As I wrote, way back, “finding moderate Muslims often seems like hunting Snarks: the maps are blank, and harmless Snarks sometimes turn out to be deadly Boojums…Too often a telegenic Muslim turns out to be not so, well, moderate”. Well, it’s time to reset that clock, folks…
A British activist once nominated for a “Muslim of the Year” award is being investigated by police after being caught on video last month telling a Birmingham, England crowd that “jihad is the only solution.”
To quote the immortal words of former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, “[s]he’s not supposed to be doing that”.
Amazingly, British police took time out from their oh-so-important work of pursuing “non-crimes”, like people saying things that hurt the feelings of donkey-dicked behemoths in dresses.
Police confirmed on Sunday they have visited the home of 38-year-old Sumaira Farrukh, U.K. tabloid The Sun reported.
Footage shows Farrukh addressing a crowd of hundreds of people, speaking on the topic of India’s treatment of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region on the northern Indian subcontinent.
“There is only one slogan for today…There’s only one solution, which is jihad. No protest, nothing. Just jihad,” Farrukh added.
Of course, we get the standard double-speak about how “Oh, jihad doesn’t really mean holy war…”
According to the Daily Mail, Farrukh denied inciting violence, claiming she was merely advocating for “struggle.”
Farrukh responded Wednesday to multiple reports in the British press by way of a Facebook post. She reiterated her calls for “jihad,” but appeared to be arguing that she equated the term with vocally supporting the people of Kashmir […] Several commenters on Farrukh’s post expressed support for her sentiment.
“What is the meaning of jihad in Quran? Jihad, (Arabic: ‘struggle’ or ‘effort’)also spelled jehad, in Islam, a meritorious struggle or effort. The exact meaning of the term jihad depends on context; it has often been erroneously translated in the West as ‘holy war,’” wrote one commenter.
This is bollocks, of course. As many scholars have pointed out, “jihad” in practise has only ever meant violence and war. The “inner jihad” nonsense is self-serving baloney, spun out of the cloth of a lone hadith which Islamic prominent scholars have rated as “fabricated”. None of the major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) in Sunni Islam endorse this claim, nor does Shi’a Islam.
Even taken in its own context, the statement is clear: Farrukh is explicitly rejecting “protest”, leaving only one alternative, which is violence. As for her claim about the Koran, it explicitly states: those who strive and fight Hath [Allah] distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward.
In 2017, Farrukh was a British Muslim Awards nominee in the category of businesswoman of the year. She was appointed chief executive officer of Al Mudassar Trust U.K., a social welfare organization, earlier this year.
Farrukh formerly served as chief executive officer of Noor TV, an Islamic satellite television channel broadcast throughout Europe.
pluralist.com/sumaira-farrukh-jihad/
Once again, a poster-child for “moderate Islam” turns out to be not so moderate, after all.