Will Muslim Call to Prayer Ring Out Over Oxford?
| AR Articles on Britain |
|---|
| Whites as Kulaks (Jan. 2002) |
| Report from Britain (Sep. 2001) |
| Oldham Erupts (Jul. 2001) |
| No Representation (May 2001) |
| The Racial Transformation of Britain (Aug. 2000) |
| Black Crime in Britain (Apr. 1996) |
| Search AmRen.com for Britain |
| More news stories on Britain |
A battle of faiths is being waged in the ancient English city of Oxford, where some people are bitterly opposed to Muslim plans to broadcast the call to prayer over the fabled dreaming spires.
Local residents, clergy and now the head of the Church of England have been drawn into a debate over a proposal from the Central Oxford Mosque to broadcast a recording of the call to prayer, or Adhan, from its minaret over loud speakers.
Residents who live near the mosque claim the call will annoy their mainly non-Muslim community and won’t even be heard by the majority of Oxford Muslims, who live more than half a mile away.
“We are very angry that they are presuming to inflict this on a non-Muslim community,” Allan Chapman, a historian at the university and a local resident who described himself as a practicing Christian told Reuters.
“We see this as an attempt to impose Islam on a Christian-culture community,” he said.
The rector of one of Oxford’s largest Anglican churches, Charlie Cleverly of St. Aldate’s, has also attacked the plans.
He told the Oxford Mail that it was “un-English” and could create a Muslim ghetto in the neighborhood around the mosque.
“When such an area is subject to such a call to prayer, it may force people to move out and encourage Muslim families to move in,” he told the newspaper.
Oxford’s population is 150,000, the Central Oxford Mosque estimates that around 7,000 of these residents are Muslim, predominantly of south Asian origin.
Anxious to avoid a clash of cultures, Imam Munir Chisti said he is happy to compromise and has amended his proposal to broadcast the call to prayer once a week, instead of the five times a day heard in Islamic countries.
“We suggest that we have a call to prayer every Friday, because that is a special day for Muslims. It won’t be heard over the whole of Oxford. It won’t hurt anybody or force anything on anyone,” Imam Chisti told Reuters.
At the centre’s busiest time, during Friday prayers, there are around 1,000 faithful worshipping inside the purpose-built mosque.
The debate has become heated enough to draw comments on BBC radio from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and prompted the Anglican bishop of Oxford John Pritchard to post a letter on the diocese’s Web site explaining his support for the Muslim plans.
Williams—who sparked controversy last week after suggesting aspects of Sharia (Muslim) law in Britain are unavoidable—said he would be “uneasy” about a regular daily call to prayer.
“I think we need a bit of an injection of common sense in a mixed community which will never be homogeneously Muslim about what’s appropriate. A daily call to prayer doesn’t seem to be appropriate in that sort of environment,” Williams told the BBC.
Pritchard explained in his letter to the Oxford diocese Web site that he was happy with the call to prayer as long as practical issues could be ironed out, such as frequency of the call, the volume, and whether a trial period was advisable.
The bishop urged tolerance of other faiths.
“Part of living in a civilized society is respecting our diversity, even if aspects of it are not to our taste or belief,” Pritchard said.
Others complain that the call to prayer is not a neutral summoning and that any comparison to church bells, which have rung out over Oxford for centuries, were inaccurate.
“Church bells are a signal, they don’t contain words, the call to prayer is political,” Chapman said adding that to his ears the Adhan sounds like a “battle-cry.”
Certainly 18th century historian Edward Gibbon would be surprised to hear the call to prayer echoing out over Oxford. In his renowned “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” Gibbon famously mused on what would have happened if the Muslims had not been defeated by the Franks at the Battle of Tours in France in 732 and prevented from pressing further into Europe.
“Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mohamet,” Gibbon wrote.
More than two centuries after Gibbon’s work, Oxford’s modern-day residents along with many others in other Christian countries across Europe are discussing relationships with Muslim neighbors that would have been unthinkable in his day.
“I do not care what religion someone follows, I do care that a loud verbal praising of a god I don’t believe in, is broadcast into my home,” one reader wrote on the Oxford Times Web site.
For the mosque to go ahead with the broadcast of the call to prayer it must get permission from the city council. The imam said that given the level of controversy, he has not yet applied because he wants to canvas opinions from the faithful first.
Imam Chisti said heightened tensions have caused what he calls Islamophobia: “Its a lack of knowledge, they don’t understand our intentions.”
The call to prayer traditionally involves a muezzin singing from a minaret. It begins with “Allahu Akbar” or “God is the greatest” and ends with “There is no God but God.”
The Muslim Council of Britain says increasingly Muslims are choosing more modern methods of receiving the call to prayer via a special FM frequency on their radios, or receiving a text message on their mobile phones informing them of the times of the day they should pray.
(Posted on February 13, 2008)
Comments
7,000 into 150,000 = Them pushing their weight around when only 5% of the population. Reminds me of the `ol Andy Jackson line, “One man with courage makes a majority.” Well, we better start getting some courage and conviction ourselves!
On another post I suggested a “Shock (pun intended) Battalion of patriot electricians to shut this thing down.
Posted by Tim Mc Hugh at 6:35 PM on February 13
Phobia - an irrational fear. What’s irrational (ie Islamophobia) about fearing Islam?
Posted by stephen at 6:49 PM on February 13
“Church bells are a signal, they don’t contain words, the call to prayer is political,” Chapman said adding that to his ears the Adhan sounds like a “battle-cry.”
