From Manchester to Koranchester - First Muslim Mayor begins his inauguration with recitation of the Koran

Increase in Muslim MPs

SOHAIB SAEED

THE number of Muslim members of the British parliament has doubled, yet it remains a meagre representation for the country's Muslim community, which numbers around two million.

The Labour MP for Glasgow Central, Mohammad Sarwar, was re-elected, as was Khalid Mahmood of Birmingham Perry Barr. Two lawyer-activists, Sadiq Khan and Shahid Malik, were also elected in what was described by national Muslim organisations as a considerable achievement for British Muslims.

However, The Muslim News noted that there should be at least twenty Muslim members of parliament to represent the community adequately. It criticised the three main political parties for fielding most of their candidates – 48 between them – in "unwinnable" seats. The only party that delivered Muslim MPs was Labour, which simultaneously received a "bloody nose" for the Iraq war and anti-terror legislation.

Several prominent Muslim candidates missed out on election, the most prominent of whom was Salma Yaqoob in Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath. One of the nine Muslim candidates fielded by the Respect coalition headed by George Galloway – who was victorious in the East of London – Yaqoob managed to make a significant dent in the sitting Labour MP's majority. She would have been Britain's first hijab-wearing MP, while various countries with Muslim majorities prohibit the same.

The Muslim Association of Britain congratulated the four Muslim MPs and warned that "they were elected on the basis of trust and confidence, and that they must never ever betray that trust or breach that confidence."

Khalid Mahmood has never been far from controversy. During the bombing onslaught in Afghanistan – which was the motivation for many Muslims to become active in the anti-war movement – an article appeared in The Observer criticising Muslims for believing "myths now being peddled about the conflict". It was signed by Khalid Mahmood, but was soon revealed to have been penned by Foreign Office minister Dennis MacShane, who later called on British Muslim leaders to choose between "the British way" and "the way of the terrorists".

Mahmood was not one of the Labour rebels against the Iraq war, and his voting record on other issues of concern has been consistently contrary to mainstream Muslim opinion.

There is some optimism regarding the new members. Sadiq Khan MP of Tooting, South London, specialises in human rights law and has represented British detainees at Guantanamo Bay. He is former chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain. Shahid Malik, now MP for Burnley in the north of England, is a member of Labour's National Executive Committee. Both are seen as being better equipped to represent the concerns of younger generations of British Muslims.

In Scotland, only three Muslim candidates were put forward, including Sarwar. The other two stood for the Scottish National Party, with MAB expressing disappointment that both the Conservatives and Lib Dems had no Muslims. Osama Saeed Bhutta and Jahangir Hanif missed out in East Renfrewshire and Central Ayrshire respectively.

Nevertheless, the SNP is turning its attention to delivering at least one Asian candidate to the Scottish Parliament in the 2007 elections. At the pre-election event held by The iWitness, nationalist leader Alex Salmond pledged to end the complete lack of ethnic minority MSPs, branding it as "Scotland's real shame".

----------------------------------------------

http://www.iwitness.co.uk/scottish/06050102.htm