Although there are far too few voices of reason in the Islamic world, there are those who do have the courage to speak out against the violence being perpetrated in the name of their religion. To take a stand against those extremists who want to hijack democracy and change the western world to suit their beliefs. Brave souls willing to stand up and shout ‘not in the name of MY religion’. I don’t know if the majority fear for their lives so they remain mute, or their silence is indicative of an implied condonation of extremist acts, but I do know that as long as they say nothing, or remain in denial, the problem will only get worse. Yes, there are those that might write an article condemning Islamists but words are merely words. You need to follow up those words with actions.

You see far too many demonstrations against the western world, but rarely (if ever) are there demonstrations against Islamic extremism. Yet that’s exactly what happened on October 31.
In reaction to Anjem Choudary’s Islam4UK’s planned October 31 “March for Shariah“, Dr. Shaaz Mahboob and his organization, BMSD (British Muslims for Secular Democracy), planned a counter demonstration. And though Choudary’s group cancelled the march at the last minute, BMSD and others held theirs anyway.

Dr. Mahboob wrote a commentary on November 3, in the U.K.’s Guardian about the experience. Entitled “A good day for democracy”, Mahboob writes about the reasons they felt the need to counter-demonstrate, and how important it was to do so.

This was a day when everyone set aside their differences and stood shoulder-to-shoulder against the bigots who dream of taking away our freedom and liberty, yet do not see the irony in using exactly these concepts to spread their hate-filled messages.

Our movement was born out of years of collective frustration at the incendiary antics of groups like these, who distort the teachings of Islam for their own political expediency. Moreover, we wanted to stand up for values such as legal and constitutional equality for all, equal rights for women and minorities, and religious freedom, including the right to be free of any faith.

We need more people like Dr. Mahboob and the BMSD!