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Remembrance poppies

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#1 [Permalink] Posted on 7th November 2013 09:55
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/one-million-musli...

One million Muslims will wear Remembrance poppies despite extremists' opposition, say researchers

Findings released to counter charges that British Muslims are unpatriotic

The Independant wrote:

More than one million Muslims will be sporting poppies this weekend to mark Remembrance Sunday despite the bitter opposition of Islamist hardliners, research disclosed tonight.

Some radical voices argue that poppy-wearing, ceremonies to commemorate the fallen dead and the one minute's silence on Armistice Day are all forbidden to devout Muslims.

But a new survey shows large numbers of people from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds, who comprise about two-thirds of the Muslim population, support the sale of poppies.

The think-tank British Future said the findings equated to some 800,000 poppy-wearers from these two groups alone and calculated the overall figure for the Muslim community to be well over one million.

It released the research in an effort to counter charges that British Muslims are unpatriotic because of protests against UK troops returning from war zones.

Although they acknowledge many Muslims are uncomfortable about military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, several major mosques have set up poppy stalls this week. They argue that thousands of Muslims were killed in the First World War serving in the British Indian army.

The radical Islamist Anjem Choudray retaliated this week by denouncing supporters of Remembrance Sunday as hypocrites, bootlickers and sycophants and said Muslims who sell poppies today will "burn in hellfire tomorrow".

Sunder Katwala, the director of British Future, said the survey findings showed Mr Choudray's views were regarded as nonsense by ordinary Muslims.

He described the results as a "crushing blow to anti-poppy extremists".

Mr Katwala said: "As they quietly join in our solemn national acts of remembrance, how sick and tired British Muslims must be of the divisive image that the noisy extremists present of their faith."

The survey found 62 per cent of ethnic minority Britons said they would wear a poppy on Sunday. That included 69 per cent of people of Indian heritage, 53 per cent from Pakistani backgrounds, 46 per cent of Bangladeshi heritage, 74 per cent of Black Caribbeans and 55 per cent from Black African background.

There are no figures for white Britons although researchers believe they would not be significantly higher than for other groups.

Dilwar Hussein, Chair of the charity New Horizons in British Islam, said: "These figures show most ordinary British men and women of Muslim background are just like the rest of us when it comes to Remembrance Day. As they go about their daily business as British citizens we should acknowledge this quiet yet profound form of integration.

"My grandfather served in the British army and was a prisoner of war in Asia. Like a million other British Muslims, I feel it is important to remember and honour the sacrifice of those who fell while defending us."

The figures emerged as the Islamic Society of Britain (ISB) joined imams and the London Faith Forum this week to urge more British Muslims to wear poppies and support tributes to the war dead.

The ISB says on its website: "Remembrance Day will be taking place throughout the country with many different approaches of appreciation. We urge and encourage you to become involved by participating in your local areas."

It says: "It is easy to forget that millions of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and people of other minority faiths have served in the British Armed Forces across two World Wars, facing down the hatred of Nazism and helping keep Britain safe in its direst hours of need."

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#2 [Permalink] Posted on 7th November 2013 14:50
A clear and clean story about Muslims who fought in the world wars would have been so much more in line with the message of solidarity. Instead, they've chosen to cloud it up as is typical with media these days; and, in this case, with research and results (war really) stating there is some sort of a "crushing blow to anti-poppy extremists." I suppose unsuspecting Muslims who've just not gotten around to putting a poppy on or just genuinely don't want to will be viewed as extremist. Sigh. Insanity.
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#3 [Permalink] Posted on 7th November 2013 15:26

My father (like many Indians) were forced into the British Army and fought in the Burma campaign. Japanese carpet bombed the trenches and a Grenada landed in my father's trench and injured his leg (which left a mark for the rest of his life).

Thousands of Indians were fed to the Japanese like Canon fodder when India had no issues with the Japanese to begin with and was only dragged into the war because of the British

This was one of the most punishing campaigns of the WWII and British Army regards it as a triumph built on the blood of British Indian Army

British press largely forgot the valour of 14th Army because these were Indian and African troops!

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#4 [Permalink] Posted on 30th October 2014 12:23
Poppy-print hijab launched for British Muslims to commemorate Remembrance Day

The Independant wrote:
British Muslim women are being urged to wear a "poppy hijab" to commemorate fallen soldiers in the face of extremist groups fiercely opposing the Armed Forces.

The scarf with iconic red flowers printed on light blue material is backed by the Islamic Society of Britain and all profits will be donated to the Poppy Appeal to support soldiers, veterans and their families.

It will be sold from tomorrow for £22 to mark 100 years since the first Muslim soldier fighting for Britain was awarded the Victoria Cross during WW1 ahead of Remembrance Day on 11 November.

The scarf was designed by fashion designer, Tabinda-Kauser Ishaq, a 24-year-old student at the University of the Arts in London.

She said to the Daily Mail: “I hope the poppy headscarf gives Muslim women a new way to mark Remembrance Day and to help raise money for the Poppy Appeal.

“It’s a simple way to say you’re proudly British and proudly Muslim.”

Sughra Ahmed, President of the Islamic Society of Great Britain, said the scarf was a way of reflecting on nearly one million deaths of British Army soldiers, away from the “angry minority” of Islamic extremists who have set fire to poppies on Remembrance Day in the past.

He said: “This symbol of quiet remembrance is the face of everyday British Islam – not the angry minority who spout hatred and offend everyone.”

Pakistani machine gunner Khudadad Khan fought on behalf of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western front in Belgium in an Indian colonial regiment.

Khan carried on firing a gun on his own after five comrades were killed on 31 October 1914 in Hollebeke and he was then presented with the highest military award in the Commonwealth for bravery.

Around 400,000 Muslim soldiers put their lives on the line for Britain during conflict, also known as the Great War, from 1914 to 1918.

A total of 956,703 soldiers died from battle, wounds or diseases while fighting out of 8,700,000 worldwide British Army recruits.

The poppy is symbolic of the conflict as the flowers were said to have bloomed across battlefields in Flanders, Belgium, after some of the worst bloodshed occurred.

Remembrance Day, also known as Armistice Day, is marked by a two-minute silence at 11am and a parade in Whitehall attended by officials will be held on 9 November for Remembrance Sunday.
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#5 [Permalink] Posted on 30th October 2014 13:48

My father fought in WWII and was injured by Japanese bombing in Burm. Thousands of Young Indians lay down their lives to stop the Japanese coming into India but today Poppy is a political symbol to back the British Aggression in unwated wars...

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