Can Sajid Javid explain exactly how “Islamist ideology” twists the religion of Islam? This point is asserted thousands of times by all the learned analysts and politicians in the West, yet it is never substantiated or explained. Javid also indulges in Britain’s fashionable moral equivalence when he claims that “Islamist extremists have an almost symbiotic relationship with extreme right-wing groups, both feeding off each other’s grievances.” In reality, there is a minuscule “right-wing” threat, at best, and the British government tends to classify those who speak honestly about the motivating ideology behind jihad terror as “right-wing extremists,” trying to portray them as a threat equivalent to that of jihadis. In that vein, former British Prime Minister Theresa May likened me, who have never called for, approved of, or justified any violence, to Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada, who are jihad terrorists who exhorted Muslims to commit acts of violence and engaged in jihad plots. While May’s slander has been damaging to me, what is far more important is that it illustrates the willful ignorance and moral blindness of the British government, and its abject fear of offending its Muslim population, which fear leads to its supine response to jihad terror, as well as to Muslim rape gangs.
Javid talks tough here about confronting “Islamist ideology,” but as long as he remains in denial about its connections to traditional Islam, it will keep popping up and blindsiding him despite his best efforts to eradicate it. The fact that violence against unbelievers is among the teachings of normative Islam has never been adequately confronted in the West. While it is true that the vast majority of Muslims will never commit atrocities in the name of their faith, most of these peaceful Muslims are reluctant to come out openly and denounce the jihadis. This is because they recognize that warfare against disbelievers is a tenet of the Qur’an and Sunnah, and that consequently they themselves could be targeted for standing against the jihadis. When Javid breezily asserts that “Islamist ideology” is a “twisted” version of Islam, he is claiming something that all too many Muslims in Britain don’t believe to be true. And that will doom his efforts to failure.
“Woke activists are thwarting attempts to wipe out virus of Islamist extremism,” by Sajid Javid, The Sun, December 1, 2020:
…This is not a battle of borders, bombs or bullets. Nor even one primarily of counter-terrorism powers and resources. It’s fundamentally a battle of ideas. Or to use the analogy of the day — attacks are the visible symptoms, the most deadly side-effects, on the most vulnerable victims.
The virus, in this case, is Islamist ideology. An ideology that is antithetical to our way of life in a Western liberal democracy, and that has inspired countless attacks against innocent people. It claims to speak for the Muslim community yet is a twisted version of the great religion of Islam that billions follow around the world….
We need to recognise the nature of the threat, identify its multiple different strains and improve our national resilience to it.
A new project launched at the weekend called Understanding Islamism is a helpful step in that direction. This initiative by Policy Exchange will document emerging trends in Islamist ideology and networks of all kinds, unpack the meaning of the challenge they represent and comprehensively explore the policy responses to it across Europe and beyond.
Islamist extremism is a grotesque mutation of the Islam I grew up with, know and love, and Muslims are its biggest victims. As experienced former diplomat Sir John Jenkins explains in a persuasive paper to mark the launch of the Policy Exchange project, Islamism “clothes itself in the language of religion” but is really “an activist, socially divisive and supremacist ideology, which seeks to reorder individual lives, societies and states”.
Some believe we should instead use a sanitised phrase, such as “faith-based violence” or “irhabi”, the Arabic word for terrorist.
Among them are, unsurprisingly, Islamist groups themselves who seek to distract us from the practice of what they preach.
There are well-meaning officials who worry that Islamism, a term with credible and established meaning, could be seen as implicating the entire religion of Islam and all its diverse and peaceful adherents. And there are woke activists who are quick to victim-blame the West and cry Islamophobia at all attempts to deal with the issue.
I believe it is critical that we confront this ideology head on and call it for what it is. President Macron is right to recognise this intellectual battle, and to characterise Islamism as a form of separatism.
How can we find the right solutions if we don’t know what the problem is?
