What do you think that 'Sharia' is?

badger

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I have often heard the rubbish about 'Islamic Gangs' controlling parts of the UK and enacting 'Sharia'. Once spread around this got repeated and repeated ....parroted, and became the focus of shivering fear amongst many people who have never bothered to discover more.

Many years ago (circa 1989) I watched a particularly nasty person stealing cosmetics from a retail store in Lewisham; when he left the store loaded with a few hundred quid's worth of unpaid goods I stopped him, explained who I was and invited him to return to store with me....that's a standard 'entrée' to gauge everything about a thief. This one threw down his shoulder bag, drew out a very nasty switchblade and slashed at my face and as I jumped back he turned and ran. He got a a few hundred yards in to a back street area and I was flagging....never was any kind of distance runner, and as I cleared yet another street corner, there he was, flat on his face with a very big mid-eastern guy sitting upon him and chatting with several others, all stood around. As I approached they demanded info. I told them who I was, what I was, operating for whom, and what I had just seen, etc.
They offered to help this thief to return to the store, where we waited for the police to attend.
On the way back.........
Who the hell are you lot?
Elver--- Sharia, man! (I can't remember the whole name)
Sadly the store manager would not let these young men, the detainers, come to the canteen for a coffee, or anything. He was yer actual Brit Bigot, I'm sad to say, and I couldn't offer hospitality because it wasn't my store and I had to go to the Police Station to write a statement.

Where I live there are thousands and thousands of groups who deter crime and uphold the law where they live. 99% of these are called 'Neighbourhood Watch'.... and there are some others, like the Elver--- Sharia.

Where I live, anybody can form a group to walk the streets, or watch, or help...to deter crime and keep the law. Back in 1989 anybody could arrest anybody for a long list of petty crimes and misdemeanours but now we can only detain offenders for more serious offences, you see, some idiot wrote legislation to reduce the powers of ordinary people trying to keep the law, probably because they had heard stories like the above, only with lies sewn in to the fabric of the stories..,.,... like sharia-is-always-bad.

Where do you live? Do groups of people patrol together to deter crime where you live?

So.......,. tell me what you've heard about Sharia.
Let's see if it's all true.
 
I have lived in East London all my life. It has a very large Muslim population but I have never heard of any form of Sharia group here. It is also a very long time since I saw anything of neighbourhood watch.
 
I have lived in East London all my life. It has a very large Muslim population but I have never heard of any form of Sharia group here. It is also a very long time since I saw anything of neighbourhood watch.
It depends how old you are.
That happened to me in Lewisham in 89'.

But there are many neighbourhood watch initiatives all over, and I'll never knock any variation of them ever.
Which area code are you in? I knew E15, E7, E10, E11, E13 and a few others but that was back in the late 60s.
I passed through Stratford E15 about 15 years ago and it might have been in another country! All changed. :)
 
I have lived in East London all my life. It has a very large Muslim population but I have never heard of any form of Sharia group here. It is also a very long time since I saw anything of neighbourhood watch.
Here are some links....all alive and kicking.
In some places (like Wembley... over there <- <- , and all around:) ) Muslims forming neighbourhood watches are fairly strong I think.


Find my local scheme | Neighbourhood Watch Network
https://www.ourwatch.org.uk › get-involved › find-my-...


Neighbourhood Watch groups in Barnet, Enfield, Hackney, Harrow, Hounslow, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest use a mixture of Neighbourhood ...
 
You are right about that. I was born and bred there.
In 1968 I rode in to London on my motorcycle. When I reached Stratford E15 I saw Young & Martin's huge Builders-Merchants building and the Timber Yard so I dismounted and went in, asking for a job. I was qualified with the IIWsc and so they gave me a job in the timber yard office. £11 a week. Rent in Forest Gate was £4 a week and there I was...... until 1972. I remember the Two-Puddings pub... very rough tough place :) I think it's all gone now.
 
8218698074_1922bef73f_b.jpg
What a small world. At least four members of my family worked for Young and Martens. I knew and used the Two Puddings. As you say "all gone now".
It was and still is a rough tough place. Three of my year at secondary school have received life sentences. Only last year the body of a murdered friend of mine was found in a pub freezer.
 
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A quick search of the internet shows there were concerns locally about Sharia in 2011.
https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co...-in-posters-declaring-sharia-law-zone-3423336
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...uburb-worrying-social-moral-implications.html

As previously stated, I was unaware. I have never seen a sticker or poster concerning this.

By and large, the Asian community is a pretty well-behaved group of people. The only problem that I have ever personally been made aware of is the number of young Muslims involved in drug dealing locally. An Indian neighbour informs me that this is mainly Bengalis. A Bangla Deshi friend confirmed that there is some truth in this.
 
8218698074_1922bef73f_b.jpg
What a small world. At least four members of my family worked for Young and Martens. I knew and used the Two Puddings. As you say "all gone now".
It was and still is a rough tough place. Three of my year at secondary school have received life sentences. Only last year the body of a murdered friend of mine was found in a pub freezer.
Oh my.....! The Timber and joinery yards were just to right of that photo.
The motorcycle dealership was just round the corner to the right.
And I could walk down that road to the right (Mile End Rd? Stratford Rd?) to go home to Forest Gate, and to go swimming in that huge pool.

What a photgraph....... I never thought I would ever see that view again.
 
