November 11, 2002

British Muslims disagree about integration
___LONDON (RNS)--The ranks of Islam in Britain show signs of schism as moderate and radical Muslims battle with words over Western secular values and Islamic fundamentals.
___About 8,500 radicals--described by organizers as the largest conference of Muslims since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States--gathered in east London this fall to hear leaders of the Hizb ut-Tahrir political party denounce "the decadent West" and the "perilous trap of integration."
___"When the West calls for integration," said Imran Waheed, a British doctor and organizer of the conference, "it is asking Muslims to abandon Muslim values and adopt Western values."
___"Integration means adopting Western secular values in lieu of Islamic values--values which are from a foreign and different ideology to Islam," he said.
___But other organizations from Britain's 2 million-strong Muslim community boycotted the gathering. Inayat Bungalawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, described Waheed's relatively small political grouping as "intolerant and isolationist."
___"It is important," Bungalawala said, "for us (Muslims) to participate in all levels of democracy in the United Kingdom, and we believe in participation and integration."
___The more radical element isn't buying that, however. Palestinian cleric Issam Amireh said, "They want Muslims to integrate and to accept democracy, which is a one-way ticket to hellfire."
___But Bungalawala, whose organization serves as an umbrella group for numerous Muslim organizations in Britain, said, "We don't accept that Islam is being watered down because adherents learn to speak English or integrate into British society."
___The Hizb ut-Tahrir conference, he said, "was about establishing a worldwide Islamic state, and this is not what we are about at all."
___A more moderate message was conveyed at another meeting in London, this one organized by the Islamic Society of Britain and Young Muslims UK, where Joe Ahmed-Dobson denounced the Muslim terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and Washington.
___The linking of terrorism with Islam by the radicals "was -- and continues to be -- grossly offensive to the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the UK and 1 billion Muslims across the globe," said Ahmed-Dobson, who converted to Islam four years ago. -- Al Webb

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