The Wakefield Quran controversy
Did you know that in the UK each year, Muslims contribute an estimated £100 million to charity during the month of Ramadan alone, amounting to an average of £38 per second?
Or how about the fact that the Muslim community’s value to Britain’s GDP is in excess of £31 billion, and worldwide over £1.7 trillion?
Or did you know that, economics aside, everyone I’ve personally met of the Islamic faith has been a wholly pleasant and courteous individual?
And finally, did you know that after accidentally scuffing a copy of the Quran last month, an autistic fourteen-year-old boy from Wakefield, England, was suspended from school, charged with a ‘hate incident’, and plagued by death threats before he and his family were eventually forced to leave their home after warnings of arson?
Would you like to know West Yorkshire Police’s response to these threats?
Nothing.
Well, that’s not quite true.
Chief Inspector Andy Thornton attended what amounted to a kangaroo court in a Wakefield mosque, presided over by the local Imam, and in which the autistic boy’s non-Islamic hijab-donning mother practically grovelled for forgiveness on behalf of her son, a ritual of uncomfortably performative and shaming repentance that felt wholly coerced. The videos are online. Judge for yourself.
(Update: Possibly in connection to the mosque’s investigation by charity watchdog The Charities Commission, the videos seem to have largely disappeared from YouTube. They can still be found with a simple Twitter search though, with threads such as this one still containing the footage. Since the time of this writing, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said that the meeting “looked more like a sharia law trial, inappropriately held at a mosque instead of a neutral setting”.)
We operate from the assumption that this is a difficult topic to navigate, but is it really? Controversial, yes. Risky, sure. Nevertheless, I’m just one voice in the figurative tidal wave of pushback West Yorkshire Police has received in reaction to their entirely irresponsible and cowardly response. I join countless journalists, social commentators, members of every faith – Islam included – and ordinary people in concluding that this is, resoundingly, actually not such a difficult topic to navigate after all.
Let me be absolutely clear: there are NO blasphemy laws in the United Kingdom, nor should there be. If there ever are, you’ll find me either leaving or fighting such laws. I can’t conceive of any legitimate argument for such a thing in modern society, a society that celebrates the strength of multi-culturalism, of bringing people together from all around the world to pool their strengths and perspectives. If you can prove me wrong with a valid argument for legislative punishment for essentially failing to bow to the whims of a religion of which you are not a part, please comment below. I doubt we’ll see eye to eye. Nevertheless, in this rational absence of blasphemy laws, pandering, panicky, and fearful reactions like that of Chief Inspector Andy Thornton and West Yorkshire Police will always be abhorrent.
The benefits we reap from a multi-cultural society – moving forward together instead of apart – are completely undone once those assigned to protect us start kowtowing to fear.
No, there’s nothing difficult to navigate about the appropriate response to an autistic child being made to fear for his life, all because he dropped a book – no matter how holy that book. Actually, neither his autism nor his youth should have anything to do with it.
Death threats and brutish intimidation should be off the table in a civilised society. End of story.
The presiding Imam – both the judge and jury to this kangaroo court – neither condemned the threats of violence (shrugging them off as “passions flaring”) nor forgave the family for what had already been established by Kettlethorpe High School as an inadvertent, accidental offence. He sat centre stage, altogether uninterested in the chief inspector’s verbal grovelling for appeasement, and utterly trivialising an innocent family being made to fear for their safety. When it was the Imam’s turn to speak (the same Imam who has previously determined homosexuality to be ‘barbarism’) he flagrantly rejected offers of peace:
“Any Muslim in Wakefield, Halifax, Bradford, Dewsbury, United Kingdom or outside the United Kingdom, will never tolerate the disrespect of the holy book. Never. Why? Because we will sacrifice our lives for it. We will give anything in the honour of Allah. So there’s no element of brushing this under the carpet. There’s no element of let it pass for a few days and it’ll die down. No.”
The scuffs in question.
I wouldn’t tolerate the disrespect of someone’s culture either, but would I condone violence? These words from the presiding Imam were fighting words, but what kind of fight are we talking about here? The sane, civilised fight for all cultures to be respected, a fight you can be sure I would join? Or are we talking about a fight of fatal consequences, the kind of consequences that have all too often become reality in the face of similar stories?
But let’s pose a hypothetical. Let’s say the accidental scuff upon the holy book was, in fact, a deliberate act of vandalism with malicious intent. Would the situation THEN qualify for threats of violence and murder?
You better believe it would not.
Sure, it would have warranted a substantial ‘reaching out to the community’ as Chief Inspector Andy Thornton put it (which was his only effort to counter the terrorising of a fourteen-year-old mentally challenged boy). The Muslim population are a valuable and integral part of the UK, and focussed attacks directed at them need addressed seriously and pragmatically.
It just so happens that the exact same sentiment holds true for every law-abiding citizen, even innocent children.
I have more to say, but I’ll keep this concise. It’s not my intention to offend, just like the boy in question who was driven from his home and is now frightened for his life, with his mother publicly humiliated and his family truly hung out to dry by West Yorkshire Police.
Yes, I’m primarily a horror novelist, but it’s my aim to start speaking out more honestly. I want to connect with YOU not just through my fiction, but through shared values of right and wrong in a world gone haywire. I correspond with many of my readers on a regular basis, and those friendships are important to me. Sure, my candour in regards to potentially delicate subjects may push some of you away from me, but isn’t that for the best? Friendship should be founded on honesty, and it’s my hope that these pieces will only bring me closer to those of you who stick by me.
Whichever god, gods, or system of belief you follow, know that I cherish the opportunity to learn about your faith, the values and traditions by which you live your life, and the unique perspectives you bring to the societal table.
But do you agree with the firebombing of bookstores, the murdering of associated translators, and the recent near-fatal attack on Salman Rushdie following the fatwa issued in reaction to his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses?
How about the murder of twelve people who worked at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper who courted controversy when they featured the Islamic prophet Muhammad in some of their strips?
And the Yorkshire teacher who had to flee his home in 2021 and undergo a change of identity? Or the multiple stabbings that ended MP David Amess’s life? Would Wakefield police have a different stance on the nightmare this young autistic boy’s family have been put through if the recent promises of violence had been carried through to their natural conclusions?
These are all clearly acts of terrorism which I’m confident would be completely and categorically condemned by the multitude of good-natured British Muslims I’ve known through the years. Anyone that didn’t – whatever their religious or non-religious persuasion – I’d have no interest in knowing.
Violence is, unfortunately, an inevitable part of human civilisation.
The blanket condemnation of such violence should be equally inevitable.
And so to my Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, and Muslim friends, I say thank you for adding your valuable cultures and perspectives to our society.
To West Yorkshire Police I say shame on you.
Shame on you for failing to condemn the terrorisation of a wholly innocent child.
Shame on you for turning a blind eye to the threats issued upon his family.
Shame on you for not only bearing witness, but offering your blessing at a sham kangaroo court held specifically to humiliate and shame a blameless young boy’s mother, presided over by an unforgiving Imam unable to denounce brutish and barbaric threats of violence.
Understanding, compassion, and empathy are qualities required on all fronts. Respecting other cultures, recognising your place amongst others, and squaring the differences between people from contrasting backgrounds: these things must go both ways.
I hope I speak for every rational, compassionate soul on all sides of the cultural divide when I say blood need NEVER be shed.
Look beyond yourself.
Is that really so hard?
–GG
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