Muslim contribution to the British Armed Forces

MANCHESTER: On November 5 this year the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) talked about the Muslim role in the British Armed Forces in a report entitled Remembering the Brave: The Muslim Contribution to Britain’s Armed Forces.
The popular Muslim magazine, Emel, also highlights the importance of the Muslim role in the army. Coinciding with Remembrance Sunday, Emel dedicated much of their current issue to the topic, with Editor Sarah Joseph stating that “it is important to recognize the invaluable contribution made by these Muslims soldiers; they fought for us to enjoy the freedoms that we have.”
Muslims are underrepresented in the British Army, but they form a growing number and, as the MCB report emphasizes, their sacrifices are deep. This is due to the controversial nature of the operations in which the British Forces are engaged. The MCB report highlights, however, that this “is not simply a concern amongst Muslims, it is shared by other British people also.”
The report continues to state that polling data suggests that “British Muslims tend to take the sophisticated enough stand to support our troops while dissenting from the government’s decision to send those troops to controversial conflicts.” This is an attitude that is shared by many British soldiers and their families, particularly in the cases of the Iraq War and the British presence in Afghanistan.
Indeed, Muslim soldiers in the British army risk being targeted by other, more violent soldiers. In 2008, four Muslims from Birmingham pleaded guilty to a plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier, planning to approach the soldier in the Broad Street nightlife area and lure him into a car. They would then take him to a lock-up garage and, whilst filming the action, they planned to cut his head off “like a pig”.
Many sacrifices are made by Muslim soldiers in the British army, as are made by all soldiers. The report highlights that “tens of thousands of Muslims fought on the side of the British” in Imperial India, and that “The Punjabi and Pathan Mussalmans (Muslims) came to be recognized as the backbone of the British Indian Army; they made up about a third of that army.” The British Army, also aimed to accommodate its Muslim soldiers, with the MCB report highlighting the Eid prayer performed by about 1,500 on the battlefield in 1917.
Emel magazine Editor Sarah Joseph stresses the importance of remembering the sacrifices made by Muslims in helping to build modern Britain. She remarks that “At a time when those on the Far-Right express such hostility towards British Muslims, whilst appropriating war imagery for their own use, it is all the more necessary to inform the public of the significant role Muslims played in keeping Britain free,”
Whilst highlighting that “These [Muslim] men died fighting defending British rights and liberties and the nation’s most cherished values”, the MCB report cites the example of Inayat Khan. A woman who joined Britain’s Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1940, Khan later on was sent to France to gather intelligence where she was betrayed to the Germans and sent to SD Headquarters. She was tortured but refused to divulge the secret codes. After attempting to escape twice, she was labeled “highly dangerous”, shackled and in 1944 she was executed at Dachau Concentration Camp.
As the report emphasises, Muslim soldiers “ultimate contribution reflected the commitment and unity of heroic proportions and deserves to be honoured in a fitting manner.”
BM