UKIP head’s call for Quran ban will most likely incite further hate crimes

Leader of the ‘Islamophobic’ UKIP has suggested a ban on the Holy Quran, suggesting that the rise in UK violence is somehow connected to the peaceful religion of Islam. However, the call will only embolden the far-right to carry out more hate crimes.

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader, Richard Braine – popularly known as “Dick” Braine on social media – was quoted as saying Britain needed independence not only from the European Union but from other forces.

Braine said his call for a ban on the Holy Quran is because Islamic scripture encouraged people to be “violent and murderous”. He, however, failed to link hate speech, like his own, to a rise in aggression.

His remarks are the latest to come from a surge in far-right, as well as mainstream, Islamophobic views in British politics.

The Guardian this week unearthed a 2007 essay written by current PM Boris Johnson, which further incited Islamophobic attitudes. He said that Islam has caused the Muslim world to be “literally centuries behind” the West.

Moreover, last year Johnson compared Muslim women wearing burqas to bank robbers and letterboxes. (Dear Johnson, let’s respect the fact that your own great-grandfather Ali Kemal, a Turkish politician, had been a Muslim.)

Are these vitriolic comments simply a means to gain independence from the EU, as many politicians are saying? Do these Islamophobic attacks by prominent figures simply go unnoticed by the educated masses?

A report by an independent monitoring group found that the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes reported across Britain increased by 593% in the week after a white supremacist killed worshippers at two New Zealand mosques earlier this year.

The real figures are likely to be higher. Only some instances of hate crimes are reported, with victims often feeling there is no point complaining.

Islamophobia has become the driving force behind the rise of far-right movements in the UK, according to anti-racism charity, Hope Not Hate.

At the very least in present times, Islamophobic comments made by prominent figures are, according to them, a means of allowing the UK to end uncontrolled immigration.

UKIP was one of the main drivers of a referendum in 2016 that saw Britons vote for their country to leave the EU. And now Dick Braine is the eighth party leader since the Brexit referendum in 2018.

UKIP, as well as Conservative leaders, should do more to challenge the negative view of its voters.

Rather, in order to win more votes, these politicians, willy-nilly, spew their caustic observations on the desperate public, who are being faced with massive economic calamities from a possible no-deal Brexit. Their speeches spread chaos, not peace in society.

You cannot have world peace with individuals who are boiling from the inside and are ready to explode. Inner peace is the key to world peace.

“Truly, in remembering God do hearts find rest.” (Quran, 13:28)

Remo Newton, Political Commentator

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