In my life I’ve met hundreds of people who have either chosen to follow a religious path or have changed their religious path. I have encountered those who have converted to Judaism or Christianity or Hinduism or neo-Paganism. Out of those hundreds of people I have met ,only one person who, after converting to Christianity, became worryingly odd in an extremist way after a bad experience with a psychologically abusive Pastor. In that case the man, whom I knew through friends, was more a danger to himself than to anyone else. Therefore the absolute majority of those in the various circles I’ve moved in who have embarked on a spiritual path have never advocated nor carried out acts of violence.
The same cannot be said for those who choose Islam as a spiritual path. Time and time again we see cases of people who convert to Islam and become extremists, not after a long time immersed in Islamic scripture, as one might expect, but often after remarkably short periods of time. Why this is may vary from individual to individual but I suspect that Islam, being markedly violent and whose violence is well publicised, is in part attracting those who are inherently violent or who worship violence. Islam also attracts the mad and the bad and there doesn’t seem to be any mechanism within Islam for weeding out the insane or the violent or potentially extremist types who may wish to join.
Whilst no religious leader or cleric has the ability to see into a person’s soul, only the Eternal One has that power in my view, religions like Christianity and Judaism do have mechanisms to keep violent headcases at arms length. Both these faiths have extended periods of instruction in which the potential convert can be assessed by the religious leaders or the community. In Judaism for example it can take between two to four years depending on the communal group to become Jewish. With both Christianity and Judaism there is a longish process to become a member where personality flaws can be detected and these can either be worked around or the potential convert kept at arms length. But, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of communal guidance to keep the convert on the straight and narrow when it comes to Islam. Going straight to Jihad is an all too common experience for those who convert to Islam.
The reason for writing the above is that there has been yet another case where a convert to Islam has been accused of supporting Islamic terror. Another case where a person who chooses Islam also allegedly chooses the path of violence. This case involves a Birmingham woman who converted to Islam and allegedly sent ISIS videos to an undercover police officer, according to the Birmingham Mail website.
The Birmingham Mail said:
A Birmingham woman accused of sending Islamic State terrorist videos to an undercover officer on encrypted messaging app Telegram has appeared in court.
British Muslim convert Aaminah Amatullah, who was formerly known as Alison Claire Beech, of Livingstone Road, Handsworth, faces two charges of disseminating terrorist publications in September last year.
The 38-year-old is accused of sharing extreme Islamist material with an online contact, who she did not know was an undercover officer.
Ms Beech who appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on the 1st of December, pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Now because of laws regarding sub judice I cannot comment too much on this case as it is now a live case and it’s right that she receives a fair trial. However what I will say is that this latest Birmingham case involving Ms Beech, is that it bears a number of striking resemblances to other similar cases. We’ve seen a convert to Islam commit violence against police in Paris, another one attack a prison officer, numerous terror plots and incidents like this and this and of course the appalling case of the madman and convert to Islam who beheaded an elderly woman in Edmonton in North London.
Whilst I believe that there should be freedom of religion I also have to concede that some religions are less mental than others and that whilst there are few problems with those who convert to peaceful faiths, there are problems caused by those who convert to Islam. How we deal with this threat that comes from those who convert to religions based on violence, as Islam is, is difficult to is a big question. But, maybe some of the threat posed by converts to Islam could be reduced if they were more closely monitored, not just by the State, but by all of us as these converts do indeed pose a threat to everyone.
