Muslim historian: why Keir Starmer should NOT outlaw 'Islamophobia' | SpectatorTV 

Would a law banning 'Islamophobia' be counterproductive Muslim integration?

Islamophobia is not a thing. Rational fear of a group with incompatible cultural norms continuously eroding western values is both sane and unsurprising.

Reasonable risk aversion is not Islamophobia.

NO to backdoor blasphemy laws!

The silence of Muslims is what condemns them.

Branding the working class of this country as far right and potential 'Islamophobes' is a disgusting slur against us.

I don’t feel threatened by the teachings of Jesus or Buddha or Gandhi but I do feel threatened by the teachings of Muhammad.

In 2024 we are considering a law to prevent criticism of a religion. It's hard to believe our politicians can be so stupid and dishonest

The term ‘Islamaphobia’ was invented at the end of the 1970s by Iranian fundamentalists. Enough said surely?

Absolutely Islamophobia should be outlawed - the word, that is. We must not allow Starmer to introduce blasphemy laws here or the country is truly lost.

ISLAMOPHOBIA is a nonsense term. Everybody take note. And here's the clue: PHOBIA which means IRRATIONAL FEAR. There is nothing irrational about fearing Islam. It's record speaks for itself.

It isn't a phobia if the fear is rational.

Tommy Robinson is very concerned about the rise of Islamification of English towns and cities. Can anyone provide a single piece of evidence that Tommy Robinson is racist or indeed even bigoted against Muslims. He did liaise with Quilliam for some time, after all. Is Tommy Robinson perhaps the most persecuted man in England?

We need to to stop pretending that they will fit in.

Being concerned about a violent ideology is not an irrational fear. It’s a common sense response to a dangerous situation.

Ha. This guy is so far removed from Islamic teaching. But lets start with ending Apostasy Laws. Freedom to leave Islam is a basic human right.

Are you going to arrest and prosecute everyone who has ever criticised, questioned, or for that matter mocked Christianity? Of course not! So let us be clear there is no such thing as Islamophobia any more than there is such a thing as Christianophobia, it is just an excuse to introduce a blasphemy law. We already have perfectly good laws which protect people from hate crimes such as racial abuse or racial discrimination. Religion must be open to discussion, debate , criticism and even mockery in a free and democratic society.

What about Christophobia? Westphobia? Whitephobia? Straightphobia? Demosphobia?

Out of interest, who first coined the term Islamophobia, and then blew it up until it became a thing? To me, 30 million muslims in the west paints a very different story. As for the interview between Starmer and Khan, I nearly sicked up my dinner.

Starmer is a flip-flopper; forever rowing back. His Premiership will be the final nail in UK's coffin.

Don't get mixed up, fear off Islam is not the same as hatred of Islam.

Far more Muslims joined the nazis with many going the ss. And islamaphobia is not a thing, unless we can have christianaphobia. Not wanting the uk becoming another Islamic state is not racist

The very concept of Islamophobia is what is intolerable. If you want to find out who rules you find out who it is that you are not allowed to criticse. Thats the trick here. Islam wants to rule and cannot tolerate criticism which is why we must be able to criticise not just Islam but everything.

There is a lot to fear from islam going from past and current history.

I thought Starmer was married to a Jew. How offensive he must be to her.

Yet again we are only allowed to frame this within the confines of how it affects other minority communities. We are never allowed to express what we want as british people, ever. God forbid anyone wants to try retain traditional christian british values - these are far right apparently - in your view literally hitler. We are getting sick of this - if people think continuing mass immigration while we have all these problems already is fine, then im afraid there is going to be one hell of a backlash.

By the modern definition, it was "islamophobia" for Europe's nations to fight back against the Islamic invasion of the Byzantine Empire.

Why does this intelligent Muslim link Far-Right with working class, which leads to the question, is he intelligent making such a link? Was giving a million pounds for a Muslim War Memorial fair when other Veteran Groups have to raise funds themselves? Trooper Bear

Neither islamophobia nor antisemitism should be inherently illegal. Discrimination can reasonably be outlawed. But people must be free to vehemently disagree about religion.

Is labour serious about anti-semitism? We have a lot of room to criticise Zionism, but we are to have no room to criticise Islamist!11?

