The Clerics are the problem

A lot of people ranted and raved over this article in the lights of the recent poll that showed that 40% of the UK's muslims want Sharia laws implemented in the UK. I think it's an interesting read, and I found this part to be especially illuminating of where europe is heading. They simply do not realise how seriously Muslims take their religion. Islamic clerics regard themselves as locked in mortal combat with secularism.

"For example, one of the fundamental notions of a secular society is the moral importance of freedom, of individual choice. But in Islam, choice is not allowable: there cannot be free choice about whether to choose or reject any of the fundamental aspects of the religion, because they are all divinely ordained. God has laid down the law, and man must obey.

'Islamic clerics do not believe in a society in which Islam is one religion among others in a society ruled by basically non-religious laws. They believe it must be the dominant religion - and it is their aim to achieve this.

"That is why they do not believe in integration. In 1980, the Islamic Council of Europe laid out their strategy for the future - and the fundamental rule was never dilute your presence. That is to say, do not integrate.

"Rather, concentrate Muslim presence in a particular area until you are a majority in that area, so that the institutions of the local community come to reflect Islamic structures. The education system will be Islamic, the shops will serve only halal food, there will be no advertisements showing naked or semi-naked women, and so on."

That plan, says Dr Sookhdeo, is being followed in Britain. "That is why you are seeing areas which are now almost totally Muslim. The next step will be pushing the Government to recognise sharia law for Muslim communities - which will be backed up by the claim that it is "racist" or "Islamophobic" or "violating the rights of Muslims" to deny them sharia law.

"There's already a Sharia Law Council for the UK. The Government has already started making concessions: it has changed the law so that there are sharia-compliant mortgages and sharia pensions.

I think it has become mightily clear from the Danish experience that the people the western governments should talk to about muslim integration should NOT be the islamic clerics. But in the absence of secular muslim leaders and organizations for them to talk to, what are the western governments to do? I say that more organizations like the Democratic Muslims and the little known American Islamic Congress need to be established and contacted by the western governments, because those are your best hope for actual integration. And please, if you are a muslim who lives in a western country and wants Sharia law implemented there, I have 3 words for you: MOVE TO SAUDI! Ok? Glad we cleared that one!