As everyone knows by now, Boris Johnson, no longer the British Foreign Secretary, but still a prominent MP and force in the Tory Party as well as, again, a journalist for The Telegraph, recently delivered himself of his views on the burqa/niqab. Here is some of what he wrote:
If you say that it is weird and bullying to expect women to cover their faces, then I totally agree.
I would go further and say that it is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes.
And he added that “a female student turned up at school or at a university lecture looking like a bank robber” he would ask her to remove it to speak to her.
Mr Johnson, who quit as Foreign Secretary last month over Brexit, said it was “sensible” to be able to read each others facial expressions and humans “must be able to see each other’s faces.”
“He said that individual businesses or branches of Government should be free to enforce a dress code that enables their workers to best interact with customers – which could involve removing the veils.
The Tory grandees made the expected tut-tutting about his language. Tory chair Brandon Lewis asked Johnson to apologize; others merely asked him to watch his language. Apparently Theresa May has gone along with an investigation to be conducted of Johnson’s remarks, the announcement of which has caused “a civil war” in Tory ranks. So far, Boris Johnson has shown no signs of apologizing; he knows that a great many of the Tory rank-and-file share his views on the niqab, and in a showdown over this issue, he will win.
Meanwhile, Lady Warsi, the Muslimah who now sits as a peer in the House of Lords, was enraged:
Johnson’s words send out a message that Muslim women are fair game…As a feminist what really disgusts me in this whole episode is that Muslim women are simply political fodder, their lives a convenient battleground on which to stake out a leadership bid,” she wrote. “Well, this approach is not just offensive, it’s dangerous. Johnson’s words have once again validated the view of those that ‘other’ Muslims. They send out a message that Muslim women are fair game. What starts as useful targets for ‘colorful political language’ and the odd bit of toxic campaigning ends up in attacks on our streets.”
She went on to make clear that she considered Johnson’s words would encourage hate crimes. “So, as much as Johnson thinks he’s being his usual clever self, he’s helping to create an environment in which hate crime is more likely.” She offered no evidence for this, and it seemed she was trying to create the impression that criticism of the niqab was almost a hate crime in itself. Then Sayeeda Warsi offered to give Boris Johnson lessons in diversity training herself. It’s an offer I’m certain he will refuse.
So far, so predictable. But was Johnson wrong? Isn’t the burqa, isn’t the niqab, a security risk? Does Sayeeda Warsi know that in Mecca, during worship, the face-covering is banned? What does she think of that? Why should the full face covering be banned at the Ka’aba and not, say, at Wembley Stadium, or just outside Buckingham Palace, or in Regents Park?
And now a respected Muslim scholar, Taj Hargey, the imam at Oxford Islamic Congregation, has taken part in the debate. Hargey has been in the news many times before for his moderate stance. He once so angered the Muslim Weekly that the paper declared him to be a “Qadiani” only pretending as a Muslim (“Qadiani” is the pejorative name for Ahmadis, whom other Muslims do not regard as real Muslims) — and such a charge made him a potential target for attack. Hargey, a Sunni Muslim, sued the publication, and won a high five-figure settlement for defamation.
Hargey has entered the lists, firmly in support of Boris Johnson against his hysterical detractors:
Taj Hargey, the imam at Oxford Islamic Congregation, said Mr Johnson should “not apologise for telling the truth.’
“The burka and niqab are hideous tribal ninja-like garments that are pre-Islamic, non-Koranic and therefore un-Muslim.”
“Although this deliberate identity-concealing contraption is banned at the Kaaba in Mecca it is permitted in Britain, thus precipitating security risks, accelerating vitamin D deficiency, endorsing gender-inequality, and inhibiting community cohesion.”
“In reality it is a toxic patriarchy controlling women.”
“Is it any wonder that many younger women have internalised this poisonous chauvinism by asserting that it is their human right to hide their faces? Johnson did not go far enough.”
Boris Johnson has gone off, unfazed, and unapologetic, on holiday abroad.
