Sir: I must thank Charles Moore for articu- lating the
fears and concerns of many about British/EEC immigration policy by making it possible to discuss them honestly.
The problem with the contemporary immigration phenomenon is that it is not an outcome of policy. There has never been a policy, and what may appear to be policy can best be described as a series of improvisations and afterthoughts. Mr Moore's 'Another voice' is just another example of 'afterthought'.
Charles Moore is worried about the future of Western European civilisation. He is right to do so. Where he is wrong is in looking for a scapegoat instead of making an objective diagnosis. He touches at the root of the problem — 'our obstinate refusal to have enough babies' — towards the end of his article, but does not stop to reflect on his own hypothesis and allows himself to be distracted by Gibbon's 'famously imagined' fright about the Koran. He seems to conclude in cynicism, fear and despair.
The real crisis in West European civilisa- tion is caused by its post-Christian secular- ism in which God has been relegated as a metaphor and the State is trying to play God with disastrous results.
Instead of seeing them as natural allies against Godlessness, some people want to present Muslims as the new 'enemies' of civilisation. It is this approach which made Charles Moore feel 'a little uneasy' when during the Gulf war, he heard 'morning prayers coming through the walls'. These were his Muslim neighbours who had done him 'various small acts of kindness'. Morn- ing prayers were not ordained during the Gulf war and probably the war had made Charles Moore hypersensitive to any vibra- tions of sound coming through his neigh- bour's walls. However, Charles Moore would not have had to feel that little unease, if he had checked with his 'friendly enough' neighbours before making it an issue in his column.
M. II. Faruqi
Editor, Impact 33 Stroud Green Road, London N4
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