I do think challenging supremacism is primarily a Muslim problem when it comes to my contact with fellow Muslims, and when there is any debate about our identity as Muslims. I’m not particularly concerned about the isolation and marginalisation you mention – I am coming at it more from the perspective of challenging hatred. And whether you believe it or not, I take this as one of my responsibilities.

I don’t think that challenging hatred is a specifically Muslim issue, however. You may think it is. Or you may think that arguing against supremacism is too abstract to make sense to people in the real world.

I think focusing only on Muslims’ ideological shortcomings will add to their sense of injustice and paranoia, hence make it impossible to make a difference in the real world. I think this is so obvious it makes me suspicious when people insist not only that dealing with the hatred of other Muslims is my responsibility, but also that I have to do so in an unjust and ineffective way, otherwise I am somehow one of them, an apologist, etc. etc.

I understand such people probably want to vent their anger, but if I’m going to make a genuine difference, I have to ignore their advice. Perhaps this is analogous to how the MCB is positioned. To make a real difference they need to have credibility. And what makes them credible to Sunny and Martin Bright, will probably be the opposite of what makes them credible to radicalised supremacists. The question is whether they seek a particular kind of credibility in order to represent that group’s opinions or to change them.

We can only speculate.

Martin – Glad to see you were reading the thread. I think it is tricky to please mainstream and Muslim audiences. If it achieves the intended effect of forcing a change in government policy, then it’s great news. It’s time they wisened up.

But Muslim audiences need a bit more of a refined message. To be honest I don’t think Michael Gove helped. There are plenty of Muslim people who dislike him for other reasons than being “medievil”.

I am glad of one thing – it did not demonise the British Muslim population.

It would have been good to get Neal Robinson on there too. He was quite articulate and knowledgable at the policy exchange launch.

The programme was always intended by me as an intervention in the deabte and seems to have done the trick in raising some important issues. I can’t help people who didn’t like the tone.

I am happy to engage with anyone who wants to email me at the New Statesman. My email address is not hard to find.

And yes, it seems that Sayeedi has left the country.

I can only hope that the government begins to wise up. Their strange love-affair with the Islamist politics of Jamaat-e-Islami and the Ikhwan needs to be scrutinised further.

Woohoo!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0060563397/026-0276433-5514821?v=glance&n=266239

It doesn’t seem at all that both parties are following the same religion.

I agree!

There were some dodgy interviewees. How he managed to get it so wrong on the penetration of Sufism among Muslims and then get a “Sufi” to back that claim up was a bit comical.

Naqshi is right that they confused with Sufi with Barelvi because of its roots in the initiatic orders of the Sufis.

what on earth is a barelwi>

Seeker – thanks for that.

I don’t believe the 80% Sufi figure either. A stretch of the imagination.

I also found Michael Gove’s usage of the word “medieval” a bit silly too. He could say inhumane etc or opressive or whatever. But the usage of that word suggests he still believes those people (meaning Muslim scholars are from the middle ages)…. I wonder if he’d used that for a Christian fanatic or an ultra-orthodox Jew. Don’t think so.

Bunglawala got off too easily. There are so many ways to catch him on the spot but I think Bright didn’t question him enough.

A good point was made though about the govt basically ignoring the recommendations since 7/7.
The other thing is it definitely made the MCB look like government lackeys, which they pretty much are. They support each other like drunkards. It will reduce their credibility for sure.