London’s first Muslim mayor, the newly elected Sadiq Khan, is himself no Islamist, and in his public statement has made a habit of distinguishing those he calls “mainstream Muslims” from the “hardliners”; in recent years he has also come out as a supporter of gay marriage and even chastised the Labor party for the anti-Semitic tendencies of many of its members. Nonetheless, Benjamin Weingarten writes, Sadiq’s views give one pause:
Most notoriously, [Khan] spoke in favor of incorporating sharia law into the British legal system in 2004, saying, “There are some . . . uncontroversial areas of Islamic law which could easily be applied to the legal system . . . in the UK.” One of these uncontroversial areas was polygamy, the recognition of which would allow Muslim husbands in the UK to enjoy tax exemptions on inheritance for multiple spouses. Khan also spoke out against laws stopping forced marriages. And in a 2009 interview with Iran’s English-language Press TV, Khan referred to so-called moderate Muslims as “Uncle Toms.”
Does all of this reflect compatibility between London’s “mainstream” Islam and Western liberalism? The most charitable interpretation of Khan’s words and actions would be similar to that taken by the Obama administration regarding Iran’s jihadist leaders—that their words are “merely for domestic political consumption to appease the hardliners.” Yet even if one accepts such rationalizations, the existence of such a powerful contingent of “hardliners”—in Khan’s case, in the heart of the West—is hardly reassuring. . . .
Could it be that his liberal words and gestures are the ones meant “for domestic political consumption”? . . .
If Sadiq Khan truly wishes to separate himself from Islamists and establish himself as a Western liberal, he would proclaim that words and cartoons don’t kill people, jihadists do, and that totalitarian Islamist ideology has no place in Western democratic societies. And if Khan’s London really is the bastion of liberalism that he claims, he will be joined by thousands of Muslims in support of such words and efforts. We probably shouldn’t hold our breath.
Read more on City Journal: http://www.city-journal.org/html/doublespeak-islam-14441.html