Do you think Islam is British?

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:53

Often the question comes up about 'what is British'. Myself and others seem to be able to confidently say that Islam is not British. This seems almost obvious and self-explanatory to me.

The question is - whether it is obvious to others. Is there anything 'British' about Islam? Have we merely chosen to view it as 'unBritish'?

Also, please don't turn this into a flame-fest. If you have a strong opinion or feeling, tread carefully when you express it

basmic · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:54

Define British.

Gilly · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:55

No.

Islam is not western. It has no roots here and, pardon me for saying, has no place here.

Bar · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:56

Is there any relevance to it being or not being British?

Surely the question should be is it advantageous to Britain to make it British (or not)?

Not all change is good but no change is worse.

VIRII · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:58

Bar said:
Is there any relevance to it being or not being British?

Surely the question should be is it advantageous to Britain to make it British (or not)?

Not all change is good but no change is worse.

Surely the question should be whatever the OP wants it to be.

O/T I keep seeing "surely the question should be" on a different forum, just can't quite place it....

Bill101 · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:59

Gilly said:
No.

Islam is not western. It has no roots here and, pardon me for saying, has no place here.

But neither is Christianity, they both believe in the Old Testament but Islam, just like Judaism, believe that our Jesus was just a human prophet and not the son of God.

Mr-White · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:59

no,we saw the light years ago

MW

Gilly · 10 Jul 2007 at 10:59

Bill101 said:
But neither is Christianity

So?

platypus · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:00

Until the Roman Catholic church stamped its mark on the world in a campaign of murder, rape, terror, torture and subjugation (you can draw your own parallels with today's society), Christianity didn't have much of a place in the west either.

Personally, I'd rather see less influence by religion anywhere.

VIRII · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:00

Bill101 said:
But neither is Christianity, they both believe in the Old Testament but Islam, just like Judaism, believe that our Jesus was just a human prophet and not the son of God.

Christianity has been here for over 1000 years and has become very British and is enshrined into our law and many aspects of our life (rightly or wrongly).
It is however very British as far as the UK goes we even have The Church Of England.

platypus · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:01

VIRII said:
Christianity has been here for over 1000 years and has become very British and is enshrined into our law and many aspects of our life (rightly or wrongly).
It is however very British as far as the UK goes we even have The Church Of England.

But what is to stop Islam becoming the 'natural' religion? Christianity replaced other religions before it, so could others. Just because people aren't happy about it doesn't mean it won't happen, or couldn't happen. I doubt the druids, pagans, naturists, etc where happy when Christianity came along.

cleanbluesky · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:01

I don't think there can easily be such a thing as 'British Islam' either, and I think this is evidenced by the fact that majority of Imams are foreign.

Any attempts to make a 'British Islam' would require what? A compromise by us to make Britain more Islam-friendly? Taxpayer funding?

Bar · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:01

VIRII said:
Surely the question should be whatever the OP wants it to be.

True, but the course of a thread will often move around whilst remaining on the same topic - just providing a different angle to look at it from.

VIRII said:
O/T I keep seeing "surely the question should be" on a different forum, just can't quite place it....

No idea - this is one of the last remaining forums that I post on. All the others have long since died/changed/no longer interest me.

mcast123 · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:01

All the answers you need are here

Van_Dammesque · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:02

basmic said:
Define British.

Not Islam!

Gilly · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:04

Van_Dammesque said:
Not Islam!

So everything 'not Islam' is British?

platypus · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:05

cleanbluesky said:
I don't think there can easily be such a thing as 'British Islam' either, and I think this is evidenced by the fact that majority of Imams are foreign.

There weren't any British priests for a long time when Christianity came onto the scene either. They were trained back in Rome, and came over here preaching their particular brand of hate. Bit like the Imams of today.

Bar · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:06

cleanbluesky said:
I don't think there can easily be such a thing as 'British Islam' either, and I think this is evidenced by the fact that majority of Imams are foreign.

I agree, the values and morals that it contains are quite different from a significant part of our accepted values and culture.

cleanbluesky said:
Any attempts to make a 'British Islam' would require what? A compromise by us to make Britain more Islam-friendly? Taxpayer funding?

To make a "British Islam" would either require Britain to change its culture and values or Islam to change its values. But if it was to do this neither would be the same as they once were.

dirtydog · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:06

Gilly said:
So everything 'not Islam' is British?

Not everything that is 'not Islam' is British. But Islam is not British. I think 'British Muslim' is an oxymoron personally.

Van_Dammesque · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:07

Gilly said:
So everything 'not Islam' is British?

It would be closer to the real definition compared to everything of islam is british. My comment was tongue in cheek however.