How Muslims Could Have Saved Jo Cox

Yesterday, another line had been crossed in the ever deepening conflict in which we are currently embroiled. A Bbritish MP has been killed. Her name was Jo Cox, aged 41 and she was a married mother of two. Her crime, as far as what we can piece together just now was that she was an unwavering supporter of helping refugees. Her alleged assailant, a Thomas Mair, shouted ‘Britain First’ as he allegedly committed her murder.

This is the first right-wing inspired murder of a British MP. Murders of British Muslims started happening long ago when the backlash towards the murder of Lee Rigby happened in 2013. Today’s murder signalled another level of escalation of the conflict.

In this incident, no sane individual would blame the Muslims. We are not guilty of anything here. Britain First, the current ‘bad boys’ of the right wing fraternity have denied responsibility as well but there can be little doubt that motivation of Jo Cox’s murder echoed their own sentiments to a significant extent.

Britain First is an organization which campaigns against, immigration, multiculturalism and especially Islam. They intend to remove elected London mayor Sadiq Khan with ‘direct military action’ and consider all elected Muslim government officials as ‘occupiers’. Given that Sadiq Khan has disavowed any kind of Islamism (Islam does not define his politics), how can Britain First’s announcement be anything other than racism and moreover, incitement to violence?

This is where I feel we Muslims can be proactive. I believe we could have saved Jo Cox. I have little doubt, there will always be provocateurs like Britain First, the English Defence League, Pegida and so on.  I have even less doubt they will keep inspiring people like Mair by fanning the flames of racial hatred . And I have no doubt at all that Muslims would be their prime target for malicious propaganda. So how could we have saved Ms Cox?

People like Thomas Mair are like pots bubbling with boiling water. They could overspill at any second. It could be by simply reading any kind of rumour about refugees, immigration or even halal meat in schools! There are now far too many bubbling pots ready to overspill at any time.

This is where we, the Muslim community, must get proactive. We are currently being pushed as the ‘fifth column’ in Western society and our distinct cultural traits do not make it easier for us to ‘blend in’ (not that we have to). However, we can and must do all the housekeeping possible. We can diffuse the tension simply by taking the initiative. Here are some things we can do and indeed are doing albeit on a small scale:

1. Interfaith and inter-communal activities – we must build ties between us and the wider British public. A key factor in making this happen is to reform the notion of salvation which many of us have. The notion that Muslims go to heaven while others are disbelievers condemned to hell. This idea is unQuranic and counter-productive.
2. Bringing in reformist imams and scholars – currently, the vast majority of our religious officials are trained in countries which have little contact with non-Muslim communities. They are not aware of emerging trends in human thought and their attitudes towards women, gender and sexual minorities are positively archaic. They need to be replaced if the Muslim community is to self-actualize.
3. Reconsidering tribal loyalties – for the last couple of years, there was a noticeable trend in the so-called Muslim paedophile gangs. These evil men had been performing their activities for literally decades before being called out. During that time, there must have been fellow Muslims who at least suspected such things were going on. Only tribal loyalties prevented them from coming forward. This must change. It is our social duty to eradicate social ills in the wider community, what more in our indigenous Muslim population!

When the Muslims become a model community, groups who fan the flames of Islamophobia will not get have the ammunition they need. People would simply see through their lies and get on with their lives. Perhaps even potential murderers would not even be moved to do what took place yesterday. We need to take positive steps today before more lives are lost.

Dedicated to the late MP Jo Cox. May your vision of Britain come true.

Pic courtesy of Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50834833)