What does Sayeeda Warsi, stewing in her own malevolence and hate, make of the fact that the Qur’an does not require the niqab? And will she be willing to agree that the niqab could in many circumstances be a “security risk”? Why does she think that in the West, including Great Britain, Muslim women must remove the face-covering for their passport photos? What does Sayeeda Warsi think of the opinion given by the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Haji Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, a renowned scholar and head of the Islamic world’s preeminent religious institute, who has stated that “the niqab is a cultural tradition and has nothing to do with Islam.”
Warsi can foam at the mouth about provoking “hate crimes” all she wants, but Boris Johnson will return serenely from his vacation, cite Imam Taj Hargey and Sheikh Tantawy of Al-Azhar on the niqab, refuse to apologize, and watch, bemused, as Theresa May squirms, not knowing quite how to deal with this loose cannon in her ranks. The Tory investigation will take place, dutifully and perfunctorily, and conclude with some anodyne statement about “watching one’s words.” And that will be it. Johnson will not be kicked out of the Party, as the Muslim peer Lord Sheikh, founder of the Conservative Muslim Forum, has demanded. He will be stronger than ever.
The most recent poll has 60 percent of British voters not only backing Johnson’s remarks, but going even further than he did by calling for a complete ban on the niqab, which Johnson himself has so far opposed. What’s a poor prime minister to do, if her benighted people insist on backing Boris? Nothing. That’s what the waffling Theresa May will do: nothing.
And that will be a victory for Boris Johnson, and for Great Britain, now brought one step closer to banning the niqab, just like Austria, France, and Denmark.
As for Johnson’s joke about burqas making women look like letter-boxes, the last word should go to the comedian Rowan Atkinson (“Mr. Bean”), who wrote to The Times: “An almost perfect visual simile and a joke that, whether Mr Johnson apologises for it or not, will stay in the public consciousness for some time to come.”
John Thomas says
… this just proves Islam and Muslims have absolutely no sense of humour.
See either the “Dave Allen shows” or “Old Jews Telling Jokes”!
Andy says
BAN IT! -The human letter boxes all across Western Judeo-Christian Civilization!
All across the globe Patriots are standing up to fight for freedom! We need people who will tell the truth all across the world and stop this cult of diversity is our strength nonsense.
UNITY IS OUR STRENGTH! Be proud to be part of the country you are in! Continue to build it up and be part of what has already been built.
POLITICAL COURAGE: Maxime Bernier of Canada Pushes Back Against Justin Trudeau’s “Cult Of Diversity”
“Having people live among us who reject basic Western values such as freedom, equality, tolerance and openness doesn’t make us strong. People who refuse to integrate into our society and want to live apart in their ghetto don’t make our society strong.”
Trudeau’s extreme multiculturalism and cult of diversity will divide us into little tribes that have less and less in common, apart from their dependence on government in Ottawa. These tribes become political clienteles to be bought with taxpayers $ and special privileges.”
https://www.spencerfernando.com/2018/08/12/political-courage-maxime-bernier-pushes-back-against-justin-trudeaus-cult-of-diversity/
Maxime Bernier: Trudeau is ‘playing politics’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwPaq5fI_zE
Canadians vote out Jihadi Justine Trudeau 2019!
luvmyctd said:
Write that cuck Scheer and DEMAND he fight for our CANADIAN values, for OUR CANADIAN identity and OUR CANADIAN culture. Either idiot cuck Scheer gets on board with the Populist movement raging across the World or he is finished. Write that prick DIRECTLY. You want his email address or can you figure out how to find it yourself? Takes 5 seconds … Canada was 96% white European in just 1971 .. REMIND HIM OF THIS FACT.
Canadians vote out Jihadi Justine Trudeau 2019!
Andy says
A letter box interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K9OV8Mmh-o
Andy says
A strong independent woman, Yeah, right!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68PtlZ5ObKc
Andy says
20 Questions For Burka Wearers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-C3cBgOn8
Leon Degney says
Anything to keep them being “victims”.
Anne Smith says
Ayatolla Khomeini told everyone that there are no jokes in Islam.
The furore following Boris’ brilliant article really proves this is true!
dan christensen says
Islam is already tearing good old Britain apart, demonstrating that the terror of jihadis already is working as planned.
As predicted, the social position of women is the pivotal battleground which keeps the religious conflicts alive – until the Caliphate prevails also in Britain.
