent Extremism, CVE. In my white paper on stopping the spread of radicalization in the US, I observed seeing patterns of behaviors similar to those that I observed in the UK in the 70s and 80s. I was a part of panel on CVE from Los Angeles at The White House Summit in 2015 and I shared those concerns withThe White House.
My fears then are my fears now. If we do not completely curb the funding of terrorism, ban extremist groups and hate groups, urge Muslim countries to stop the oppression of women and minorities, then we will not reemerge as leaders of the Free World. With more than a thousand cases of home grown terrorism that our law enforcement is actively investigating and many more, it is matter of grave concern to me as a Pakistani American. For now, it seems, we are descending into a political chaos.
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