Talking obliquely can be just as damaging as speaking straight. Islamist extremists have an almost symbiotic relationship with extreme right-wing groups, both feeding off each other’s grievances. When we fail to call evil things out for what they are we are ultimately failing the victims and providing cover for extremists at the opposite end of the spectrum….
Wellington says
This man is either sincere, in which case there is a massive problem, or this man is lying, in which case there is a massive problem. No third possibility exists.
PRCS says
Not just him, of course.
Wellington says
Of course—to the tune of a billion or more of Mo’s deluded followers.
Infidel says
Mortimer, Javed is not an apostate himself. What makes him unique is that after marrying a Christian, not only has he not converted her, but their kids are also raised Christian
gravenimage says
Emad, Muslim numbers are indeed alarming, but not so high as you claim.
gravenimage says
+1
mortimer says
Agree that Sajid Javid is likely being paid to whitewash Islam. He must be in touch with Arabian or other Muslim financiers who tell him what to say.
R Russell says
I sometimes wonder who it is who is pulling the strings. He’s the man who took British citizenship from Shamima Begum. Is it because he has never read the Islamic holy books? Very strange. I would have thought he would at least have had an aide read the koran et al.
Or is he just in fear of his life because he no longer practices Islam?
mortimer says
R Russell may have the correct answer: Javid is an apostate and is whitewashing Islam for the benefit of apostates like himself and ‘moderate’ Muslims who are more-or-less non-observant Muslims.
Javid cannot point to any of Islam’s texts that portray Islam without the practice of jihad.
Jihad is an ‘essential doctrine’ (USUL UD DEEN) of Islam and is thus COMPULSORY for all Muslims. Javid hasn’t the right or authority to deny that ESSENTIAL fact of Islam.
DavidR says
You can’t believe your religion is the “right” one and that every human being who won’t join worthy of eternal torture while also claiming the religion to be peaceful. It’s like calling North Korea a peaceful country.
mortimer says
Agree. Islam is not benign and mullahs will not present it as benign. They will make carefully worded whitewashes of Islam that fall short of denying jihad.
Michael Copeland says
Memo to Sajid Javid:
The words “Islamism” and “Islamist” are not found in the Manual of Islamic Law, “Reliance of the Traveller”. They have been invented for use in the West to draw attention away from Islam.
Here is the reprimand (to his interviewer) of Grand Ayatollah Ahmad Al Baghdadi on Iraqi television:
“…then we fight them, and we abduct their women, and destroy their churches — This is Islam!… Come on! Learn what Islam is!”
https://gatesofvienna.net/2020/10/islam-a-permanent-war-institution/
Infidel says
‘Islamism’ and ‘Islamist’ are words that didn’t exist circa 2000. They were introduced into the lexicon way after 9/11 to create a hypothetical version of Islam that is everything the jihadists say it is, while they pretend that the real islam is their imaginary version of it. In reality, as you point out, there is no difference b/w ‘islamism’ and ‘islam’. For the record, I disagree w/ RS using the term ‘Islamism’ as a substitute for ‘Political Islam’, since there is no difference b/w ‘political’ and ‘religious’ islam. As Erdogan once said, ‘Islam is islam’
Maybe Javed mian can feed that account to the prime minister of his former country Imran Khan, and see what the latter says?
mortimer says
Memo to Sajid Javid from Henri Boulad: Islamism is real Islam
“Islamism is not a caricature, nor a counterfeit, nor a heresy, nor a fringe or atypical phenomenon versus classical, orthodox, Sunnite Islam.
To the contrary, I think Islamism is naked Islam, Islam without a mask and without paint, Islam perfectly consistent and true to itself, an Islam that has the courage and lucidity to go all the way to its ultimate conclusions and final implications.
Islamism is Islam in all its logic and in all its rigour. Islamism is present in Islam as the chick is present in the egg, as the fruit is present in the flower and as the tree is present in the seed.
But what is Islamism?
