17.3.98

From time to time the Islamic Human Rights Commission receives e-mails and correspondence from Muslims and non-Muslims which attack the principles of Islam, and the concepts of justice which our work tries to promote. Almost all of these are based on either misunderstanding and ignorance of true Islam, and / or Islamophobia. Recently we received a very long and detailed e-mail, from 'Margaret.' Margaret has from her account suffered a very bad experience at the hands of someone professing to be Muslim. Unfortunately, despite some intelligent observations, 'Margaret' has fallen into this trap. We have answered her e-mail below, and are also publishing the text of her message, as she requested.

We have taken this unusual step for two reasons. Firstly, we wish to promote better dialogue with all those who share with us a desire for the protection of the millions around the world who have been denied their basic rights, wherever they are and whoever the denier of their rights is. We hope this agenda is shared by people from all confessional, racial, political and national backgrounds. Secondly, Margaret's message epitomises the rise of Islamophobia. It is full of self-defeating arguments, which we wish to firmly and finally dispel.

We hope that 'Margaret' has made her comments in genuine ignorance of fact, and that our answer clarifies matters for her. The promotion of falsehood and hatred between different communities has resulted in many tragedies this century alone. We hope and pray that we all learn from the mistakes of the past, and learn to live together in justice and harmony.

IHRC.

IHRC's letter to 'Margaret'

Dear Margaret,

Thank you for your e-mail. We are sorry to hear of your bad experiences. You will appreciate that you are not alone in experiencing trauma and abuse. Many people around the world suffer daily in the same manner.

As we have outlined around 80% of all abuses are perpetrated against Muslims. This is a figure accepted by all major human rights groups, working in different fields. The perpetrators of such injustice are sometimes non-Muslim governments and organisations, and sometimes governments, regimes, juntas and organisations in Muslim countries. Many of the countries you have named e.g. Algeria are run by regimes which openly state that they are against Islam and Islamic teaching. In the case of Algeria, recent British newspaper reports have shown that the majority of killings committed in Algeria, including those blamed on Islamists are in fact the work of the junta, which is openly supported by the French government.

Another country which you mention is Saudi Arabia. Again, Saudi Arabia is well-known for its oppression of its Islamists - those people who are campaigning for Islamic government in Saudi. The most famous Islamist is in fact Mohammed Al Massari, who you have mentioned. Indeed he and his family were persecuted for their Islamic beliefs. It is significant to note that Saudi Arabia was only created as a nation state earlier this century by the victorious powers after the First World War. It still is supported, again openly and heavily, by the USA of America, where you come from, and the United Kingdom, where we are based. Its constitution is neither Islamic nor democratic. You are perhaps unaware, that when Mohammed Al Massari came to the UK, the Saudi Royal Family threatened to cancel the Al Yamamah contract if they did not expel Mohamed Al Massari. The British government agreed to do so. It was only after extensive campaigning by Muslim and non-Muslim groups that the British government was forced to allow him to stay. As you can already see, many Western governments are as guilty as the oppressive regimes they support, in the abuse of human rights.

You claim that England has declared itself to be a Christian country. On the contrary it declares itself to be a secular country, just as Saudi Arabia has disassociated religion from politics and society, so too has England. Regarding civilised non-Muslim countries as you refer to them, you are obviously uninterested in what we have to say. We refer you to the Amnesty International, UN Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Internet reports on the United Kingdom and the USA. If you do not accept these reports, perhaps you will find the US State Department report on the United Kingdom.

Many of the countries you condemn are already listed on our website. We have many different projects campaigning for the rights of people, some of which are listed and some which are yet to be publicised through the web. Regarding the types of abuses committed in the Muslim countries you mention, it is important to remember that it is often Islamists who have died, been imprisoned or attacked in many different ways, trying to stop abuses being perpetrated.

You also mention the case of Edita Keranovic, the Bosnian girl illegally adopted in the UK. This case has been condemned by Muslim, Christian and non-confessional groups. The British courts condemned this adoption in the severest terms, as the child's life was neither saved nor improved for her long term benefit. The other comments you have made, are extremely distressing to all those concerned, from whatever confessional background. This debate in the UK is not confined to the adoption of Muslims alone. Many Christian children from different sectarian backgrounds have been adopted by different Christian sects, an dthis has caused great concern to many human rights activists.

Ultimately you accuse Islam of allowing incest, wife-beating, female mutilation, torture, kidnap, and many other heinous crimes which are as you yourself point out at one point against its belief system. True Islam, is about truth and justice. All major faiths and ideologies believe that their belief system is the correct one. However, some basic values are shared values, including aspects of human rights, and we endeavour to work with all Muslim and non-Muslim groups who wish to combat injustice at every level.

We hope that your own problems, which you have mentioned, will be solved. We ask you respectfully, not to promote hatred and misinformation about Muslims or any other community. We hope that our answer, clarifies matters for you.

Yours truly,

IHRC.

MARGARET'S LETTER TO IHRC

Dear HRC!

You complain about the human rights abuses against Muslims. Where do you get your figures that 80% of all human rights abuses are committed against Muslims? Your own invention?

The only reason you can complain about these abuses is because you live in a civilized, non-Muslim country, such as England, where you have the human right to speak out against whatever you wish. If the immigrants from Muslim nations of African and Middle Eastern lands dared to speak out against human rights abuses in their own countries, I imagine their heads would roll. What happened to Mohammed Al Masari in Saudi Arabia when he criticized the Muslim regime of that Muslim country? I guess he found out the answer when his friends and relatives were imprisoned and killed, and he was forced to flee his homeland.

