UKIP candidate on "uncontrolled practice" of Islam in the UK

UKIP candidate for Leicester South Abhijit Pandya continues to make Islam and Muslims the centre piece of his election strategy with a blog post asking “What would have the formidable Victorian society thought of the proliferation of Mosques in Britain?”

He writes:

“Gladstone, the greatest British figure of the 19th Century said of the Koran: “This accursed book”. He once held it up during a session of Parliament, declaring: “So long as there is this book there will be no peace in the world”. Winston Churchill, recently declared the greatest Britain of all time in a poll by the BBC, said of Hitler’s Mein Kampf: “the new Koran of faith and war: turgid, verbose, shapeless, but pregnant with its message”. The Victorians with their deeply held ideals of tolerance (which became non-negotiable in society following the important act of repealing the Test and Corporation Acts of 1828) would not have bartered it away to allow for a permissive exception to its existence, in the way we tolerate Islam to be practiced uncontrolled in our country today.”

He goes on to cite verses of the Qur’an suggesting Muslims are encouraged to maintain a separate existence from the rest of society:

“Passages in the Koran include the following: ‘…Slay those who associate others with Allah in his divinity (E.g. Christians, Sikhs, Hindus etc) wherever you find them.’ [K. 9.5] AND ‘Believers fight against the unbelievers who live around you [K.9. 123]’ This encourages segregation and lack of social integration. The Koran teaches British Muslims that their fellow citizens will go to hell: [K. 9.73] “Strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; their abode is hell”
[K. 5.55] “Believers, do not seek the friendship of the infidels…This is because they are devoid of understanding.” As an unchallenged belief, this hinders integration between Muslims and mainstream British society.”

He argues that women are inferior to men in Islamic cultures stating:

“Whilst the U.N. today is trying to get equality for women, Islamic Courts, operating in Britain today, rule that a woman’s testimony is worth nothing without a man’s. The Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar described female genital mutilation (the ‘sanding down’ of a girl’s clitoris at a young age) as “a laudable practice that does honour to women”. He is “the highest spiritual authority for nearly a billion Sunni Muslims” (BBC). Islamic Law authorises limb chopping and death by stoning. Women are stoned to death in Islamic countries for getting raped (it is automatically assumed that they have committed adultery). The Koran decrees that the penalty for homosexuality is a sin to be punished by death. A Muslim is not allowed to change his religion. Those who have fled Islam have suffered death under Islamic Penal Codes around the world.”

And goes on to conclude that UKIP is the only party willing to speak the “unspeakable”:

“At present, vast parts of current British political issues as handled by politicians and the media (the problem with the latter shown by the idiotic portrait of my last blog piece in the Leicester Mercury by David Maclean) has got to the point where it can no longer handle or have an interest in the truth. That is a mark of a nation in decline which UKIP, as the only alternative in British politics, has to stop. From Europe, to immigration to multiculturalism these issues are only touched on by leaders of the Conservative party to placate members and keep them in check. Members of Labour and Liberal Democrats are so blind that they cannot even see these things as being a cause of any social or economic problems of the UK. These latter parties further national decline as an acceptable means to pursue unworkable ideologies.

“I would urge the British people not to be bullied by the present establishment in not talking about things they think matter but are too afraid to say. I would encourage more talk of immigration control and less fear of racism. I would encourage more talk of how to control intolerance and remove multiculturalism. I would say to anyone who has been bullied by the current political climate into silence to speak-up and say what they think is unspeakable, and find refreshingly to their surprise that so many of us agree. The debate on the proliferation of Islamic doctrine, in isolated communities, without the opportunity for others in society with different views to air them, will encourage harmful dogma, that can haunt all religions, to grow unchecked. When you speak of our traditional British values, and the alien odd values of foreigners do not be afraid to be called intolerant, for no one who is intolerant of evil is morally blind. When this happens know that it is proof that you are right and your detractors are the ones in fear, for while you pursue the truth they only pursue the childish outcome of winning an argument without consequence. Then you will have proudly put on the socks of the great Victorians of our past.”

We wonder whether Mr Pandya has sought to engage in a reasoned debate on the “proliferation of Islamic doctrine” with Muslim organizations in Leicester (the Federation of Muslim Organizations in Leicester comes immediately to mind) the better to quell his doubts on Muslim “segregation” and his obvious ignorance concerning the Qur’anic verses he is so quick to cite. Or is UKIP above criticism on the “harmful dogma” of its own unchecked opinion?

See the FMO’s press release concerning the electioneering of Mr Pandya and his disparaging remarks about Islam here.