It's not an irrational fear, whiteaphobia is both irrational and racist however. A phobia of Marxists/Trotskyists is also not irrational. We must continue to express our freedom of belief.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali criticise Islam a lot, she has been describe by ADL as islamaphobic! No criticism of violent threats against her? They think it is justified. I wonder if we can have debate between James O’Brien and Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Blasphemy law.

Discussion on this is utterly futile when we continue to import millions and millions of more muslims. The gall Fraser has to suddently bring this topic up when he himself claims that mass immigration is a total 100% unblemished good. Truly awful thinking.

"Islamophobia is intolerable, it can never, ever be justified ..." That may be true, but only to the extent that Naziphobia is intolerable and can never, ever be justified. I don't think Sir Keir has read the holy book.

I was thinking of voting Labour over bread and butter issues, but seeing the effects of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, this is a red line for me that will push me to vote Reform.

Does Sir Flipflopalot have a clue on anything?

Winston Churchill compared Islam to 'rabies in dogs'. Will Starmer condemn Churchill for this? Posthumously strip him of his knighthood perhaps? Churchill was a great man in my view, and many many people are in danger of being silenced by the incoming Labour government. Civilisation depends on the Freedom of Speech.

He wrote a very good book called Among The Mosques about how wide spread the teaching of radical Izlam is in the UK. The problem with moderate Mzlims like him is that they champion less radical Izlamic countries, but ignore the fact that in all Izlamic countries it's still illegal to be gay and women do not have equal rights. So although Palestinians will throw gay people of buildings, Qataris will just imprison them, like they have just done to British / Mexican citizen Manuel Guerrero and refused to give him his HIV medication.

How can you put together the working class(Who are on the frontline of multicultural experiment) and the Far Right in one sweeping sentence?

The minute someone claims that a thought, belief, or action "can never be justified", is the minute they lose any credibility

Firstly Islamophobia simply does not exist - a phobia is an irrational fear and peoples growing concerns about Islam are founded on the extreme behaviour of radical Muslims who not only commit atrocities in the name of their religion but are then supported rather than criticised by so many Muslims who are not extreme - these concerns have increased dramatically over the last nine months following what happened on 7th Oct - the fact that even until today Gaza is still holding on to the Israelis they took as hostages on Oct 7th and yet organisations like the UN seem to be ignoring that crucial point just increases many peoples concerns - those concerns grow even more when vast numbers of Muslims parade through our streets supporting a war that is happening in another Country - this is virtually unprecedented - and yet people who have quite obvious reasons for their concerns about this disturbing trend are not only told they have an irrational fear but almost by implication that they are responsible for that fear - there are wars happening all over the World and Muslims are involved in many of them including wars where Muslims fight Muslims - why is there so much focus on Israel and Gaza? - the answer is as obvious as it is simple - it’s because on the face of it Muslims as and when they decide insist that we get involved - this is an insult to our history and culture but nobody accuses Muslims of having a phobia do they?

Ed Husain, thank you for your balanced & wise words on this matter. Starmer take note!

Would Islamaphobia include pointing out that the Quran contains stories mis-copied from the Bible? For example, in the Bible, in 1 Kings 10, it says the Queen of Sheba went to visit Solomon of her own free will. Jesus mentioned her favorably. But In the Quran, in Surah 27, it says Solomon sent a talking bird to her with a threatening letter demanding she come and submit. And while she was traveling, Solomon sent a jinn to steal her throne to play a trick on her. Would pointing out that this is a fairy story be a crime? And of course, the Quran contains passages which are not fairy stories, but clear commands to use violence against those who oppose Islam, like Surah 8:12 which says to strike the necks of the unbelievers.

We live in a tolerant CHRISTIAN country.

R.I.P. Great Britain.

No idea why we are taking religionists so seriously in Britain.

If this man represented the prominent voice of the Muslim faith, then 99 percent of the problems would disappear.

They want to go after people who have a fear?

Queer Harmer is as thick as a brick.😖

Sadly this guy is the minority. Have not seen that many muslims speaking out against the Muslim brotherhood and Iran and hamas in Britain. Frankly I believe most of them support these regimes

Islam, is a religious straight jacket...

The prophet wiped out all the Jews in Saudi Arabia WHY ???

