Problem? What problem?

In my previous entry I referred to the owner of a Tandoori Indian Balti House in Ashford who discovered that his Muslim staff were ignorant of aspects of their own religion:

"After reading the Qur'an and observing the behaviour of my Muslim staff, it became clear that they were not practising much of their religion’s teachings. I found this curious, and, after chatting to them about their belief, I realised this was due to their ignorance of the Quranic verses. They simply do not know what their religion teaches. Their ignorance is almost on a par with the wider public's, where the horrors and gross gender inequalities of Islam are not apparent to most people".

By contrast, speaking to Ian Dale on LBC, Dionne, a young British Muslim convert, said she had been brought up as a Christian but soon found herself searching for something with more “integrity”. Christians, she said, “did not know their bible” and would “interpret things however they wanted to” - something she claimed is not possible with Islam.

“With the Quran you can’t do that, you have to take every word literally. There is no modernising of the Quran… there is no modernising with this religion”. Listen to their 4 Min. dialogue here.

When Ian Dale challenged Dionne on the position of woman in Islam she was in denial, claiming that people have "misconceptions" of Islam. Perhaps she considers the law which allows Muslim men to divorce their wives simply by uttering the word "talaq" three times is fair.  India's Supreme Court took a different view when it ruled a 'controversial Muslim instant divorce law unconstitutional'.

Three months on from the horror of the Manchester terror attack the method now favoured by Islamists for attacking innocent Westerners is to hire a lorry and drive it into a crowd of people who were simply minding their own business having been assured that Islam is a religion of peace.

Of particular relevance to problems which British Anglicans are facing was Dionne's comment that "you cannot make God in your own image, you have to worship God as He is", something that the bishops of the Church of England feel the need to wrestle with. She said, with the Quran you have to take every word literally.

That is the problem. While the majority of Muslims do not, a minority of Muslims take the violent verses in the Quran as instructions but nobody it seems is willing to tackle that problem head on.