A quick search of the internet shows there were concerns locally about Sharia in 2011.
https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co...-in-posters-declaring-sharia-law-zone-3423336
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...uburb-worrying-social-moral-implications.html

As previously stated, I was unaware. I have never seen a sticker or poster concerning this.

By and large, the Asian community is a pretty well-behaved group of people. The only problem that I have ever personally been made aware of is the number of young Muslims involved in drug dealing locally. An Indian neighbour informs me that this is mainly Bengalis. A Bangla Deshi friend confirmed that there is some truth in this.

The press has made a fuss over Muslims and their form of neighbourhood watch for yonks......it sells papers, or it did.
Where I live kids from all kinds of backgrounds get in to trouble with drugs.....

I agree with you that Asian communities are mostly well-behaved, my wife's best friend works at the local post office owned by a Hindu, and when morons come in to shout islamic abuse at him (!) she chucks 'em out...literally. Big lady, my wife best friend. :)
 
The motorcycle dealership was just round the corner to the right.
And I could walk down that road to the right (Mile End Rd? Stratford Rd?) to go home to Forest Gate, and to go swimming in that huge pool
The swimming baths is in Romford Road. The dealership was Stratford Motorcycles.
The pub murder that I mentioned was at the Freemasons Tavern in Romford Road, Forest Gate. Do you recall the place?
 
The press has made a fuss over Muslims and their form of neighbourhood watch for yonks......it sells papers
Yes, I am sure that you are right. Muslims in Britain can and do say some controversial things at times but there is a lot of good that never gets mentioned.

Example 1. I was distressed by the closure of the historic Whitechapel Bell foundry and the plans to turn it into a hotel. Apart from my love of local history, my family worked for the foundry for over a hundred years.
A little-known fact is that at the forefront of the fight to preserve our heritage is the Whitechapel Mosque.

Example 2. I think it is in Glasgow that there is a historic Synagogue. Over the years the congregation has aged and dwindled and this special place was in serious disrepair. A fund was organised to restore this part of the U.K.'s Jewish history. You guessed it, organised by a local mosque.

These presented great opportunities for the media to build bridges, sadly the chances were ignored.
 
The swimming baths is in Romford Road. The dealership was Stratford Motorcycles.
The pub murder that I mentioned was at the Freemasons Tavern in Romford Road, Forest Gate. Do you recall the place?
Yes, of course, I had forgotten the name of the Romford Rd...thank you. I lived in a bedsit at 35 or 36 Margery Park Rd.
And yes, I remember Stratford motorcycles, I sold my triton there in order to buy a car for a new job, surveying properties for rot and damp. I was a member of the Triumph owners motorcycle club (TOMC) and it's leader worked there.

I can't remember the Freemason's Tavern, Leveller...... I'm old and daft now...... :D
 
Yes, I am sure that you are right. Muslims in Britain can and do say some controversial things at times but there is a lot of good that never gets mentioned.

Example 1. I was distressed by the closure of the historic Whitechapel Bell foundry and the plans to turn it into a hotel. Apart from my love of local history, my family worked for the foundry for over a hundred years.
A little-known fact is that at the forefront of the fight to preserve our heritage is the Whitechapel Mosque.

Example 2. I think it is in Glasgow that there is a historic Synagogue. Over the years the congregation has aged and dwindled and this special place was in serious disrepair. A fund was organised to restore this part of the U.K.'s Jewish history. You guessed it, organised by a local mosque.

These presented great opportunities for the media to build bridges, sadly the chances were ignored.

You know it and I know it, that there are idiots saying bad stuff from every race, class, gender, nationality, age, religion, colour and IQ all over this place. The press and media pick out the ones that attract most reaction and attention.

In another forum long ago, some idiot was ranting on about blacks in the UK some time ago when I pointed out that they had been here for hundreds of years, and that we have come from other places in the past as well. He called me liar. I pointed out that blacks have fought in our armies for hundreds of years... he called me liar, so I posted up pics of the memorial castings around the Lions in Trafalgar Square..... the black crews working the great guns at Trafalgar.
He didn't reply....... ! :)
 
In another forum long ago, some idiot was ranting on about blacks in the UK some time ago when I pointed out that they had been here for hundreds of years, and that we have come from other places in the past as well. He called me liar. I pointed out that blacks have fought in our armies for hundreds of years... he called me liar, so I posted up pics of the memorial castings around the Lions in Trafalgar Square..... the black crews working the great guns at Trafalgar.
It has taken me a while to find it, but I thought it worthwhile.
A photograph of two black Royal Navy pensioners at Greenwich. Both veterans of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Royal Navy Veterans.jpg
 
It has taken me a while to find it, but I thought it worthwhile.
A photograph of two black Royal Navy pensioners at Greenwich. Both veterans of the Battle of Trafalgar.

View attachment 2955
Oh, what a touch !
Very very good piece of digging, right there.

How brilliant, that photography came along on time to snap that. I reckon they must have been feeding the guns with powder and shot.... children serviced the guns in battle, they could race up and down to the magazine faster.
 
Fabulous image ... and a broadside into the racist ranters!
 
It has taken me a while to find it, but I thought it worthwhile.
A photograph of two black Royal Navy pensioners at Greenwich. Both veterans of the Battle of Trafalgar.

View attachment 2955
I wonder if the medal which they are both wearing might be a 'Trafalgar' medal.??
 
And from a painting of Trafalgar:-
A Black crewman is helping to train a great gun with a spike in the right side of the picture.
Fall-of-Trafalgar.jpg
 
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