Islamophobia is fear of religion. Mankind has every reason to fear religion.

Terrible for us ALL!!... :(

There are many Muslim academics like this gentleman here. Some even criticising the certain aspects of Islam. All nations made up from atheists, Christians, Muslims and many other beliefs. They can care, protect and cherish each other. What unites them is belonging to the same nation. They do advocate for each other’s rights. They even risk prosecution for other people’s rights. It can be done. And I know few doing it already. But it cannot work with people who are chanting death to others or wishing to demolish the democracy.

I'm against the violence and inhumanity that is far too commonly linked to this religion

there is no such thing as islamophobia because that implies it is irrational

Keir Starmer is not an historian, he does not realise how what he is proposing will harm many muslims, and is totally against tolerance and reasonable debate. Then again he was a member of the Haldane society so open mindedness, and support for an open society is possibly not high on his world view…. be careful what you wish for.

You can criticize Judaism and Christianity but you can’t criticize Islam? How exactly does that work?

I get the feeling that Starmer is never incharge when in a room with Khan.

Antipathy has a place in everyday life. It's not problematic to be antipathetic towards bad things.

I simply don't want to see what happened in Lebanon happen here! That doesn't mean I'm Islamophobic.

Since I chose Christ I have been accused of being racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, and had people try to destroy my business with reviews stating false accusations. Is this law going to protect me as a Christian as well? Because currently it's open season on us Christians.

I guess it is irrational for a homosexual person, an apostate or an atheist to fear an ideology that would unalive it...

Too bad we can't see the number of dislikes.

4:48 In America the Islamic lobby is CAIR. "Council of American-Islamic Relations". They are funding, in part, some the campus demonstrations.

As islamophobia doesn't exist how can you ban it?

The guy got off to a bad start when he said that the two world wars were fought for freedom and democracy, the causes of those catastrophic conflicts were complicated, but the first world war in particular was not fought for freedom and democracy.

Outlawing criticism of Islam or any other religion is no different to outlawing criticism of the Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem or any other political parties. These are beliefs and like all beliefs must be open to discussion, criticism and yes ridicule.

If only all Muslims were as brave as Ed Husain.

Is it technically correct to use the the word Homophobia and Islamophobia to describe murder, violence, hard offenses and the likes, that are all punished by law. Why to outlaw homophobia and islamophobia, when every crime you describe is already outlawed. Homophobia and isalmophobia is a mental status of fear or insecurity. It hurts nobody. It only leads to staying in the own group. What an idiotic idea to outlaw fear and the wish to stay in homogenous neighbourhoods without crime.

9:40 There was nothing about blasphemy, when Pakistan was created. Censorship has only recently come in relatively recently. Yes, it was all sweetness and light, for well over 1000 years, especially around the Eastern Mediterranean. :)

Great conversation both. It’s rare to hear this subject discussed with a Muslim who has an opinion I’ve never heard before. Usually we only hear one narrative from the media. The subject is complex and multifaceted.

Keir Starmer and Labour’s position on protecting Islam from criticism has grave implications on changing the nature of society. I don’t think Starmer has a clue about the strength in numbers of the Muslim community in Britain and Europe.

Fraser, informs us that it is notoriously difficult to get the views of British Muslims. Muslims in Britain seem remarkably willing to tell us how anti British values they are. Poll after Poll informs us of this. If anything, the problem must be worse as more politically astute Muslims must play down views that they know to be unpopular when responding to polls.

Islamophobia is not unjustified. I can't stand Starmer or Khan.

Yesterday I heard someone describe Keir Starmer as a "human windsock". God help us all if Starmer and co are able to bring this law in. But then the UK has been getting more and more like East Germany for a long time now. It is perfectly rational to fear something which represents an existential threat to western civilisation, as many have stated in this comments section.

What a terrifying couple and to think they’ll be in Government, leading the charge soon. God help us

How come thereare no claims about hinduphobia christophobia suhkiphobia buddhistphobia ? Why is the alleged phobia only about one group throughout europe?

That phrase he keeps using, “Let one thousand flowers bloom”. I can’t help but think of Mao’s similarly named campaign, which was just a ruse to flush out dissidents…

Perhaps one should listen to Caroline Glick, JNS org explaining Islam, to get a balanced picture of current sentiment and the aims of what has been called radical Islam.

