British Muslims are failing this basic test of integration (by Fiyaz Mughal)

I fear we are witnessing a profound erosion of the moral foundations that bind our society together

Last week I spoke at the Nova Exhibition in London, and it left me emotionally shaken. It tells the story of the young Israelis who travelled to the Nova music festival seeking nothing more than a night of music, friendship and freedom – only to find themselves caught in one of the most barbaric terrorist atrocities of modern times.

At 6.29am on October 7, Hamas launched its assault. Rockets rained down as terrorists breached Israel’s border, murdering hundreds of festival-goers, kidnapping many others, and leaving survivors with trauma that will endure for the rest of their lives.

Earlier this year I travelled to Israel and interviewed one of the Nova survivors. Listening to his account was one of the most harrowing conversations I have ever had. As someone who has spent more than two decades working with victims of extremism, hate crime and trauma, I recognised in his words the devastating psychological scars that terrorism leaves behind.

I have consistently argued that British Muslims have a moral responsibility to condemn Hamas, without hesitation, while also acknowledging the immense suffering endured by Palestinian civilians during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. 

These positions are not contradictory. They are simply the minimum standard of moral consistency. Every innocent life has equal value. Israeli and Palestinian lives deserve equal dignity, equal compassion and equal protection. One might imagine this to be an uncontroversial position. Increasingly, it appears not to be.

At the Nova Exhibition, I was the only British Muslim speaker. Earlier this year, at the national demonstration against anti-Semitism outside Downing Street on May 10, I was again the only Muslim speaker.

Think about that for a moment. In a country with around four million Muslims, only one Muslim was prepared publicly to stand alongside Britain’s Jewish community in remembrance of October 7. This points to a deeply troubling reality about integration.

Too many self-appointed Muslim “community representatives” appear willing to speak passionately about injustice almost everywhere except when Jewish victims are involved. Their moral language becomes strangely selective. Their outrage has geographical and political boundaries. 

It does not extend to the young people murdered at Nova. It does not extend to families slaughtered in the kibbutzim. It does not extend to the Israeli women who were kidnapped and raped. Nor does it extend to confronting Hamas’s grotesque manipulation of Islam.

As I entered the Nova Exhibition, one of the first recordings I heard was Hamas terrorists repeatedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” as terrified Jewish civilians were abducted into Gaza. Those words, among the most sacred in Islam, were being used to sanctify murder and kidnapping. These words and scenes were all over national news sources after October 7.

So where were the articles from Britain’s Muslim leadership denouncing this abuse of our faith? Where were the public statements explaining that invoking God’s name, while committing atrocities, is a profound desecration of Islam itself? Their silence was deafening then, and it remains deafening today.

Many of those granted privileged access to ministers, civil servants and public institutions appear more concerned with protecting their status than exercising moral leadership. They understand that speaking honestly about Islamist extremism carries professional and political risks. 

Remaining silent is safer for them and the labels of civic honours that many seek. Some privately express sympathy to Jewish friends, allowing themselves to maintain the comforting image of being committed “interfaith” figures.

Yet when it comes to stating publicly that anti-Semitism within Muslim communities must be confronted, or that Islamist ideology is poisoning community relations, they disappear. Silence becomes a career strategy.

For some, avoiding controversy appears more important than defending principle. Public honours, appointments and invitations are easier to secure if one’s name does not generate uncomfortable headlines or awkward internet searches.

But honours were never intended to reward moral timidity. They were created to recognise public courage and service, not those prepared to overlook evil because speaking out may prove inconvenient.

Having spent more than 20 years working to strengthen social cohesion and counter extremism, I fear we are witnessing a profound erosion of the moral foundations that bind our society together. Political Islam and Islamist narratives have exerted increasing influence within parts of Britain’s Muslim communities, encouraging a world-view in which empathy becomes conditional and universal values become tribal loyalties.

That is not the Islam with which I was raised in East Africa. The Islam I inherited taught that justice is indivisible, that compassion cannot be selective, and that every innocent human life possesses equal worth before God.

If we genuinely want stronger community relations in Britain, then we must challenge those whose moral concern extends only to one community. We need more Muslims willing to say publicly that October 7 was an act of evil, that Islamist anti-Semitism has no place within our faith, and that Jewish suffering deserves exactly the same compassion we rightly demand for Palestinians.

My hope is that in five or 10 years’ time I will no longer be the only British Muslim standing on such platforms. That there will be many voices speaking with confidence, integrity and moral clarity. 

If that day never comes, Britain’s social cohesion will face an increasingly bleak future. If it does, then perhaps we will have begun to rebuild the trust that extremism has done so much to destroy.

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Fiyaz Mughal OBE is the founder of Faith Matters and Tell Mama

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/057b544345062afd