Islamic Britain
Watts, Greg
tian identity. It will have to decide whether the fraternal and sometimes penitential voice of official dialogue is sufficient to discuss the thorniest of issues—including, as De Rosa suggests, the...
...Chowdhury-Mueen Uddin, deputy director of the Islamic Foundation, in Leicester, distances himself from groups such as al-Muhajiroun: "These groups are very insignificant and don't rep-resent the mainstream Muslim community...
...Master's degree preferred...
...Following talks with the Muslim Council of Britain soon after September 11, he stressed that attacks on British Muslims in the wake of the terrorist assaults on the United States would not be tolerated: "Sometimes we forget that there is a common heritage, too, in many of our faiths and I think if we concentrate on that we would see how much we have to gain by stressing the shared values of our faiths...
...It will have to decide whether the fraternal and sometimes penitential voice of official dialogue is sufficient to discuss the thorniest of issues—including, as De Rosa suggests, the threat posed by fundamentalist Islam...
...In effect, there is a change in tone in the Civilth Cattolica article as well as in the Catholic world in general," Cervellera said...
...Within its undergraduate residence halls and under the Rector's direction, the University strives to create communities of faith and learning that serve as catalysts for integrating students' intellectual, spiritual, and social development...
...There is concern—and embarrassment—in the British government and security services about the activities of radical Muslims...
...Benedicta Cipolla, a former correspondent for Catholic News Service in Rome, is a freelance writer in New York...
...The group also has connections with London's Finsbury Park Mosque, which is run by Sheikh Abu Hamza al Masri, currently wanted by the authorities in Yemen for alleged terrorist activities...
...Fearing terrorist acts at home, Parliament passed harsh antiterrorist laws in 2000 and 2001...
...Al-Muhajiroun claims to function in twenty-five British cities and to run seventy-five prayer groups a week...
...We are currently accepting Rector applications for 2004-2005 and encourage priests, religious, and lay people to apply...
...In August I was slammed in the face by a big, tall Muslim who was standing next to me...
...I get on the ladder and start the ball rolling," " he explains...
...The Rector position is a full-time, 9-month, live-in position...
...Approximately 6,500 of the 8,000 undergraduates live in 27 single-sex residence halls on campus...
...Graduate student Assistant Rectors and senior undergraduate Resident Assistants assist the Rector in this ministry...
...RESIDENCE HALL RECTOR The University of Notre Dame is a Catholic university founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross...
...The Anti-Terrorist, Crime, and Security Act of 2001 allows the home secretary to detain foreign nationals indefinitely with-out charges or trial, if they are perceived as posing a risk to national security...
...Interestingly, these laws were passed before September 11, which may explain Prime Minister Tony Blair's unwavering support for President George W. Bush's "war on terror...
...Still, it is hard to defend detaining foreign nationals with-out charges or trial...
...Prime Minister Blair, for his part, is careful to distinguish between the extremists and the mainstream Muslim popu-lation...
...No one likes to hear the truth," said Justo Lacunza, president of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies...
...One of the most radical groups in the UK is al-Muhajiroun, which has alleged-ly recruited large numbers of young British Muslims for the Taliban and for Al Qaeda training camps...
...The Rector also collaborates with other University departments responsible for student welfare or upkeep of the hall...
...What is important is the approach...
...Stronger security measures are no doubt needed, but they must protect Muslim citizens as well as others...
...In a recent inter-view in Lahore, former al-Muhajiroun member Ali Qureshi claimed that the recruits would arrive in Afghanistan with money collected from British mosques...
...In July 2003, the police raided its offices and the homes of two of its leaders, but no arrests were made...
...For further information and application materials, visit our website at www.nd.edu/-stdntaff/Hallstaff._htm UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME Commonweal 1 5 January 16, 2004...
...The Rector educates, counsels and consoles, accompanies students in their faith life, and calls them to accountability for their behavior...
...If there's a discussion on TV, there will always be a representative from one of these groups on it...
...Both are seen as standing up to the great superpower...
...Living quarters are designed for one person...
...Amnesty International, among others, has been critical of the laws...
...But when you get into discussion with them privately they will admit they they have a resonance with him...
...They survive on publicity and the more you give them, the more confident they become...