Yes, "If we don't think freely we loose our ability to be citicens." Yes it hurts, to se the founders of religions being thrown into dirt, but otherways we were theocracies not democracies.

It's literally like suggesting the Native Americans were "Anglophobic".

Charlie Hebdo stickers. Charlie Hebdo stickers. Charlie Hebdo stickers. I'm serious. Charlie Hebdo stickers, everywhere, now. Je Suis Charlie.

There are laws already in Britten against racism. We are free in the UK to critise any religion that should not be changed. That's the freedom we have in the UK

We need reform

Why special treatment for Islam.

'My daughters wear hijab.' Do his sons cover themselves up too? Why is he not veiled up? Oh right, the rules of Islam are different for women.

The general thrust of this is very reasonable. It's best not to state that millions of moslems died fighting for freedom in the World Wars. . In the First war the Ottomans were part of the German coalition. The Indian Army when deployed in both wars would have large numbers of moslems, although the majority were Hindu. As was correctly stated these troops were ""voluntary " in the sense that they were professional soldiers and not conscripts. There ideology would be professional and imperial rather than liberal. The questioner is correct in the question he poses about the nature of the "mass " moslem electorate. The vast majority are migratory and deeply connected to their to their homelands. Their motives for moving to non moslem societies is purely economic and promotional . They are composed of the peasantry from Afro-Asia . Like poorer Europeans in the previous two centuries .They haven't moved to integrate into the society new lands . They take and strive to preserve their culture and their religion which are completely bound together. Hence their mind sets are colonial. I also take issue with the speaker on the blasphemy laws . These haven't operated for at least centuries in the Uk if not much longer. The reasons moslems didn't enter European societies was that militarily. after the Middle Ages. they couldn't. force their way in although the Ottoman did establish imperial control over much of eastern Christian Europe. There was no space or opportunity for poor moslems to move to European societies. until after the Second World War when it was legally possible to migrate. usually from colonial territory into the European. metropolitan centre. This coincided with a shortages of unskilled labour and the rise of welfare societies . The significance of NHS should never be underestimated or of other European health systems . None of these exist for the billions of poor moslems that live in moslem.

We're all equal, but some are more equal than others. This is what happens when you have no integrity; you do what's expedient for yourself and your immediate interests.

He'll saying anything to keep the Muslim vote. He won't protect women only places though. Says a lot about his character.

Are we sure that The Spectator is a Conservative newspaper any more? Agnès Poirier's recent article in the Spectator did the UK down with very biased talking points. The UK thinks it is 50% Muslim. Is this because in Muslim Enclaves they report thinking that the UK is a Muslim country, in the 90%. It is not the native people of England that are deluded but our immigrants. She reports that we have an overly forgiving view of our history, while are neo Marxist Historians talk us down. Talks of overly harsh policies towards "asylum seekers" with the Rwanda Bill that has deported 1 person. Rwanda was always a smoke screen to hide complete inaction.

"Millions of muslims died for Britain in the 1st and 2nd World Wars....." ???? When did this latest fiction occur and where, pray tell??

9:06 dude needs to talk to Tommy... Clueless

No phobia should be against the law. Violent actions and calls to violence should be against the law

A very honourable man doesn't want laws to protect his ideology (Islam). I'm a Christian and our ideology has been open to criticism for at least 200 years or more, and has been openly mocked and I don't want any protection laws. In fact I thank the scholars that researched the Bible to try disprove it. Their work has helped pave the way to build a stronger historical narrative for the new testament. It easy to believe your worldview is correct when it isn't challenged. But it much better putting it to the test.

Given that Islamic texts require the spreading of Islam, by force if necessary, and these are easily referenceable it makes me wonder how you could have Islamophobia laws without also banning the texts. Otherwise you could make an argument against Islam simply by quoting its own material. Do Muslims want this material banned?

Should we also make arachnophobia, claustrophobia and agoraphobia illegal too? Or should we just simply recognise that the word featured in this vid is a meaningless and nonsensical term specifically and maliciously created by members of a certain religion to shut down valid and free criticism of that certain religion.

No thanks, I don't want to be forced to wear a veil or sheets as I go about my day, I like my freedom thank you very much