But do not send for the Vikings for assistance. They are under attack from their own islamic ghettos and too busy with surviving themselves.
Phil Copson says
“….Johnson’s words send out a message that Muslim women are fair game….. this approach is not just offensive, it’s dangerous….. ends up in attacks on our streets…..” (Lady Warsi)
——————————————————————————————-
It’s “Lady” Warsi and “Lord” Sheik – amongst others – who are using muslim girls and women as political fodder by promoting cultural and political apartheid, thus denying muslim women the ability to integrate and become full members of society. Boris Johnson is merely drawing attention to it.
Where was Warsi when muslim Labour MP Naz Shah was broadcasting her belief that the white victims of muslim rape gangs should “shut up for the sake of diversity” ?
Because her protests are far more applicable to that case than ever they are to Johnson’s – just substitute “Shah” for “Johnson”, and “white girls” for muslim women, and her statement becomes far more believable: “(Shah’s) words send out a message that (under-age white girls) are fair game……this approach is not just offensive, it’s dangerous…..ends up in attacks on our streets…”
Did “Lord” Sheikh call for Shah to be slung out of the Labour Party in the same way he called for Johnson’s expulsion ? If not – why not ?
simpleton1 says
Very good point Phil Copson as it shows just how dangerous and ugly are the ones that practice islam.
“(Shah’s) words send out a message that (under-age white girls) are fair game……this approach is not just offensive, it’s dangerous…..ends up in attacks on our streets…”
That needs to be hammered, go viral, and used by many.
StellaSaidSo says
While Bojo’s remarks about the niqab/burqa were hardly original (it was Pat Condell who, several years ago, first likened body bag wearers to letterboxes), they were finely calibrated and perfectly timed. Falling short of defamatory (despite the tedious Sayeeda Warsi’s predictable umbrage, and the lengthy ruminations of Cressida Dick), Bojo’s remarks captured the headlines, and put him centre-stage. Most importantly, they enabled him to judge the mood of the public on a vexed issue at a critical time – and thus the likely extent of public support for a tilt at Number 10 should he decide to throw his hat in the ring. Bojo’s counter-jihad credentials may be feeble (he does not actually support a burqa ban, and thinks that illegal immigrants should be given amnesty), but his political instincts are unsurpassed.
Anne Smith says
Boris is actually brilliant – an Eton scholar and first at Oxford, huge sense of humour and a very lovable personality. Somewhat the opposite of our simply dreadful apology for a Prime Minister, Theresa May. Thee is no difficult situation that she cannot make worse.
She has pushed the anti reaction to his remarks for all she is worth, instructing her oafish friend and supporter, Brandon Lewis,the undistinguished Chairman of the Tory party to investigate him (!!) with a view to finding him “guilty” and thereby getting him suspended from the Tory Party, in which event he would not be able to challenge her for the leadership.
Luckily most of the country has seen through her wretched and devious plan to shore up her own weak and feeble position . Most of the Tory members and most of the country would like to see her gone. She is possibly now the most hated woman in Britain.
She has an obsessive fascination with Islam, creeping and cowtowing to British Muslims in a way that most of us find not only distasteful but downright weird.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvgeHR4NzYI
Her normal political speeches are boring and lack any conviction, but in this video she almost quivers with fervour and excitement. There is something creepy and not quite right about her.
StellaSaidSo says
My sentiments exactly, Anne, especially re the creepiness of Theresa May!
gravenimage says
Thank you, Anne.
simpleton1 says
One of the reasons why muslims can not integrate and islam keeps on increasing its strength and power
That ownership of woman, means as per sharia, that muslim woman can be controlled to only marry muslim men!
Those muslim men then own any daughters, as do the brothers also being able to control their sisters,until married to another muslim man.
Any muslim male can marry outside the religion, but the set up is that he retains power and islam over any offspring.
Yes good points StellaSaidSo.
Could Boris emulate Winston Churchill?
If he could just link in to the juxtaposition that Phil Copson made.
(under-age white girls) are fair game……this approach is not just offensive, it’s dangerous…..ends up in attacks on our streets…”
Then events will just catapult him, and that line of thought may take a life of its own, and will be coming a leading light for him.
I would not expect perfection, but the direction would be right, and if he could hold that, then there will be many others that will also speak out, and politically a wave for him to surf on.
