ABSOLUTELY OFFENSIVE?

UKIP, Lee Rigby and Free Speech. 


‘Lord Pearson of Rannoch, who led UKIP during the last general election, is to be reported to the speaker of the upper house, Lady D’Souza, after he suggested that the Qur’an had inspired Rigby’s killers.’[1]

The UKIP peer had said this in a speech:-

“My lords, are the government aware that Fusilier Rigby’s murderers quoted 22 verses of the Qur’an to justify their atrocity? Therefore, is the prime minister accurate or helpful when he describes it as a betrayal of Islam? Since the vast majority of Muslims are our peace-loving friends, should we not encourage them to address the violence in the Qur’an – and indeed in the life and the example of Muhammad?”[2]
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood stated, “Obviously he hasn’t read the Qur’an. Islam is about submission to the Almighty. It is not about war against anybody else.” He added: “I find it absolutely offensive that this guy is still able to say this.”[3] Mr Mahmood is obviously a stranger to the notion of free speech.
‘Yasmin Qureshi, the Labour MP for Bolton South East, said: “These are lies. Trying to say this comes from some text in the Qur'an or there is some justification in the religion – it isn't there.”[4]

I think Ms Qureshi must be reading a different Quran from the one I have, albeit not admittedly from cover to cover. Here is but a mere sprinkling.

‘It is the same whether or not you forewarn them [the unbelievers], they will have no faith” (2:6). “God will mock them and keep them long in sin, blundering blindly along” (2:15). A fire “whose fuel is men and stones” awaits them (2:24). They will be “rewarded with disgrace in this world and with grievous punishment on the Day of Resurrection” (2:85). “God’s curse be upon the infidels!” (2:89). “They have incurred God’s most inexorable wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits [them]” (2:90). “God is the enemy of the unbelievers” (2:98). “The unbelievers among the People of the Book [Christians and Jews], and the pagans, resent that any blessing should have been sent down to you from your Lord” (2:105). “They shall be held up to shame in this world and sternly punished in the hereafter” (2:114). “Those to whom We [God] have given the Book, and who read it as it ought to be read, truly believe in it; those that deny it shall assuredly be lost” (2:122). “[We] shall let them live awhile, and then shall drag them to the scourge of the Fire. Evil shall be their fate” (2:126). “The East and the West are God’s. He guides whom He will to a straight path” (2:142). “Do not say that those slain in the cause of God are dead. They are alive, but you are not aware of them” (2:154). “But the infidels who die unbelievers shall incur the curse of God, the angels, and all men. Under it they shall remain for ever; their punishment shall not be lightened, nor shall they be reprieved” (2:162). “They shall sigh with remorse, but shall never come out of the Fire” (2:168). “The unbelievers are like beasts which, call out to them as one may, can hear nothing but a shout and a cry. Deaf, dumb, and blind, they understand nothing” (2:172). “Theirs shall be a woeful punishment” (2:175). “How steadfastly they seek the Fire! That is because God has revealed the Book with truth; those that disagree about it are in extreme schism” (2:176). “Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idolatry is worse than carnage. . . . if they attack you put them to the sword. Thus shall the unbelievers be rewarded: but if they desist, God is forgiving and merciful. Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme. But if they desist, fight none except the evil-doers”(2:190–93). “Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it. But you may hate a thing although it is good for you, and love a thing although it is bad for you. God knows, but you know not” (2:216). “They will not cease to fight against you until they force you to renounce your faith—if they are able. But whoever of you recants and dies an unbeliever, his works shall come to nothing in this world and in the world to come. Such men shall be the tenants of Hell, wherein they shall abide forever. Those that have embraced the Faith, and those that have fled their land and fought for the cause of God, may hope for God’s mercy” (2:217–18). “God does not guide the evil-doers” (2:258). “God does not guide the unbelievers” (2:264). “The evil-doers shall have none to help them” (2:270). “God gives guidance to whom He will” (2:272).’[5]

Lord Pearson 

Whatever you might feel about Lord Pearson, and I’m no fan, any reasonable person watching an IS video or the rant of your average Jihadi quoting endlessly from the Quran must surely come to the conclusion that he has a point.[6] The attempt to shame him into silence is itself shameful and I am a little surprised at the lack of support he has received from the usual defenders of free speech, possibly the UKIP tag has acted as a deterrent. If this is the case I can only quote Rosa Luxemburg:-

  ‘Freedom is always, and exclusively, freedom for the one who thinks differently.”





[1] http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/25/ukip-lord-pearson-quran-lee-rigby-murder
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Quoted from Sam Harris ‘The End Of Faith’ The Free Press 2005
[6] Though he should be perfectly free to speak his mind even if he didn’t. 

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