Islamism is political Islam, the bearer of a project for a model society and whose aim is to establish a theocratic state based on Sharia, the only legitimate law—since it is divine—since it was revealed and enshrined in the Koran and Sunna—it’s a law that applies to everything.
Here is an all-inclusive and all-encompassing project, one that is total, totalizing and totalitarian.
For Islam is a whole, at the same time a faith and a cult, an outlook and a moral system, a way of life and vision of the world. Uncompromising, it offers salvation or perdition. Islam is the truth that may not be doubted and its adherents form “the best of people”.
Islam is at once a religion, a state and a society—din wa dawla.
And so it has been since its very distant origins.” – Henri Boulad SJ
tim gallagher says
Pigs arse. Islam has been nothing but a murderous, vicious religious and totalitarian ideology from day 1. People like this guy are nothing but lying pieces of crap and propagandists for islam, who are trying keep the slow learners out there slumbering on while Islam attempts to impose its vile, barbaric garbage on the entire human race. With people like this guy, any time you see their lips moving they are lying. This “great religion” of Islam, this often heard statement that Islam is “one of the world’s great religions” intrigues me. I suppose that it is true because Islam has over a billion followers, so, in numerical terms, yeah, it is great as in big and significant, but to call islam “great”, when it is so evil and has such low ideals, seems a bad joke to me whenever I hear it. The worst of the still existing religions is what I see islam as being (since things like the old Aztec religion, thankfully, disappeared).
Wellington says
I made a specific point, tc, when I was teaching history to refer to Islam as “a major religion.” But I was deliberate in never referring to it as “a great religion.” Oh yes, sometimes adjectives matter.
Wellington says
Sorry. I meant “tg.” Mea culpa.
gravenimage says
+1
tim gallagher says
Thanks for the comment, Wellington. Calling islam a major religion, but not a great religion, is a good approach. As I mentioned, hearing this disgustingly barbaric creed, islam, called a great religion, when morally it is so far down in gutter, has seemed weird to me for a long time (since I woke up to Islam’s vile nature 20 years or so back). But I do think that, for many people who use the term great, it probably does just refer to the huge numbers of people who are members of that particular religion. If a religion has big numbers of members then it qualifies as one of the great religions of the world. If it has a small number of adherents, then it doesn’t qualify. Thanks for the +1, gravenimage. On the Muslim propagandist in this report, I don’t believe for a second that he doesn’t know what a violent creed islam has been throughout its history. Then again, I seldom believe anything any Muslim is telling us.
Infidel says
To be fair to him, not only did he not convert his Christian wife, but their kids are also raise Christian. He’s the only Muslim in the family: quite an achievement, coming from a Pakistani-Brit
As for his comments, wonder whether he can explain why his ex-country is now one of the most jihadest places of the world?
mortimer says
Agree. Pakistan is one of the most fanatical Islamist countries.
gravenimage says
Even if Sajid Javid is a lax Muslim (despite his being happy to whitewash the horrors of Islam), this does not make Islam itself any more “moderate”.
Infidel says
Oh, it’s not! I was talking about him, not islam. Even for a taquiyya practitioner, having his family members – wife and kids – practice an infidel religion is noteworthy!
gravenimage says
True.
Green Infidel says
He, his brother and his wider family seem to be rolling in money. (the usual “rags to riches” story – no hint of any corruption, of course).
So they’re more the upwardly-mobile type of RoP family, obsessed with great wealth more than the finer details of their religion??
Michael Copeland says
Second Memo to Sajid Javid:
“This is not a perversion. They’re doing exactly what this book says.”
– Lt.Col. Allen West
Walter Sieruk says
Two of the many things wrong with that statement by a former United Kingdom Home Secretary are the following.
First, there is not real ,genuine word as “Islamist.” That is a fake word the that was make up after September 11, 2001 in order not to offend peaceful non-violent Muslims. If a person looks up the bogue word and any reference book printed before 9/11 ,he or she will not find that false word.