StellaSaidSo says
Exactly, simpleton1. You are spot on re Bojo riding a political wave – a wave which he himself nudged into existence, and which – if we’re lucky – could take the UK in the right direction, provided we in turn do our bit to nudge it along.
Boris is something of an expert on Churchill, and would certainly be familiar with the well-known extract from The River War. Any suggestion of a resemblance to the great man would be lapped up, and should be encouraged!
FYI says
1.So,a burqa-wearing muslima walked into a{CENSORED in Iran}and asked for a {CENSORED in Britainistan}.No said the {CENSORED in Saudi Arabia}
“There are no jokes in islam.there is no humor in islam.There is no fun in islam”
said the ayatollah.. and no sooner had he said that when he slipped on a banana peel,bowled over 3 customers,propelled himself through the window and landed in a barrel of alcohol before being bitten by a pig.
“So this isn’t the Shi’te comedy club then?It’s just a shite club….”
2 “She was afraid to come out of the water,
(cos the muslims had stolen the beach)
she was afraid to come out of the water
she was as nervous as she could have been.
she…wore..an..
Itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot burquini
and so the muslims they chopped off her head.
one..two..three..four.
…tell us what the imam swore..
.
George says
Does anyone have an address for Boris? I’d like to send him a static free comb? He loolks like an animated feather dustet. LOL!
Arthur says
Hear, hear!
gravenimage says
I don’t care whether he combs his hair or not, so long as he stands up against Islam.
StellaSaidSo says
Boris has never actually ‘stood up’ against Islam. But if he thought it might be to his political advantage, he would almost certainly consider it.
gravenimage says
Stella, he is still better than most of what passes for leadership in the UK today.
StellaSaidSo says
GI, you are obviously unfamiliar with Boris’s record on Islam. A well-timed, carefully-phrased remark which can be broadly interpreted as critical of Islam does not cancel out years of overt support for, and pandering to, that same Islam.
mortimer says
Boris for Prime Minister !
gravenimage says
Hear, hear!
dunroamin says
The attackers in our streets are blacks & Muslims. Baroness is a raving lunatic. She abuses our hospitality.
Anne Smith says
Yes, another attack this morning. Huge numbers of our police flooding the streets outside Parliament running around like chickens with their heads cut off – stable door comes to mind.
Just the usual car attack, running down innocent cyclists and pedestrians. Unfortunately Parliament is in recess so he didn’t manage to score any hits on MPs, more’s the pity. It would have concentrated their thinking.
Anyway, our much loved and revered Mayor, Sadiq Khan said this is all just part and parcel of big city life, didn’t he.
Crusades Were Right says
As every SJW, feminist and “anti-fascist” knows, Islam is a race; and Boris, who is of Muslim descent (his great-grandfather was the last Interior Minister of the Ottoman Empire) MUST be a Muslim himself, “logically” speaking. Therefore Boris’s criticism of Islamic garb must be regarded as INTERNAL debate within the Muslim community. So, to all those who have been attacking him for his recent comments…
…STOP PICKING THIS MUSLIM, YOU ISLAMOPHOBES!
I thang yow.
; ¬)
Crusades Were Right says
*PICKING ON THIS MUSLIM
; ¬)
StellaSaidSo says
Indeed, if it weren’t for a timely name-change on the part of his grandfather, Boris’s surname would be Kemal. However, he does not appear to identify with his Ottoman ancestry, preferring his noble Germanic connections.
StellaSaidSo says
At least he does not CURRENTLY appear to identify with his Ottoman ancestry. It was different a few years ago when he bragged about being the first London Mayor of Muslim extraction.’
jewdog says
No face covering should be allowed in public for security reasons – except for the usual winter gear. The reluctance to act decisively is symptomatic of the lack of confidence in the West.
