An Open Letter To Nick Griffin of the BNP
"This present life is only like water which We send down
from the clouds so that the luxuriant herbage sustaining man and beast
may grow; until when the Earth puts on its lovely garment and becomes
adorned, and its people believe that they are its masters - down then
comes Our scourge upon it by night or in broad day, laying it waste as
though it had not blossomed yesterday. Thus We make plain our
revelations to thoughtful men." Quran: Sura 10: 24-25 (Interpretation
of meaning.)
Having seen a recent television programme in
which you made certain remarks about Islam - and having listened to
various interviews given by you following the broadcasting of that
programme - I consider it the honourable thing to do, given my own
knowledge and experience, to ask you some questions, and make some
comments about your anti-Islamic remarks.
Firstly, from whence comes your knowledge - if that is the correct term
to describe your opinions - about Islam? Have you read the Quran? If
so, in what interpretation? Have you read the Sunnah of the Prophet
Muhammad? Have you spoken to an Alim - an Islamic scholar? Have you
travelled to a country where the majority of people are Muslims? Have
you talked to any Muslims about Islam - been invited into their homes?
Have you even ever visited a Mosque?
I fully expect the answers to most, if not all of these questions, will
be "no". If that is indeed the case - and I am quite willing to be
proved wrong - then it would seem that your views and opinions about
Islam are based upon prejudice, and that you have the temerity to
speak, in public and as a leader of a political organization, about a
subject which you yourself have little or no knowledge of, and little
or no personal experience of. No doubt you believe that the so-called
"West" - and what you and others have referred to as the "indigenous
culture" of Britain - is superior to the Way of Life which is Al-Islam,
but this belief, joined with your prejudice about Islam and Muslims, is
quite simply dishonourable and uncivilized: the attitude which gave
rise to the abuses, and torture, of Muslims, by "Whites", in Iraq and
places like Guantanamo Bay. Have you condemned - will you condemn -
such abuses of Muslims, by "Whites"? If not, why not?
For myself, I can speak and write about Islam from direct personal
experience, and from a study which has spanned many years and involved
a great deal of travel. I can also speak and write about such
organizations as the BNP - and the people who support them or join them
- from personal experience. Contrary to a great deal of propaganda
about such organizations and the people involved with them, I know that
there are honourable, decent people, in such organizations, and
supporting such organizations. But such organizations, like most if not
all organizations, attract diverse individuals, some of whom are far
from being honourable, and some of whom are subsumed by prejudice.
As a leader, do you consider you have a duty to do what is honourable?
Do you even understand what honour is - what it means and implies in
terms of one's deeds, words, and life? Are you motivated to do what you
sincerely believe is right, and honourable, for what you regard as your
own people, or are you merely using your position to fulfil some
personal, and prejudiced, agenda? Not having met you in person, I have
no personal opinion about this - and honour demands that I give you the
benefit of the doubt. Therefore I assume your motivation is sincere,
and your intentions are honourable. If this indeed the case, then
surely you have a duty to speak only from knowledge and personal
experience, and a duty to strive to respect the culture, the beliefs,
the Way of Life, of those whose culture, beliefs, and Way of Life
differs from yours? For that is what I know honour to be - a respect
for others; a striving to be reasonable. Honour sets ethical limits to
our behaviour - and prejudice, of whatever kind, is surely a negation
of honour.
In respect of Islam, I know from my own experience, studies, travel and
involvement, that Islam is a noble, an honourable, a civilized, Way of
Life. Indeed, I would go so far as to express the view that Islam,
correctly upheld and correctly implemented, is far superior to the way
of life which dominates in all of the societies of the West. I also
know that many people in the West - and especially the governments of
the West - are arrogant, and prejudiced, and that they act in a
dishonourable way. This arrogance, prejudice and dishonour was and is
so evident in places like Iraq, and Afghanistan, where armies and
government agencies - the majority of whom are "White" - ignobly occupy
Muslim land, treat Muslims with disrespect, and have little or no
understanding of Islam, and little or no desire to understand Islam.
Indeed, the majority of such "Whites" are full of prejudice toward
Islam and toward Muslims, and many of them - and their governments in
particular - are intent on changing Islam, so arrogantly sure are they
that the materialistic, un-numinous, ways of the modern West are
"right" and "superior" to Islam, which they - like you, it seems -
regard as "backward".
In this, you - and they - are assuredly incorrect. I know from my own
experience, travels and studies that Islam produces - has produced and
can produce - honourable individuals and an honourable society: that it
is a guide to living in a noble, civilized way. Why? Because Islam is
numinous - that is, a revealing of what is divine, sacred. It is such a
revealing which sets limits to our behaviour, which provides the
guidelines we need to prevent us being arrogant, prejudiced,
uncivilized, profane, and it is this numinosity, this awareness of the
sacred - and the humility, the reverence, which derives from it - which
the West and many of its peoples lack today but which Islam possesses
in abundance. Which, of course, is one of reasons the West is so intent
on suppressing and destroying genuine Islam.
In conclusion, I invite you to Islam: to discover Islam, to learn about
it, to experience it. For surely, the honourable thing to do in this
matter is for you to so learn, to gain some first-hand experience of
Islam itself?
"Allah is with those who restrain themselves and those who do what is honourable." Sura 16:128 (Interpretation of meaning)
Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt
(David Myatt)
July 17th 2004 CE
30 Jumad Awaal 1425
In Reply to Nick Griffin