Let’s keep within reality and call dangerous followers of Islam for who and what they actually are being “jihadists”, or “a Muslim who is also a jihadist” or better yet “Muslim terrorist.”
Second, this violent jihadist ideology in not really a twisted version of Islam but instead it’s a ideology that has its root foundation in Qu ‘ran based theology of engaging in violence and killing in the jihad for the advancement of Islam.
Examples of this are found in the Qu ‘ran in such places as Surah 2:191. 4:48. 5:33. 9:5,111,112.123. 47:4.
In other words, Muslim terrorism is based on non-watered -down ,hard-core Qu ‘ran based Islam. Which many Westerners view as “radical Islam.”
By contrast there is a mild watered down no-violent Islam which many Westerners see as “moderate Islam.”
Nevertheless, that former Home Secretary the saying that statement show that he didn’t do his research on Islam and he is therefore ignorant about the actual violent and deadly essence of Islam or he’s just speaking in a way that is politically correct.
l
Walter Sieruk says
Thinking over this some more ,maybe Said Javid is a devote Muslim using the false information of Islamic deception ,Taqyyia, to attempt to deceive uninformed and naive Westerners about Islam.
Michael Copeland says
Who is it, Mr. Javid, who is doing the “twisting”?
Eva says
What else does anyone expect from one of them?This country is in the toilet, and sliding further down with every day that passes.
sidney penny says
Why do so many Muslims, from all around the world, misunderstand the peaceful religion of Islam?
Any answers?
Infidel says
Particularly when adherents of other religions (i.e. non agnostics, non atheists) rarely misunderstand their religion. They read up on it, talk to their priests or other religious experts, and are usually pretty accurate in their understanding
It’s probably b’cos no other religion has a schizophrenic attribute to itself, where it has to appear as one thing to its own followers and something totally opposite to the rest of the world
gravenimage says
And members of other religions are not out slaughtering unbelievers.
gravenimage says
Damn good question, Sidney.
sidney penny says
“While it is true that the vast majority of Muslims will never commit atrocities in the name of their faith, most of these peaceful Muslims are reluctant to come out openly and denounce the jihadis. ”
What does Brigitte Gabriel say about the majority of Muslims who are peaceful Muslims?
(apart from what they do and say and do not do and do not say)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iudkPi4_sY
Brigitte Gabriel Gives BRILLIANT answer about the peaceful Muslim majority
Mark Solheim says
Islam is Devil Worship. Allah is Satan.
sidney penny says
“Islamist extremism is a grotesque mutation of Islam”
Sajid Javid does not mention who is doing this grotesque mutation of the great religion of Islam. Who are “Islamist groups” doing the grotesque mutation of the great religion of Islam. How are they doing it? Who is supporting them? Where is it happening? Are these groups or individuals attending any mosques. Have these groups or individuals attended or attending any Madrassahs?
Who can we name and shame. Who can we name and prosecute.( and how do we do it Mr. Sajid Javid?)
End PC says
What Islam is this guy wanting us to imagine that is not the “twisted” version? Who can read the Medina verses of the Qur’an or the pathologically violent life of warlord Muhammad and not see that this horror show needs no twisting?
James Lincoln says
Can Sajid Javid please come to United States – and have a televised debate with Robert Spencer?
gravenimage says
UK: Former Home Secretary says ‘Islamist ideology’ is ‘a twisted version of the great religion of Islam’
…………………
Sajid Javid certainly knows that this is orthodox Islam. Just more whitewashing of his foul creed.
mortimer says
Has Sajid Javid read any of the primary source texts of Islam … or is he 100% ‘opinion’?
Can someone suggest he read all the jihad verses and then tell us if anything in them contradicts his opinions?
