The Horrible Horror of Jihadi John and Muslim Radicalization

Mohammed Emwazi alias ‘Jihadi John’ of ISIS beheading videos infamy, was not born in Britain – which is a very good thing. He was, however, raised in Britain from the age of about 6 – which is a very bad thing. Well, everything about Jihadi John is a very bad thing really but if he had actually been born in Britain it would have seemed oddly even worse in a way.

Mind you, given that he came over with his family aged about six then, it has to be said, his slide into extreme Islam and murder must have occurred whilst residing in Britain as, as far as I know, there aren’t many 6-year old Muslims wandering around chopping off peoples heads so, presumably, he was ‘got at’ in Britain as he grew to adulthood or even when in adulthood.

The three young girls who recently made the news by popping off to Syria also show that, whilst most Muslims do not openly support ISIS nor fanatical Islam there is clearly a growing problem in Britain as well as elsewhere. A form of ‘grooming’ perhaps of teenagers who, by the very nature of teenagers, can be very impressionable.

The question is ‘what can we do about it?’ or, ‘can we do anything about it?’. I suspect there isn’t actually a great deal we can do about it other than ensure any who go to Syria are made stateless to prevent them ever returning.

Several seemingly prominent Muslims have been interviewed on TV of late and one theme that appears to consistently run through these interviews is the claim that, in Britain, many Muslims feel ostracised from mainstream society or, if you will, marginalised.

I’ve been thinking about this statement – I know, me thinking can lead to all sorts of bizarre pronouncements but stay with me here will you? – and it seems to me that there is some truth in these apparently prominent Muslims saying this.

I admit I am always suspicious of anyone called a ‘community spokesperson’ or a ‘prominent community leader’ as I’ve never seen such a job advertised and often think either (almost invariably male in this instance) is merely a gentle euphemism for ‘know it all’ and / or ‘the one with the loudest mouth’.

Still, we must be diplomatic mustn’t we?

On thinking about this statement – being marginalised or ostracised – I could only reach one conclusion. It is mainly their own fault.

Now, clearly, there are racists, fascists and / or Islamophobes out there but they are only an ‘idiot rump’ of people who represent nobody but their own warped agenda. The vast majority of British people would only have a problem with Islam if Islam became a problem for them and, in certain ways, it has.

Sikhism, Hinduism, Judaism and pretty much any other ‘isms’ you can think of have successfully integrated into British society. Of course it hasn’t necessarily been an easy ride for them. The brief rise of The National Front and the skinhead racists of the 80’s sufficiently illustrates the point. Never the less, over time, only a negligible number of indigenous Brits continue to have any issues regarding ‘alien’ faiths and cultures.

The reason is, simply, that the previously ‘alien’ faiths and / or cultures that form Sikhism etc etc have compromised by ensuring that their faith and / or culture has ‘fitted in’ with British values, sometimes by the simple expedient of making sure their faith / culture is not perceived as maliciously intrusive on Britain.

Guess what? It worked.

I have to say that the only Muslims I know who feel ‘comfortable’ in Britain tend to be the ones who have, for a better way of putting it, somewhat ‘compromised’ their faith at least in public. As a result, whilst I and many friends know they are Muslim, the thought never really crosses our minds as they are publicly no different than us. Sikh’s wear turbans and? Hindu’s sometimes have red dots on their foreheads and? Muslim women often wear head scarves and?

When our Muslim friends join us for a night out they don’t drink alcohol. So? I’ll drink their share.  Besides, it makes the rounds cheaper :-).

Perhaps I’m being overly simplistic but I don’t think I am.

A recent survey showed around 20% of British Muslims felt western democracies were incompatible with Islam and 11% felt the murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in France was justified.

Now whilst it is good news that 80% and 89% respectively didn’t share those views, given our Muslim population is around the 3 million mark then 20% is 600,000 and even 11% is 330,000.

That is an awful lot of British Muslims who don’t believe Islam and the west are compatible and half of them think murdering the Charlie Hebdo people was fine and dandy.

Before you say it – I know. Surveys need to be treated with a healthy scepticism and rightly so but even an ostrich might lift its head from the sand and feel slightly alarmed at this.

The ‘suggestion’ of the ‘prominent Muslims’ interviewed seemed to be that Muslims should be protected from anything they find offensive to Islam which, of course, just ain’t gonna happen as our ‘freedom of speech’ laws are far more important than whether or not Muslims get offended sometimes.

Inciting hatred or violence is not freedom of speech but anything else is and anything else, including lampooning Mohammed, God, Buddha, Jesus, The Virgin Mary and any other deity like personage, whilst it may offend some, is acceptable.

It does lead me to wonder whether, ultimately, the 20% aren’t right and Islam is not compatible with the west. Will Muslims ever ‘get it’?

It is not for ‘us’ to change nor compromise in our countries but for ‘them’ to change and compromise in order to live peacefully amongst us.

Sadly, breath holding is inadvisable.

In the meantime I suppose further ‘Jihadi John’s’ will pop up from time to time and more British teenage Muslims will be ‘groomed’ and head off for a great adventure in Syria and, frankly, there seems to be bugger all we can really do about it.

What ever we do about this mess one thing is clear. We must do all in our power to not lose our heads. (oh dear. I just couldn’t resist could I?)

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