London, UK, September 18th 2011 –The French government’s ban on Muslims praying in public is the latest manifestation of a vicious intolerant secularism targeting the beliefs and practices of Muslims in Europe. It is also the latest death nail in the myth that secular states peddle that they are open, diverse, pluralistic societies – and proof that France has no intellectual means to convince its Muslim population to adopt its secular values.

Moreover, French domestic policy is in absolute accordance with its foreign policy: militant secularism to coerce Muslims to leave public manifestations of Islam within France, whilst coercing regimes in the Muslim world to prevent the emergence Islam’s political system.

Commenting, Taji Mustafa, media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain said: “Following the ban on the hijab in schools and recent arrests of women wearing the niqab, the ban on Muslims praying outdoors – because of a lack of space in Mosques – exposes the intolerance of secular states despite their talk of ‘tolerance’ and ‘religious freedom’.”

“In justifying this latest ban, Interior Minister Claude Gueant described it as the latest brick in the wall that is shoring up the secular nature of the French state – effectively admitting that it was impossible to ‘shore up’ France’s secular nature by intellectually convincing means. He said that he had nothing against Islam, but wanted it out of the public eye saying ‘street prayers must stop because they hurt the feelings of many of our compatriots’ and warned that Police could be asked to arrest Muslims who continue to pray in the street.”

“Some may think it is hypocritical that Sarkozy is persecuting Muslims at home while supposedly ‘helping’ Muslims abroad in Libya. In fact, Sarkozy, Cameron and other western leaders backed Gaddafi, Ben Ali, Mubarak and other tyrants until the eleventh hour – not only because they secured western economic and political interests, but also because they too employed militant secularism to stop the revival of Islam. These Western governments only switched sides when they realised that the days of these tyrant regimes were numbered. Now they are putting huge pressure on the leaders in Tripoli to distance themselves from calls for the implementation of an Islamic system of governance and the Shari’ah. Their interest in Libya, stopping the rise of Islam, is the same as in France.”

“Muslims in Europe should understand the challenges facing them, hold fast to their Islamic values and expose the weakness of France’s system. Moreover, people in Libya – and the wider region – should look at the contempt that France has shown for Muslims, remember how they suffered under Gaddafi and be very wary of dealing with these states. What is now needed is truly independent path from the cultural, economic and political colonialism of Western capitalist nations; and a system of governance that reflects their Islamic heritage, values and beliefs.”

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