The Koran’s 164 Jihad Verses: K 2:178-179, 190-191, 193-194, 216-218, 244; 3:121-126, 140-143, 146, 152-158, 165-167,169, 172-173, 195; 4:71-72, 74-077, 84, 89-91, 94-95,100-104; 5:33, 35, 82; 8:1, 5, 7, 9-10, 12, 15-17, 39-48, 57-60, 65-75; 9:5, 12-14, 16, 19-20, 24-26, 29, 36, 38-39, 41, 44, 52, 73, 81, 83, 86, 88, 92, 111, 120, 122-123; 16:110; 22:39, 58, 78; 24:53, 55; 25:52; 29:6, 69; 33:15, 18, 20, 23, 25-27, 50; 42:39; 47:4, 20, 35; 48:15-24; 49:15; 59:2, 5-8, 14; 60:9; 61:4, 11, 13; 63:4; 64:14; 66:9; 73:20; 76:8.
jca reid says
Javid practising the Taqiyya of Islam. Islam is Islam is Islam as oft qjuoted by Premiers Erdogan, (Turkey), & Khan, (Pakistan). Islam cannot change or be modified. The Quran & the other sacred texts all openly endorse & encourage the subjugation & ALL of Mankind to this perverse, degenerate Bandit Ideology.
Dry Academy says
Remember, a “right-wing extremist” is just any European person who does not want to submit to genocide through open borders, mass immigration, radical leftist anti-White ideology, and Islamicization.
mortimer says
Sajid Javid has deluded himself with his own fantasies.
Infidel says
At some level, I’d think he knows it, or else he wouldn’t have had the rest of his family – wife & kids – follow Christianity instead
Fred van de Bunt says
Javid talks about his love experience with Islam, and the billions of followers of his great religion.
Javid speaks about evil Islamism.
Javid does not mention sharia laws, like the rule of compulsory conscription for many people that are forced to “love” Islam, the rule of different rights for different people in sharia countries, the rules that prescribe awful penalizing of people that not exactly fulfil the Islam code.
Javid forgets Islamism and Islam overlap each other in far too many ways.
If you love God you sit in a church: Islam is just plagiarism apart from that extremist extra called Islamism, that is an integrated part of the Islam package.
Catherine says
What did Mohammed gain by reducing the Son of God to a prophet only to lose his soul?
Antiislamicman says
So how is Islam great ???
He’s the one that’s twisted
Giacomo Latta says
Saj, would you mind quickly going through the koran and noting for the rest of us every line that deals with love toward others? Shouldn’t take long.
OLD GUY says
You either follow Muhammad and the Quran or you don’t, if you don’t you are the enemy of Islam. There is no such thing as a moderate islamic follower.
Hoi Polloi says
It’s a good thing he has such a good handle on it all. Just a few questions: —-great religion of Islam…. Great for whom? Little girls? Women whose hair slips out? Unbelievers? —-with extreme right-wing groups……And they are? And defined in what manner? Do they serve an 1400 years and going ideology and a prophet this violent? —-not a battle of borders, bombs or bullets……So they’ll stop using them? —-battle of ideas…..Like antifa is an idea? Ask Andy Ngo and others. —-attacks are the visible symptoms……Start there. Maybe it will remove some of the sting of death; we’ll obsess over symptoms and forget about the heaped corpses. —-the virus……..An inadvertent, non-participatory matter for which they bear no burden, then. —-recognise the nature of the threat, identify its multiple different strains and improve our national resilience to it……Have you tried reading their book? Acknowledging the basic nature of Mo himself? Improve resilience, not contain it in its own countries? Shift their responsibility to us, yet again? —-Muslims are its biggest victims……You mean the ones who count? —-persuasive paper….. Like the paper about decades of rapists nearly exclusively of this club. The one that, continuing in the UK’s longstanding course of non-action, cannot be seen by the citizens who paid for it? —-supremacist ideology……With or without your acknowledgment it is the actual far right supremacist ideology. —-implicating the entire religion of Islam…..Which would be wrong because their book and their prophet don’t teach these ways and they don’t support it and they always speak out against it? Oh, really. Usw.
James says
This man is just another Islamic liar and deceiver. Typical Islamic drivel.