_______ ________
Absolutely. It is a message of aggression. I view it the same as rap “music” played at extremely loud volumes from cars. The “music” isn’t played for the driver’s enjoyment; it’s played to demonstrate control over everyone within hearing distance.
Posted by at 7:20 PM on February 13
You should have thought of that before you opened the floodgates. Time to reap the rewards of diversity.
Posted by at 7:39 PM on February 13
The Victors set the surrender terms.
Posted by LOGIC at 8:47 PM on February 13
The real issue here is why are the muslims allowed to live in Britain at all? Most are on the dole and almost all British citizens want them gone. Isn’t Britain a democracy?
Posted by at 9:19 PM on February 13
“A battle of faiths is being waged in the ancient English city of Oxford, where some people are bitterly opposed to Muslim plans to broadcast the call to prayer over the fabled dreaming spires.”
Just keep it up elitist multicults. Just keep it up. You’re beginning now to push the envelope a bit too far, and the result may well be a mob visit from your friends and neighbors wanting to snap you back to reality.
Posted by w.r. at 10:47 PM on February 13
How many Churches have been torched in predominantly Muslim countries? Many.
Time for some tit for tat in England.
Posted by at 12:12 AM on February 14
Archbishop Williams said that Oxford will never be Mus-
lim. How does he know? Palestine, Asia Minor, and North Af-
rica didn’t used to be “homogeneously Muslim” either. Conquest,
both military and cultural, is what these people do. They’re
very good at it. If we keep giving in to them, then yes, Oxford
and the rest of England will become Muslim. It might not happen
tomorrow or all at once, but it will happen. There would be
a Christian minority of course, but despised, persecuted, and
always growing smaller. As for secular humanists-they wont be
any of those. Their only use is as traitors and then they are
ostracized or expelled. They certainly wont get to promulgate
their creed as they do now
Posted by Freyr at 12:59 AM on February 14
The reason that England and the rest of Europe are so vulnerable to the Muslim onslaught is that they have largely abandoned Christianity. Cultures and people need a reason to be, a purpose, and that comes from a belief in God. Absent this, the will to survive disappears. I find it bizarre that so many AR posters seem to be anti-Christian. When the West was Christian, we were on the ascendancy, increasing in numbers, conquering new continents, and the envy of the whole world, even without, for the most part, explicit white nationalism. In the post-Christian state of today, we can’t even retain our small ancestral homeland of Europe. And godless spiritual movements such as Communism, Fascism, and Nazism are especially dangerous. While the West in general is in demographic decline, the nations that were once ruled by Communism, Fascism, and Nazism are in utter demographic collapse.
Posted by Mike at 3:29 AM on February 14
All I can say is these people will get exactly what they deserve. They are in a position to do something NOW, later that advantage will vanish.
Posted by T-Rexx at 9:47 AM on February 14
This is just unbearable that the muslims are slyly trying to take over British culture while protesting that they are being misunderstood.
Are these people mad that they would allow an alien population to take a foothold in their own soil??? This is not just about learning others’ POV and culture and enriching your own. They imported Asiatic muslims en masse and giving in to their demands for special preference for the muslim non-English population.
Posted by realist at 9:50 AM on February 14
Would church bells be allowed in an Islamic country? I dont really have to answer that one. The call to prayer is definately a battle cry, look up what Muslims yell when they murder some innocent soul. If they are allowed to play this monstrosity at high volumn I would suggest that churches and other religous organizations be allowed to play music or services at high volumn several times a day as well. Turn about is fair play.
Posted by Spartan24 at 10:45 AM on February 14
Hear that sound, Britons? It’s the marching of Islamic jackboots. And it’s getting closer.
Posted by Dark-Star at 11:40 AM on February 14
When I am allowed to go to church and wear a cross in a muslim country, and when they ALL stop murdering Jews and Christians, I’ll feel more favorable toward them.
Posted by at 4:26 PM on February 14
Imam Chisti claims “we dont understand their intentions”.
We certainly do. Islam wants to take over the UK, and a victory in Oxford would be sweet.
Oxford is the blending of higher education (Christchurch) and Christianity. Allowing Islam in is like a reverse Crusade!
The UK needs another Churchill to send Islam packing back to where it belongs. In the 9th century.
Posted by geoff from the west at 4:49 PM on February 14
Another Churchill would be nice, but I lean toward Richard the Lionhearted.
Posted by Seeker at 6:59 PM on February 14
Great show people of England.
Purchase your prayer mats.
Pray to mohammed.
Great Britain you say.
All of the great britains are long dead.
Posted by at 8:42 PM on February 14
Every child learns the phrase ‘give them an inch and they’ll take a yard’. Anyone who can be deluded into thinking that this is o.k. is not rational. When the kings and queens and the parliament cannot hold government business quietly due to the incessant muslim calls to ‘prayer’ maybe then a glimmer of understanding as to what is going on in the U.K. will dawn on them. I, for one, do not believe in freedom of religion as the western countries practice it. If I cannot practice my religion in your country, then you cannot practice your religion in mine. The U.K. is and has always been a white christian country. This is what has made her great and gave her vision. Without this she is lost. No other religion, or race, should be allowed to take precedence in any way, shape, or form. These islamics and other third world trash descend on the western nations as an invading army. They are conquering our homelands without firing a shot, aided and abetted by white elites. Our anger must first be turned toward the source of the disease, the elitist whites, and then towards the third world rabble. Eliminate the cause and the body will slowly return to health. Allow the source of the disease to continue and thrive, and the body will eventually die.
Posted by Baron at 2:20 PM on February 24