tim gallagher says
I thought Boris Johnson’s description of the Muslim women as looking like post boxes was perfectly accurate although nothing new. I’ve used that same description of them myself and have read several comments here on Jihad Watch which also used the same description. It made me think about how politicians generally have to walk around as though treading on egg shells in order to avoid offending Muslims. It’s pathetic. Meanwhile, Muslims and their spokesmen and leaders often seem to be showing zero respect for non-Muslims and are often making revolting comments about non-Muslims. I suppose Boris, being a politician, generally can’t tell the unvarnished truth. He has to show some respect for Muslims and Islam, which I believe is totally undeserved. I hope he keeps telling the truth. Of course Muslim women, all covered up in the burqa, look like post boxes or letter boxes. It’s so obvious that that’s what they resemble. And, without a doubt, they are a security risk to us all. As Boris said, they are covered up like bank robbers. It shouldn’t be allowed. As for the Muslim spokesman, Hargey, telling us the burqa isn’t Islamic or whatever, well, even though he does seem to have reasonable ideas, who cares whether it is or isn’t Islamic. We shouldn’t care about getting the OK from any Muslim leader to tell us whether we might be offending Muslims. Just ban the garment. It definitely shouldn’t be allowed in our civilised, non-Muslim societies. It doesn’t belong.
gravenimage says
Boris Johnson Both Mocks and Fears the Burqa
…………..
I have been glad to see Johnson speak out at all.
Simon Harris says
The only real “hate crimes” in the UK worthy of mention are those like the Manchester concert bombing, 7/7 London Attacks, Westminster and London Bridge attacks, Lee Rugby beheading, etc. Warsi is a 5th columnist entryist, using her unelected position to spread lies, stifle debate and stir up trouble for the Islamist cause.
gravenimage says
+1
Anne Smith says
Cameron thought putting the horrible Warsi into his Cabinet would bring him the Muslim vote.
Votes is all they are worried about.
It didn’t.
dumbledoresarmy says
From the article – “…the last word should go to the comedian Rowan Atkinson (“Mr. Bean”), who wrote to The Times: “An almost perfect visual simile and a joke that, whether Mr Johnson apologises for it or not, will stay in the public consciousness for some time to come.”
Let us not forget that Rowan Atkinson, aka Mr Bean, spoke up against the de facto blasphemy law in the UK when it was being mooted.
Waaaaay back in 2001, he had this to say:
Rowan Atkinson’s letter to The Times of London - Published Wednesday, October 17, 2001
RELIGION AS A FIT SUBJECT FOR COMEDY
“From Mr. Rowan Atkinson
“Sir,
‘I hope that I am not the only person in the creative arts who feels great disquiet about the proposals outlined by the Home Secretary in the Commons today, to introduce legislation to outlaw what has been described as ‘incitement to religious hatred’ (reports, October 16).
“Having spent a substantial part of my career parodying religious figures from my own Christian background, I am aghast at the notion that it could, in effect, be made illegal to imply ridicule of a religion or to lampoon religious figures.
“Supporters of the proposed legislation would presumably say that neither I, nor any of my colleagues in the comedy world, are its intended targets, but laws governing highly subjective or moral issues tend to drag a very fine net, and some of the most basic freedoms of speech and expression can get caught up in it.
“I have always believed that there should be no subject about which one cannot make jokes, religion included.
“Clearly, one is always constricted by contemporary mores and trends because, after all, what one seeks above all is an appreciative audience.
“However, would a film like ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian,’ criticized at the time of its release for being anti-Christian, be judged under the proposed law?
“Or that excellent joke in ‘Not the Nine O’Clock news’ all those years ago, showing worshippers in a mosque simultaneously bowing to the ground with the voiceover: ‘And the search goes on for the Ayatollah Khomeini’s contact lens’?
“Not respectful, but comedy takes no prisoners.
“However, in period and in context it was extremely funny and I believe that it is the reaction of the audience that should decide the appropriateness of a joke, not the law of the land.
“For telling a good and incisive religious joke, you should be praised.
“For telling a bad one, you should be ridiculed and reviled.
“The idea that you could be prosecuted for the telling of either is quite fantastic.”
Yours faithfully, ROWAN ATKINSON – October 15″.
Rowan Atkinson, one suspects, has been watching, listening, taking notes. I don’t think he’s a grovelling dhimmi.
He has spoken up on behalf of Boris Johnson, and ringingly endorsed his critique of the horrible Islamic female slave-mask.
Now… perhaps he will *next* find the courage to do a bit of research… and *then*… speak up on behalf of Tommy Robinson…