• The recent spike in anti-Muslim hate is spilling into Speakers’ Corner; revealing limited knowledge and falsehoods of the far-right.
• Muslim interlocutors are demonstrating how calm, factual engagement exposes this ignorance brilliantly.
Twitter (or X, if you like) has turned into a far-right sewer. But this doesn’t come as much surprise to anyone after Steven Yaxley Lennon’s march of hate through London last Saturday.
Since the Unite the Kingdom march, Tommy- the chav- Robinson has appeared just about everywhere: spouting his drivel to his fellow Shill Propagandists, and the Hindutva Indian media; strategically chess playing.
The funny thing is, the far-right never talk to us but can’t stop talking about us, the Muslims!
The nuances in the far-right have become more pronounced in recent times: the anti-Zionists, and those endlessly memed about us taking their jobs, their teeth, and the final Tesco car park spot. Then there’s Cardinal Müller, the anti-Muslim, German prefect of the Vatican who fallaciously and dangerously claimed this week that, “….when a girl is violated by several Muslim men – the girl is more likely to go to jail than the perpetrators (in England).
The engines of influence fuelling this fear-mongering hate rally their troops online and make guest appearances at marches. Their actions embolden others, who walk among us, hopping on the District line to Marble Arch on a Sunday afternoon to “claim their country back” at London’s Speakers’ Corner.
Much like Dave here. Well, that’s not really his name, he wasn’t brave enough to share it. Nonetheless, he was a rarity, willing to engage with a Muslim. The result: he completely had his behsthie done. In other words, by the end of their encounter, our brother Zeeshan (of Smile 2 Jannah, founder of S2J News) completely shredded whatever dignity Dave had left. Dave did not expect the firestorm of a reaction he received, cloaked in calmness, facts, statistics and decorum. It delivered the satisfaction of a chess grand master stumping his opponent with a series of unexpected moves. After the exchange, Dave even started following brother Zeeshan around Hyde park, at which point our brother casually asked, “Are you my fan?”
What lessons can we derive from this exchange?
This encounter wasn’t merely a satisfying, hilariously entertaining debate. And I shouldn’t laugh…but I will. It revealed something far more significant: white supremacists of the fascist variety really have no idea what they’re talking about. Many like Dave are political toddlers, blissfully unversed in reading, and seemingly in desperate need of a little love. It is Allah who turns the hearts, no matter how distant a person may be. And even if that is not the case, the audience still stands to benefit from such conversations.
There is a good corpus of evidence that suggests there is an association between the cognitive abilities and the ideological attitudes of the far-right. In fact, a peer reviewed, meta analysis reviewed 67 studies, which included 84,000 participants. The authors concluded that individuals with lower cognitive abilities are more likely to endorse right-wing ideologies, exhibit higher levels of prejudice, and will exhibit lower critical thinking skills or are incapable of comprehending multiple perspectives.
Who created the first University?
The far-right insists Muslims don’t belong in Western civilisation. This is somewhat ironic, given that algebra, hospitals, and coffee all say otherwise. Similarly, Dave didn’t seem to know much about the origin of Universities. Nor did he know the difference between the Nakba and World War 2.
Spewing hate and Endorsing the killing of babies
Brother Zeeshan’s interlocutor spewed much hate with no accountability, justifying the killing of the Philistines and Amalakites, and later posing no real issue about picking and choosing from bible verses.
Dave also felt the need to tell brother Hamza Myatt (of Hamza’s Den) that he is a traitor and is going to hell.
Grooming Gangs
As expected, Dave’s understanding of Islam was nonexistent
During the exchange, Dave claimed that Muslims are allowed to kill disbelievers, a completely egregious distortion of the truth.
In an exercise in oratory, it’s extraordinary how Dave struggled to articulate himself, much like his hero, Elon Musk. And, with all that money, surely Elon could’ve hired a speech therapist prior to speaking at the Unite the Kingdom event.
Moreover, we must never forget Musk’s chilling words: “You either fight back or you die,” and just let that sink in: one of the most powerful men on Earth was allowed to incite violence without accountability. Consequently, there will be many more Dave’s. But, as Muslims navigating these unprecedented times, we must remain resilient: strive for closeness to Allah ʿazza wa jal, arm ourselves with knowledge, dispel falsehood, and courageously uphold the truth with vigour.