...Starting salary in 2003-2004 was $30,000, plus benefits, furnished living quarters, and meal and retirement plans...
...It was closed in 1998...
...Faisal Bodi, a senior editor with aljazeera.net, says the laws are being used to persecute Muslims: "The recent wave of arrests this year under terrorism legislation—nearly all of them of Muslims—was surely related to the government's intention to exaggerate an internal terrorist threat in an effort to persuade an unconvinced public of the need to wage war against Iraq...
...Jay Smith, an American member of the Brethren in Christ International Fellowship, is the founder of the Hyde Park Christian Fellowship, whose members meet for prayer each Sunday at All Souls Church and then make their way along Oxford Street to what's known as Speakers' Corner...
...While the majority of Arabs in the United Kingdom are moderate Muslims and dutiful citizens, there is growing anxiety over the number of Islamic terrorists with ties to Britain...
...The racks outside news-paper stands on Edgware Road and Queensway are stacked with dozens of Arabic newspapers and magazines, many produced in the capital...
...In the sevL "Right, there was an Englishman, an Englishman and an Englishman...
...I was talking about whether Muhammad was a prophet or not...
...in the twenty-first century it is the U.S.A...
...Civil liberties are not as broad in the UK as they have traditionally been in the United States...
...Despite the prime minister's words, there are no signs that the British government plans to change its aggressive antiterror tactics...
...Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who attended the London School of Economics, masterminded the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan...
...Normally the Muslims come around to the front and try to shout me down...
...Crowds have gathered at the park for 150 years to hear and argue with all manner of people who stand on small ladders or plastic crates and express their unpopular and sometimes extreme views of life, politics, religion, and science...
...In the years following Vatican II, dialogue, the new discovery, was emphasized, and there was hope of a development and opening up of Islam...
...There are an estimated 1.6 million Muslims in the UK, the majority living in London and other urban centers...
...Instead, the phenomenon of fundamentalism and terrorism has become a problem that threatens religions, dialogue, and the international community...
...If you ask Muslims publicly if they support Osama bin Laden, they'll say no...
...Jack Roche, another British Muslim convert, was recently charged by Australian police with plotting to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra and the consulate in Sydney...
...The challenge, therefore, is to raise critical points with-out alienating partners in dialogue...
...To belong, or to profess to belong, to such a group is now a criminal offense...
...But there has to be politeness in relationships...
...Radical Muslims turn up every Sunday in Hyde Park to proclaim their beliefs and, in some cases, their support for Osama bin Laden...
...Shoe bomber" Richard Reid was a member of the Brixton mosque, and nine British Muslims are currently being held at Guantanamo Bay...
...Dialogue cannot fall into flat definitions in which everything is OK...
...The job of balancing freedom and national security is growing more difficult...
...They have gradually become more integrated into British society and can now be found sitting in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, running major companies, occupying key academic and legal positions, and hosting TV and radio programs...
...The media in the UK concentrates too much on these groups...
...Many Muslims are concerned about the emergence of Islamic fundamentalists in the UK...
...Greg Watts is a freelance writer in London and coauthor of From Gangland to Promised Land (Darton, Longman & Todd...
...The Terrorism Act of 2000 gave the home secretary the power to ban groups he thinks are "concerned in terrorism...
...To be sure, the government must be granted a certain amount of leeway in prosecuting suspected terrorists, since the consequences of permitting them to operate freely are potentially catastrophic...
...They would see a lot of parallels between bin Laden and Muhammad...
...Greg Watts ISLAMIC BRITAIN How the UK deals with radical Muslims ondon has become the center of the Arab political world, leading one writer to describe it as "Beirut-on-Thames...
...In 1994 Osama bin Laden established his "media office" in London under the control of Khalid al Fawwaz...
...Some Rectors also teach part-time or hold part-time staff positions...
...With the invasion of Iraq, Britain is more of a terrorist target than ever, as demonstrated by the recent bombings at a British consulate and bank in Turkey...
...These tactics are thoroughly undemocratic and have rightly been criticized...
...In a climate of anxiety and fear, distinctions between mainstream and radical Muslims can easily become blurred and civil liberties can disappear...
...MATT © THE TELEGRAPH / ROTHCO Commonweal 14 January 16, 2004 enth century it was the Meccans...
Vol. 131 • January 2004 • No. 1
