Bishop: Many Muslims have victim mentality

Last updated at 14:40 05 November 2006


Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali

Controversial: The Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali

The Church of England's only Asian bishop has criticised many Muslims in Britain for having a victim mentality.

The Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, whose father converted from Islam, told The Sunday Times that he believed that some Muslims had a "dual psychology" in which they desired both "victimhood and domination".

He said: "Their complaint often boils down to the position that it is always right to intervene when Muslims are victims, as in Bosnia or Kosovo, and always wrong when the Muslims are the oppressors or terrorists, as with the Taliban or in Iraq."

He said that failure to counter these beliefs had allowed radical Islam to flourish in Britain and stricter checks should be made to exclude extremist clerics from the country.

He said: "The two main causes of the present situation [rising extremism] are fundamentalist imams and material on the internet."

He proposed checks on qualifications, knowledge of the English language and an understanding of British life and culture should be made to filter out extremist imams.

The 57-year-old, who was born a Catholic in Karachi but converted to Protestantism at the age of 20, said that he believed the Christian faith was intermingled with British values.

Nazir-Ali, who moved to Britain in the 1980s and became the youngest Bishop in the world at 35, also joined in the argument surrounding women wearing full-face veils and said that in some circumstances they were not suitable.

He said: "I can see nothing in Islam that prescribes the wearing of a full-face veil. In the supermarket those at the cash tills need to be recognised. Teaching is another context in which society requires recognition and identification."

Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, told the newspaper that the bishop's comments were not "very helpful for community relationships".

 
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What a wonderful man. His few wise words speak volumes about the muslim situation in this country. He is a beacon of logic and common sense.

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If only all Church of England leaders had this man's insight and commonsense.

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I admire the courage and the honesty of the Bishop. His comments are based on experience, we should all take note.

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I fully agree with this Pakistani-born bishop.

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I don't usually connect the Church of England with common sense but this good man has - at last.

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Its interesting how when one conspiracy is slowly cooling down, a new one is created. Is it done deliberately to create differences between communities or just a major coincidence.

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