Muslim apologist Ustadh Adnan Rashid had a debate with a lady who works for Jay
Smith’s Pfander Centre for Apologetics, Elizabeth Lizzie Schofield. The debate
was on divorce in Islam. Strangely enough Pfander Films do not have the debate video uploaded as I write but they did upload a video entitled After
Debate Discussion. I’m not entirely sure why they have not uploaded footage of
the debate – one would think the debate footage would be the primary focus. SC
Dawah Channel (an excellent and recommended resource for Speakers Corner video footage) has the entire debate uploaded here:
part 1 and part 2.
I recommend you watch the actual debate rather than The After Debate Discussion which was haphazard and was a typical SC dialogue where both sides angled for opportunities to talk. Again, I am a little miffed to see the actual debate has not been posted (yet?) by Jay Smith’s team especially considering Adnan did a good job in clarifying the misunderstanding on the part of Pfander and Lizzie Schofield.
Nevertheless, the After Debate Discussion gave us another insight into the nature of a noxious element of those who follow Pfander Films. The comments on the video were replete with racist abuse and even included a veiled threat towards Muslims.
Notice the 21 likes! Calling Muslims savages is a way of
saying Muslims are animal-like. Using the word “import” also dehumanizes Muslims
alongside otherizing Muslims as folks who are not part of Western society when
in reality the majority of Muslims in the West are born in the West. Racists
say the same thing about Afro-Caribbean people. They used to, and some still do, say it about Jews.
Again likening Muslims to animals. This time this person uses the Bible support his hateful views on Muslims!
More equating Muslims to animals. More sentiment suggesting Muslims don’t belong in London (and the West in general). This idea that all Muslims pitched up in the West from a dessert is ridiculous. I wonder if this person in Texas (?) knows Jesus (p) is a Middle Easterner.
This idea of Muslims following the devil is ridiculous but
it aids propaganda in setting up a hierarchy of human value. Of course if you
believe a group is satanic then you’re going to be less inclined to care when
you read about a bunch of them getting blown up in the news as collateral
damage or the target of terrorist thugs. Or even when a group of them drown in
the sea while trying to flee war, oppressive regimes and/or economic hardships. On a personal level
this attitude hinders one from having a non-pejorative relationship with
Muslims in daily life.
What I always find baffling with this accusation from the “Christian”
camp is how it opens a Christian up to serious questioning of their own faith
tradition and community. For instance, Islam’s zero-tolerance stance on alcohol
is better than Christianity’s you-can-drink-as-long-as-you-don’t get-drunk
stance; we now know even moderate intake of alcohol is linked to some cancers and
alcohol by its very nature is so difficult to control in order to avoid a level
of tipsiness which lowers one’s inhibitions (leading to anti-social behaviour
or speech) and with each sip it’s incrementally more difficult to avoid
complete drunkenness . The question here for a Christian with such a depraved
view of Muslims is why are Muslims who you believe to be led by the devil
following a religion which has better teachings on alcohol than Christian? It’s
a difficult question for the Christian. A related question could be why dopolls show Muslims to be better disciplined sexually than Christians if Muslimsare following the devil?
This is an old form of racism: against ethnicity or in this
case nationality. Adnan, if I’m not mistaken is of Pakistani origin. This
sentiment was clearly not isolated to one individual - 4 likes!
Notice all the likes! Pfander Ministries have previous form here. This is not thefirst time where one of their viewers expressed views in wanting to boot Muslims out of Europe. This type of rhetoric was experienced by Jews
and Irish - in the late nineteenth century
political powers in Britain tapped into the growing rhetoric against Jews and
Irish leading to a restrictive Aliens Bill in 1904 (See Owen Jones’ Book
Chavs). Right wing rhetoric can influence politics – this is one of the reasons
why Islamophobes are so vocal. Again we are talking about a new form of racism
and discrimination which has to be given a name, the word "Islamophobia" is at the head
of the queue right now.
I cannot stress enough how the inertia of Muslims in
Britain, Germany, France and Scandanavian countries will allow an a relatively unchecked
platform for Islamophobes to influence political powers. Muslims need to get politically
active – the easiest way to do this is to raise awareness of issues and talk
about this type of stuff. Chatham House’ssurvey publicised what every reasonably thoughtful person would imagine: those more
educated and those who have interactions with Muslims in real life are less
likely to hold Islamophobic views. As Muslims we need to start talking about
these issues with Non-Muslim friends and colleagues – folks who would be more
trusting of you than an anti-Muslim/Islam hate preacher on the internet. Don’t
allow hate preachers to cloud your friends’ minds with anti-Muslim/Islam prejudice.
Sadly a lot of Muslims have and continue to accept this
prejudice against them as something that is part and parcel of living in a
Western society. This should not be the case. If Jewish, Irish, Black and LGBT movements were able to impact discrimination
and hatred towards their respective people Muslims can work towards this
reality with respect to Islamophobia. Working together with Non-Muslims to raise awareness of
Islamophobia unashamedly is key. All this right wing talk about Islamophobia
being a buzzword of Political Correctness which delimits boundaries of
criticism of Islam is red herring. Smart people should be able to see through
it. Anti-Judaism polemics in the West would have contributed to Anti-Semitism:
the classic example being that of Jews
having a less loving idea of God (thus in turn planting seeds in the minds of distrusting people in Christian Europe of Jews being less loving which ultimately watered the ground for Anti-Semitic blood libels to spread in Europe - even in Norwich!
How do folks ameliorate Christian attitudes towards Muslims?
An easy step is to call out the hate-preachers within the
Christian community. Sure, I am aware of
intimidation tactics Pfander have used in the past but Muslims need to be
willing to report abuse and Islamophobia to the authorities without trepidation.
Pfander Centre have been propagating anti-Muslim rhetoric and they have been
proscribed by universities and other forums according to Lizzie Schofield forIslamophobia whilst simultaneously considered to be extreme by other Christians.
As you can see, there’s already a significant and politically active number of
Non-Muslims who are speaking out against Islamophobia and what they deem to be
toxic elements within Christian preaching communities. These are folks Muslims
can join hands with.
Note: I may not have time to do a separate post on what was Jay Smith's and Dave's distasteful use of purported European anti-Muslim immigrant sentiment via the Chatham House survey, a video which manage to evoke at least one viewer to spew the old kick-Muslims-out rhetoric. Here's a blog I wrote on why that survey cannot be used by Islamophobes in the way they may think they can use it.
Are Jay Smith and Beth Grove of Pfander Centre Radicalising People to Hate Muslims?
Cenk Uygur Proves Mulims Are not More Violent than Christians
A Few Thoughts on Jonathan McLatchie's Arguments for the Holy Spirit
Solas CPC Rebuked by Muslim
Pfander Ministries Blog on Hijab by Lizzie Schofield
Mike Licona Rebuked by Muslims: Spreading Deceit About Shk Ahmed Deedat
Do Jay Smith's Pfander Centre for Apologetics Really Preach Trinitarian Views on Jesus?
Synoptic Gospels and the Idea of a Pre-Existent Jesus?
Blog: Aggressive Sid Cordle and Lizzie Schofield on Mary Worship and The Quran
Refuting Christian Fundamentalists Who Say Islam is from Devil
Paula Fredriksen: Paul was NOT a Trinitarian
Thoughts on Lizzie Schofield's blog on Pakistan's ban of Valentines Day
Christians having dreams and converting to Islam
Conversions to Islam
Learn about Islam
Email: yahyasnow@yahoo.co.uk
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