Dr Rowan Williams – Misunderstood or misguided?

The saying ‘all publicity is good publicity’ has not, for a rare occasion proved kind in any shape or form for one Dr Rowan Williams or the Anglican Church. Whatever Dr Williams motives were for suggesting Shariah Law was inevitable in the UK, it has backfired spectacularly. In doing so, it has also exposed the deep rooted unease about Islam and Muslims that exists today and how normal it has become to vilify a faith and all its followers without any restraint, whoever you may be.

I feel for Rowan Williams. I have always considered him to be a very intelligent man, who had, until last week, made a great deal of sense of his assessment of modern life and values. So how did he go from a respected figurehead to a loathed and ridiculed figure within a space of few days? Last Friday, I was interviewed on a radio phone-in where the Archbishop took the wrath of the Christian community and from those who masquerade as nationalists and defenders of the Union and faith behind the thin veil of racism and xenophobia.

As I stated in my comments, Dr Williams was clearly getting at something which did not quite translate in the way he had hoped. His downfall was that he assumed everyone will understand what he meant without having to offer a narrative.

His comment that certain aspects of Shariah Law either exists or is inevitable in the UK, was taken so out of context that I feel the only way this issue will be taken off the front pages is if he resigns. Increasingly, that seems to be his only option. We have seen the ugly side of many who used Dr Williams’s comments to fuel further animosity in our communities, offering petty comfort to Dr Williams by suggesting that he was confirming what they had been suspecting for a long time that Muslims were taking over.

Serial anti-Muslim voices within the church like Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, John Sentamu and Lord Carey, Dr Williams’s predecessor, were quick to cease on the issue and express yet more divisive views. These people do not need an excuse at the best of times and Dr William’s comments offered the perfect opportunity to strengthen their positions at the expense of a colleague and in doing so, show how they have been vindicated for the warnings they have been giving about the so-called Islamisation of the UK.

This issue couldn’t have come at a better time for the likes of Sentamu and Nazir-Ali. The state of the church and its whole standing in today’s society has been of much debate and even that has been stifled by the fact that so few care about it enough to debate it. This is their opportunity to whip up some hysteria and hope it makes their message a little more attractive to the masses.

Dr Williams’s must have known the reaction his comments would generate. This is why I am even more confused that such a measured man could make this judgement of error. He has brought the attention back on the Muslims in a way that it would not afford yet again. The anti-Muslim, Islamophobic media machine is relentless and rampant and senior politicians who have so far remained tight-lipped must see this diversion from their troubles of the recent past, a godsend (excuse the pun).

Underneath all this hysteria and vilification, lies a message that in its entirety is not new or as sensational as the media would have us believe.

Dr William’s was making reference to the fact that in some aspects Shariah Law, which itself is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Islam next to Muslims themselves, was already being practiced here in the UK. Muslims have been eating Halal meat (a requirement of Shariah), banking under Islamic financial rules and dealing with many family issues within voluntary mediation councils.

None of these have a need to be incorporated within the UK law that governs us as they are voluntary practices. Halal food and Islamic financial services have been available for years and neither has done any harm or proved incompatible with our current system. Mediation courts like those of the Jewish community have existed in one form or another and I have often enough sat through people’s disputes without resorting to the law. In most cases it has proved a success because those who participated did so voluntarily.
Dr William’s was merely highlighting these in the context of how society governs itself today. He was not saying anything new. The reaction however suggests that we have reached a new high on our anti-Muslim feelings.