Yvonne: Say No to Pork

Once again it seems that sister Yvonne is speaking aloud what we all believe in our hearts but do not have the courage or articulation to express it outwardly. At a Respect party meeting in Newham on Tuesday, she told Muslims to "boycott the police and refuse to co-operate with them in any way, shape or form." She said: "From today until this terrorisation of the Muslim community is stopped immediately, I believe all Muslims should withdraw their support. This goes from asking the community copper for directions to passing the time of day with a beat officer. We should enforce non-co-operation."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5054600.stm

Now, many of Yvonne's critics, and she does have quite a few both within and outside the community, will be crying out "extremist", "attention-seeker" and will begin accusing her of shouting impractical solutions which are of no benefit to any community. Fair comment? Perhaps.

Sometimes, I too can see where they are coming from. But after a little more reflection, the question inevitably does arise as to why it is impractical. And I am stumped. What have we got to lose by non-cooperation. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis claims non-cooperation will be of no benefit to the Muslim community, to the police or to the security of Britain. Of the latter two, he may be correct. But only because the corollory of engaging with the Muslim community is of benefit to the police and national security. But is engaging with the police of any real benefit to the Muslim community?

For almost five years now since 9-11, the Muslim community has been engaged at every level with the police in what is loosely termed a "consultation process". One must realise however that consultation is a two-way process. What is happening is simply information in that the police inform the community that they will do such and such a thing. The community objects and advises the police against the measure. They do it anyways and go to the press and claim that the move was taken "after consultation with leaders of the Muslim community." As a result, we have seen incidents such as Forest Gate, such as Operation Kratos (still in place), incidents such as tanks at Heathrow on Eid, the brutal assault and humiliation of Babar Ahmad (to date not a single officer has been held responsible), the prejudicial comments repeatedly made by senior police officers, as well as the increasing stop and search and pre-dawn raids . This has been the net result of engagement with the police.

Not much of a benefit there. So why dont we try disengagement? Lets see how they react. I am not talking about out of the way hostility or terror attacks, simple non-compliance. You shot my brother, you humiliated my mother, you questioned where my God is. As a result Mr Police Officer, I refuse to have anything to do with you. Thank you very much. If you want to arrest me go ahead, you would have done it anyways.

Will more Muslims be arrested? No doubt. Will harassment increase? Of course. Will it improve our situation in this country? Possibly. Will the police feel they can win this war without our support? For awhile until the horrible reality hits them. Will the police do all they can to bring Muslims back to the table? You bet ya. Will they subsequently treat us with a little more respect? Very likely.

One thing is for sure though is that in this process we will retain our dignity, our self-respect. We have been told by Allah that we are the best of the people as long as we fear Allah, enjoin the good and forbid the evil. As Imam Abdul Malik says, Allah made us a nation of lions so we should quit going around acting like pussycats.

Sister Yvonne's idea is not impractical, nor is it a new one. It has been mentioned before but the community has always lacked the impetus to act upon it. Let us pray that this time its different and that our brother Muhammad Abdul Kahar did not get shot in vein.