Regarding civilised non-Muslim countries as you refer to them, we refer you to the Amnesty International, UN Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Internet reports on the United Kingdom. We also respectfully ask you to read

If the nation of Saudi Arabia can proclaim that Islam is the law of the land, then what is wrong with England declaring that Christianity is the law of the land? You people want it both ways. If you do not like the fact that England is a Christian country, then why don't you move to an Islamic country that is more to your liking? I did not hear the Muslims complaining about their human rights back in the Middle Ages when they overran almost all of Europe. Now their whining doesn't stop. The main problem with the Muslim world is the Muslims themselves. You can't stop arguing amongst yourselves. You choose to ignore the facts--that hundreds of thousands of people of various religions are being enslaved by the Muslims of African nations. The Muslim government henchmen of the Sudan regularly kill, maim, imprison, torture, sodomize, rape and kidnap citizens of other faiths. Slavery is still legal in many parts of the Muslim world; Muslims enslave other Muslims in places like Saudi Arabia, where many housemaids from the Far East have been brutally attacked by their masters, not paid for their work, and then deported from the country. If Muslims are being denied their human rights, then why don't you criticize those so-called Muslims who violate the civil rights of their so-called "brothers"? In Algeria, Muslims murder other Muslims on a daily basis. The same goes on in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and a host of other almost exclusively Muslim nations. I guess your 80% figure might be correct after all, if you count all the human rights abuses perpetrated on Muslims by other Muslims.

I hear you crying about the legal adoption of one little Bosnian girl to an English couple. You should thank these people for saving the child's life. If her whole family was wiped out and the grandfather was imprisoned in Bosnia, then the child would surely have died if left to fend for herself on the streets of her war-torn country. That English couple should be given a medal by your so-called human rights group for saving the girl's life. God will reward them in heaven for their charity. What is wrong with the Muslims of this world? If you are so upset by this adoption, then why didn't a couple from a Muslim country step in and volunteer to take care of this child when she needed help? Where are all those millions of dollars of Saudi oil money going? Probably to buy weapons for more killings so that more Muslim children can be left homeless. How many Saudis, Pakistanis, Iraqis, etc., have adopted a Bosnian child who needed a home? I can tell you how many--exactly none--because Muslim men, especially the rich Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia--are too selfish to take into their homes a child that is not their own. Now let me tell you about Muslim violations of human rights. There are over 10,000 children of various nationalities who have been kidnapped to Saudi Arabia alone. God only knows how many have been kidnapped by their non-custodial fathers to other Muslim countries. I know because this happened to my child. What about her human rights? A five-year-old girl has the right to be with her mother. What this Muslim has done is against Islam and against the laws of every country, except a Muslim country. In Muslim countries, it is okay to beat women, commit incest by marrying cousins, commit genital mutilation on little girls, force them into marriage with ugly old men, sell them to rich men, etc. Your Islam has taken away the rights of my child to grow up like a human being rather than a slave. That is what she is now--nothing but a slave--someone to babysit her father's other children--someone to discriminate against because she is half-American. Let me tell you about this good Muslim, ABDULBASET AL*****, who stole my child. He acted as an imam, prayed, fasted, and did all the rituals. But his heart was ruled by Satan. Islam says that a man should support his wife and children, but this lazy bum was supported by me, then by another American wife for many years. The man never did a stitch of work while he lived in my country. He enjoyed our educational system and acquired two college degrees. He used women to support him and his child. He owes me over 15,000 American dollars in court-ordered child support, but that is not important. In fact, I hope he never pays me back because, according to Islam, the man who owes money to anyone at all cannot ever enter heaven. So, of his own action, this "religious" Muslim is keeping himself out of heaven. What a hypocrite! Well, the joke is on him. He has made himself a prisoner in his own Muslim country, but I know how badly he wants to leave there. All of his relatives are outside the Kingdom, but he will never be able to visit them again for fear of arrest. He wants to pursue a higher college degree, but that degree is not available in his country yet. He is the prisoner and I am free, even though I have lost my child. If the Muslims of the world want to stop the prejudice against them, then they will have to stop breaking the laws of the countries they visit. Criminals are not welcome in any country. We in America, however, deal with criminals in a humane and civilized fashion; we let them live, but we do not torture them. As you know, Muslim law is neither humane nor civilized. If I went to Saudi Arabia to take back my daughter, which is my right and her right, I would be arrested, imprisoned, tortured and then killed, never to be seen again. But I would go to heaven and be with God as a reward for making the ultimate sacrifice for my daughter. But the coward who has stolen her illegally like a thief in the night will never see the glory of God's realm. And, oh, by the way, the man is a murderer too. When I was pregnant with his son, he beat me so badly that I had to get the police to take me to the hospital, where I suffered a miscarriage. But, of course, that does not concern you at all because Muslim men believe it is their right to beat women and kill their own children. Sorry! That is murder, and that action will not get these men into heaven. It is the suffering, crying, grieving woman who will be rewarded by her maker because God counts the tears of women! I know you will not put this on your web page because all of you are cowards. But if I make one of you Muslims think about the sins you have committed against humanity, then my words and my tears are worth it. If I encourage just one Muslim man to treat his own wife in a better way, then my loss is worth it.

Margaret