21 February 2014

Muslim groups demand apology from Daily Mail over Littlejohn article

More than 25 British Muslim organisations, in company with interfaith bodies, have signed a letter of complaint to the the Daily Mail's editor, Paul Dacre, about an article by columnist Richard Littlejohn.

They say that Littlejohn's column on Tuesday, headlined Jolly jihadi boys' outing to Legoland, "deployed hateful Muslim stereotypes" and "used slurs commonly found in racist and far-right websites."

His article concerned the hiring of the Legoland theme park in Windsor by an extremist Muslim cleric, Haitham al-Haddad, for a "family fun day" next month.

[A COMMENT] There is some hypocrisy here. Across the Muslim world, orthodox Muslims have created a massive body of speeches and writings in which the vilest language is used against Westerners, Americans, British, non-believers (kuffar), Jews, Christians, Hindus, Israelis, and just about every group that falls foul of their censure.

The stereotyping, racism, hatred, calls for jihad against the kuffar sit alongside calls for the execution of homosexuals and the oppression of women.

These appalling statements are much worse in character and intent than Mr Littlejohn's satirical take on violent jihadism, but none of the usual Muslim bodies in this country take open offense at any of them. I wonder why that is? [The Guardian] Read more