- Author Ed Husain visited places of worship across UK for Among the Mosques
- Would turn up unannounced to the largest weekly gathering, Friday prayers
- Spoke to taxi drivers, business owners, Imams and worshipers about religion
- Islam in Britain is dominated by ultra-orthodox sect promoted by the Deobandis
- Control over half of Britain’s mosques, and gave birth to Taliban in Afghanistan
- One person described ‘Bolton, Dewsbury and Blackburn’ as ‘different universe’
- Books for sale detail how women should be banned from leaving the house
- Mosque in Didsbury, in converted church, has a sign for the ‘Sharia Department’
- White men revealed ‘no-go areas’ in Blackburn where they would be ‘jumped’
- White woman in Bradford predicts it will become ‘an apartheid city’ in 30 years
An author who visited mosques across Britain to investigate integration has revealed how parts of Blackburn are ‘no-go areas’ for white men, while ultra-orthodox parents in Bradford make children live under Taliban-like rules.
Author and political advisor Ed Husain, Professor at the Walsh School of Foreign Service in Georgetown University, has penned Among The Mosques: A Journey Across Muslim Britain in which he explores some of the UK’s largest mosques and the Muslim communities worshiping there.
The Muslim writer, who was himself radicalised in his youth and trained for Jihad by the same people as Omar Khyam, leader of the Bluewater bombers, grew up in a Bangladeshi family in Tower Hamlets, East London.
In the book, which is set to be released next week, Ed details how he researched his work by ‘turning up unannounced’ to the communal Friday prayers at the central mosque in cities across the country.
Husian, also chronicled conversations with taxi drivers, business owners, Imams and local white people about the mosques and the surrounding community, painting a worrying picture of divided communities – with white people in towns across the country admitting there are ‘no-go areas’ where they fear being physically attacked.
One man in Blackburn said ‘Asian’ teenagers repeatedly ‘jumped’ his 12-year-old son in broad daylight for ‘being white’.
Areas like Bolton, Dewsbury and Black are described ‘a different universe’, while he observes that in parts of the cities he has visited: ‘A Muslim can spend months with no contact whatsoever with mainstream ‘white’ Britain’.
Elsewhere, parents in Bradford Muslim parents have banned children from taking part in drama, theatre and dance classes as well as drawing, in echoes of rules implemented by the Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Syria.
They are ‘physically in Britain but mentally living elsewhere,’ said Husain.
BLACKBURN: WHITE MEN FEAR VIOLENCE IF THEY ENTER ‘NO-GO’ AREAS
Among the areas Ed visited was Blackburn, which has the highest Muslim population outside of London, the global hub for the Deobandis and the Tablighi Jamaat.
Almost half the mosques in the UK are controlled by the Deobandis, the ultra-orthodox version of the faith, which created the Taliban in Afghanistan, while the Tablighi Jamaat espouses a return to ‘true’ Islam as observed by the Prophet Mohammed.
In the city, where Ed was told mosques grow ‘organically’, he was shocked to discover the levels of resentment between white locals and Muslim citizens.
A group of white men told him they are scared to go into ‘no-go areas’ in the town, such as Whalley Range, with one man saying a gang of ‘Asian’ teenagers repeatedly ‘jumped’ his 12-year-old son.
They told Ed the boy was ‘battered him in broad daylight…for being white’.
Another man in the group said the area of Whalley Range, which according to the 2011 census was 30 per cent British Asian and 38 per cent White, was a particular area they would avoid.
They told him: ‘If we go to Whalley Range at night-time, we’re guaranteed to get jumped. We won’t walk out of it. We won’t walk to the other end of the street.’
They also claimed the council for Blackburn with Darwen would ‘threaten you with eviction’ for flying the English flag’ and called it ‘racist.’
Meanwhile former councillor Saima Afzal told Ed that at one Muslim school in Blackburn the headteacher had withdrawn young girls from swimming lessons, saying it was inappropriate for them to wear swimming costumes.
As well as visiting the Central Mosque, Ed visited what he described as an ‘otherwise ordinary-looking shop’ in which he found several books detailing strict restrictions for women.
He discovered copies of Bahishti Zewar, which insists that it is a sin to ‘enjoy dancing and listening to music’ and to ‘like and be attracted to the customs of the kuffar [unbelievers]’.
He also uncovered Mukhtasar al-Quduri: A Manual of Islamic Law, which cites: ‘When a girl reaches puberty, it is not appropriate that any of her should be seen, excepting her face, and her hands up to the wrists.’
BRADFORD: LOCALS FEAR IT WILL BECOME AN ‘APARTHEID CITY’ WITHIN 30 YEARS
In nearby Bradford, Ed was amazed by the lack of white English people in the city, and asked a Muslim taxi driver ‘where they are’.
He was told they had all ‘gone with the wind.’
According to the author, there were mosques ‘on almost every corner’, with Ed writing: ‘Then there are houses that also serve as mosques and madrasas , banners affixed to their façades.’
Ed learned that Muslim parents living in the area had forbidden their children from taking part in drama, theatre and dance classes as well as drawing.