British Muslims are guilty of a "victim mentality" and should take greater responsibility for their lives, a Muslim Labour MP has argued.
Sadiq Khan also said more British Muslims must tackle sexism, learn English and condemn forced marriages.
The representative for Tooting, south London, made his comments in a report for the Fabian Society think tank.
Muslim youth organisation the Ramadhan Foundation said Mr Khan was out of touch with grassroots Muslims.
'Liberal anxiety'
In his report, entitled Fairness, Not Favours, Mr Khan said: "We need to take more responsibility for our own families, ignore those who propagate conspiracy theories, and above all we need to leave behind our victim mentality.
"We must all agree that honour killings are murder and forced marriages are kidnapping. These traditions have no place here or anywhere."
He also claimed that Muslims in Britain are pre-occupied by foreign policy and not concerned enough about day-to-day political issues.
"Muslims need to recognise childcare is as important as Kashmir," he said.
Assistant whip Mr Khan said there was no question that people coming to live in Britain should learn English and he criticised "liberal anxiety" about the issue.
"The requirement to learn English is not colonial. English is a passport to participation in mainstream society - jobs, education and even being able to use health services," he said.
"Having poor English creates multiple barriers to work; it decreases your confidence, makes it harder to gain other skills and qualifications and increases the likelihood of unemployment and your withdrawal from the labour market."
Islamophobia
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, said the "real issues" holding Muslims back were "poverty, crime, racism and Islamophobia".
He said: "We do not have a victim mentality but are victims of this government's failure to deal with real issues, issues around poverty, tackling the underlying causes of why there is terrorism in this country."
He said the Ramadhan Foundation had a long history of opposing forced marriages and so-called honour killings.
(more)
Source: BBC (English)
Sadiq Khan also said more British Muslims must tackle sexism, learn English and condemn forced marriages.
The representative for Tooting, south London, made his comments in a report for the Fabian Society think tank.
Muslim youth organisation the Ramadhan Foundation said Mr Khan was out of touch with grassroots Muslims.
'Liberal anxiety'
In his report, entitled Fairness, Not Favours, Mr Khan said: "We need to take more responsibility for our own families, ignore those who propagate conspiracy theories, and above all we need to leave behind our victim mentality.
"We must all agree that honour killings are murder and forced marriages are kidnapping. These traditions have no place here or anywhere."
He also claimed that Muslims in Britain are pre-occupied by foreign policy and not concerned enough about day-to-day political issues.
"Muslims need to recognise childcare is as important as Kashmir," he said.
Assistant whip Mr Khan said there was no question that people coming to live in Britain should learn English and he criticised "liberal anxiety" about the issue.
"The requirement to learn English is not colonial. English is a passport to participation in mainstream society - jobs, education and even being able to use health services," he said.
"Having poor English creates multiple barriers to work; it decreases your confidence, makes it harder to gain other skills and qualifications and increases the likelihood of unemployment and your withdrawal from the labour market."
Islamophobia
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, said the "real issues" holding Muslims back were "poverty, crime, racism and Islamophobia".
He said: "We do not have a victim mentality but are victims of this government's failure to deal with real issues, issues around poverty, tackling the underlying causes of why there is terrorism in this country."
He said the Ramadhan Foundation had a long history of opposing forced marriages and so-called honour killings.
(more)
Source: BBC (English)
1 comment:
unfortunately the bbc report is not very informative.
the real underlying issue in the report was the intent to depoliticise muslims and to have them not focus on foreign policy and related matters.
the rest of it is just the usual flim flam padding.
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