INTRODUCTION:

I write this as an illustration of the too-ready linkage between Islamism and antisemitism in the UK, which is an increasingly disturbing aspect of the general public discourse here, as is its growing influence upon the delegitimisation of Israel as a Jewish state.  The following description is of a conversation I had at their market stall with two Islamists whose attitude and arguments are identical to those of Hizb-ut-Tahrir although they denied that they were members.

Initially they had no way of knowing that I was Jewish (although I told them that I was towards the end of our “debate”); they first assumed it on the strength of my pointing up one of the lies on their leaflet, and my question about the Islamic Society at Manchester University.  The ease with which my interlocutors went from condemning Israel to condemning Jews (and me) would have shocked me had I not been prepared for it.

I should emphasise that these two were offering very different sorts of leaflets to non-Muslim passers-by from the ones they were peddling to Muslims.   The former employed the standard modus operandi of cult recruitment – to encourage questioning about life satisfaction, to insinuate doubts about one’s life and exacerbate them and then to offer their extremist version of Islam as the only cure (see “Combatting Cult Mind Control” by Steven Hassan for a full description of the rationale behind this and how it works).

There was no hint in any of these leaflets of the self-aggrandisement and superiority in the leaflets meant for Muslims only.   These latter varied between urging Muslims not to commit idolatry (shirk), or focused on the hadith or even urged them not to vote or warned them about the evils of interaction with other faith groups. The threat to social cohesion is palpable.

ON, THEN, TO MY ACCOUNT OF THE EVENT:

A normal Saturday afternoon at the market in the small town where I live.  It’s a peaceful place by and large, and people of all colours and creeds tend to rub along together very well. A walk through the market reflects the different cultures – Italian, Indian, Eastern European, British, African, West Indian – and Islamists who, I later found out, were from Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

Two traditionally dressed bearded Muslim men stood behind a trestle table at the edge of the market looking as if they had to practise being friendly.   I later remembered thinking that it was interesting that they set themselves apart – that it represented a sort of parallel process to how Hizb ut Tahrir believes that all Muslims should behave.  There was a donations box labelled ******** Dawah on the table, and a handmade notice which bade people to come and learn about Islam.  (I later found out that they were not listed as a charity in the UK and I doubt very much that they had a licence to collect money on the street – I intend to check that out in the light of what followed).

I went over to their stall.   The more confident man told me to take a leaflet from the right-hand side of the trestle.  I asked him why.

“Because those are for non-Muslims.”

I said, “OK, but why are you separating out the leaflets you give to non-Muslims from those you give to Muslims?” And I reached over and took a leaflet headed “Evils of Interfaith” from the “For Muslims” pile.

“So you believe that interfaith is evil?” I asked the first man.

(According to the leaflet, meetings between faith groups in order to promote mutual respect and understanding were forbidden by the Koran and were therefore, as the leaflet declaimed, evil.  This, I believed, was evidence not only of sublime arrogance, but a direct threat to the much-vaunted social cohesion strategies of successive UK governments).

“No, we believe that Islam is superior to every other faith.  We have no need of interfaith.”

(Note the nonsensical nature of this remark, which was the second lie he told me.  He is encouraging people to take leaflets which are headed “Evils of Interfaith” and yet in answer to my question, he denies that he believes that interfaith is evil!)

“But Islam is the last Abrahamic religion,” I said, “and Judaism and Christianity came before Islam.”

(I knew that he was likely to believe in that Islam had abrogated the other two – I just wanted to see what he would say).

And sure enough, “Islam is the best because it came last.”

I told him that I disagreed and it didn’t make any sense to me that he couldn’t make room in his belief system to accept that other religions were just as valid as Islam.   He told me that was because other religions were inferior to Islam. Again I said I disagreed.  Not inferior, I said, merely different.

Then he asked, “How much do you know about Islam?”

I answered that I knew quite a bit, which is true.  I told him I knew, for instance, about al-taqqiya and how devout Muslims were permitted to lie.  (He of course had lied at the very beginning:    I had asked him whether he and his chum were from Hizb-ut-Tahrir and he had said they were not.  I later found out that the Dawah organisation was part of Hizb-ut-Tahrir).

“But Islam does not lie!” he said, and I shook my head and then I, a mere woman, actually laughed at him!

I said that any religion which painted itself as superior to other religions was lying as well as being insulting to those other religions.   And I quoted back at him what was written from the Koran in the “Evils of Interfaith” leaflet.   I pointed up one lie which leapt off the page:

“Never will the Jews nor (sic) the Christians be pleased with you till you follow their religion [2:10]”

I said that this about the Jews was an outright lie – because Jews do not set out to convert others to their religion, neither do they insist that Judaism is the best religion for everyone else.

At this he got rather hot under the collar.  How dared I say that the holy Koran was a lie?  I said that he hadn’t been listening properly.  I had not said that all the Koran was a lie, merely that one Sura if indeed it had come from the Koran, and moreover he knew it.   I pointed to the paper – “that is a lie.”

He glared at me.   “The Jews think they are superior to us but they are not.”

I reminded him that it was he who had said that Islam was superior to every other religion. I said that the majority of Jews believed in interfaith values – that everyone should be allowed to worship as they chose – and they were good citizens.  How then could he argue that they thought they were superior?   I asked him how many Jews had he met and how many had tried to convert him to Judaism.

He had met “lots of Jews” he said, at Manchester University where he had studied (but I was left to assume that none had tried to convert him to Judaism).   I asked him what he thought about the conduct of the Islamic society there.

“Ah, you hate us because the university hates Israel and loves Palestine.”

(Another example of grandiosity – how could he reasonably argue that the Islamic society represented the views of the whole university?)

He then got rather carried away about his “brethren” in Palestine and how the Jews oppress them and murder and bomb them and have no right to be there.   I told him that his grasp of history was less than adequate or honest, and had he learned more he would have known that Palestinians could have had their state in 1947 but they refused the offer of partition because they wanted it all.  They could hardly complain, I said, if they didn’t have their own state because they preferred to attack Israel rather than concentrate on building a state for themselves.

A slightly different tack then:  “The Jews have no link with Palestine.”

I reminded him that Jews had had links with what he called Palestine since before his prophet had been born.

“So you are an ethnic Jew?” I told him I was.

“European Jews have no place in Palestine.” I respectfully disagreed with him.

“But the Jews are not a race!” I told him neither were the Palestinians – that they were Arabs – and neither are Muslims.

And then a complete change of tack and evidence of one of the main threads of Islamist anti-Semitism: “Jews are damned because they reject Jesus and Jesus is a Muslim.“ (That Jesus was a Muslim was also written in the pamphlet).

I said that he as a Muslim must be damned because he had rejected Jesus too, and anyway Jesus was a Jew so that was another lie.

He looked flustered.  “No, we don’t reject him.  We don’t believe that he is a god.”

“Well neither do Jews!”

He was getting more and more exercised.   “Why are you being so aggressive?”

(Another lie and attempt at the al-taqiyya of deflection which did not work – and it showed that he knew he was losing the argument).

I told him I wasn’t being aggressive at all,  that he thought I was only because my truth made him feel uncomfortable because he didn’t want to hear it.  I told him that he was wrong for all the reasons I had given him and that I resented his divisive message in my town.

Then he hissed “You are a second-class Jew.” (Nasty and racist but utterly predictable and a palpable hit!  I had him on the ropes)

“Really?” I said. “Why?  Is it because I dare to argue with the lies you are telling and because I am a woman?”

And I walked away.