Rules are rules Mr Ahmed. and the Dudley folk will NEVER forgive you for your comments about us. over 23,000 people opposed the original mosque plans, around 21,000 more than voted in the new labour councillor in st james,s ward. The ousting of Mr davis at the polls changes NOTHING. Malcolm Davis may have gone but the other 23,000 are still here.

Report abuse

even though the main objectors to the mosque have been “got” rid of, the will of the people should come first and when I say people I mean the “british born and bred people of dudley” after all this is England.
As the saying goes- when in rome!

Report abuse

Why is it that just because people oppose something that the Muslim community want, they are called extremists? Can it not just be the case that the people of Dudley DO NOT WANT another mosque in Dudley – full stop! It has nothing to do with hating Muslims, it has nothing to do with being extremists, it has nothing to do with being racists – it has everything to do with the fact that the skyline of Dudley is known for it’s castle and the people of Dudley want it to continue to be known for it’s castle – not a mosque. I for one do not know who Malcolm Davis is, nor do I want to know who Malcolm Davis is but guess what? I still don’t want another mosque in Dudley. Mr. Ahmed keeps saying it’s what the Muslims of Dudley want but what about what the other residents of Dudley want?
The last time I looked in the history books I found evidence of kings and queens, of battles, of chain making – nowhere did I find, in the history of Dudley, anything about Mohamed or the 5 pillars of Islam.
If someone wanted to build a sky scraper on that land, I’d be opposed to that too. Too much of our history is being taken away, we should keep the history that we have and be proud of it – and unfortunately that doesn’t include a mosque. If I went to a muslim country and wanted to build a church I’d get the same opposition that Dudley is giving the mosque but would I turn around and say, “oh they’re extremists?” the answer is no. So why all the fuss over saying no to someone wanting to build a mosque in a Christian country? I’m not racist, I believe everyone should be free to choose their own religion and worship where they want to worship, as long as it’s not in a mosque in Dudley. Mr. Ahmed talks about integration, but is building a divide amongst people with his constant referal to anyone who objects to the mosgue as ‘extremists’. I have a point of view and I have a right to express that point of view. Just because it doesn’t fit in with what Mr. Ahmed thinks I should think does not make me an extremist.
The fight will continue to stop the mosque being built in Dudley. When you go to a muslim country you adhere to the muslim ways so why shouldn’t that be the case when you reverse the situation? With the attitude that Mr. Ahmed is exhibiting there is never going to be integration because he is annoying too many people with his stupid comments.

Report abuse

Mr. Ahmed,

How has the planning refusal made the Muslim extremism much worse in Dudley. When others have their planning applications rejected because the public in Dudley do not want the building do they come out with statements of extremism or racism of cause they don’t.

The local public have clearly stated they do not want this mosque it has nothing to do with being anti muslim they just don’t want it, they haven’t mentioned race as a cause for their rejection.

We are now seeing massive mosques everywhere we go there comes a point when like other religions it is said enough is enough.

Report abuse

The last planning application brought about the largest amount of objections in living memory .. It will be interesting to see if a muslim counciller lets it through … mmmmmmmmmmm .. what about democracy !!! or is it political correctness again ???

Report abuse

To all the ranters above, I would suggest reading a book called “The Rise of the Creative Class” by Richard Florida.

He charts the cities in the USA which have the highest economic growth and the highest growth in highly skilled job creation, and how there is a very close correlation with what Florida calls “Tolerance” and “Talent” – including people with post-graduate qualifications as well as a “people friendly” environment including decent childcare, measures to promote gays and also a progressive immigration policy.

In other words, the most successful cities in the US such as Austin, San Francisco and Boston promote immigration. The worst performing cities in the US have racist policies, racist politicians and racist residents.

To the people of Dudley: if you want your Borough to stagnate, then please by all means continue your myopic racist ranting. If you want Dudley to create economic diversity, to attract talented people to live and work in the Borough, and if you want to attract quality investment to improve the awful environment, embarrassing shops, geriatric economy and laughable “quality of life”, then wisen up, start living in the 21st century and embrace the core British values of tolerance and hospitality.

But judging by the level of intelligence of those who read the Express & Star, I sincerely doubt any of you will have read this far…

Report abuse

GET REAL MR AHMED DUDLEY FOLK DO NOT WANT THIS MOSQUE SO FIND SOME WHERE ELSE TO BUILD IT IF YOU HAVE GOT TO HAVE ONE WHICH I DOUBT VERY MUCH.DON’T KEEP PLAYING THE EXTREMIST CARD IT’S GETTING BORING THIS IS A DEMOCRACY AND DUDLEY SAYS NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Report abuse

To Andrew Popovich,

You sound as arrogant as Mr. Hamed in the fact that everybody but you is stupid, please tell me where you purchase your glasses from because you are living in a world that no others appear to see or know.

You are obviously one of these PC idiots who has allowed the situations we have today to occur. Why is it christian churches are not allowed in many Asian countries, why are they burned to the ground and the congregations attacked. Wake up  and get in the real world, no one is being racist in these blogs only you.

Report abuse

Andrew, Andrew, Andrew! If you go to San Francisco, Boston or Austin, I think you will find that although they embrace immigration – they don’t have any mosques either!!!! How dare you imply that I am not an intelligent person just because I don’t want a mosque in Dudley. If you had read my last entry you would have seen that I state people should be allowed to follow whatever religion they want. When you look at Dudley and you see the homeless, the state of school buildings, teachers spending their own money to buy resources, large class sizes, council houses falling into disrepair, I think you will see that the last thing Dudley needs is a mosque.
Just because you’ve read one book it doesn’t make you an expert. Try reading ‘Immigration in a time of recession by Steven A. Camarota. I quote, “At the state level, there seems to be no clear relationship between economic conditions and trends in immigration.” There are currently 33.1 million immigrants in the USA, 9 million of these are illegal immigrants. The USA welcomes immigrants because they are the only ones who will do what the Americans call, ‘menial’ jobs like cleaning in McDonalds. So, I would suggest Andrew, that you research this in more depth, maybe write a paper like you would have when you were at University (with a one sided point of view such as yours though it doesn’t sound like you went to university). State the points for, the points against and then use the EVIDENCE to come to the conclusion that the other ‘uneducated’ people of Dudley have come to, “WE DON’T WANT A STINKING MOSQUE IN DUDLEY!”
Uneducated my ***, how dare you!!!!!!

Report abuse

Kay McNaney, Kay McNaney. Kay McNaney! stop getting your knickers in a twist.

The planning proposal for the mosque was made regarding that it could be built in PRINCIPLE.

You feel threatedned that the skyline of Dudley will be taken over by the mosque if built. However if you take the time to do some research into the planning application process you will find that the DIMENSIONS, SIZES AND LANDSCAPING is all discuused at a later stage hence we can have a civilised DEBATE AND NEGOTIATE AN AMICABLE RESULT FOR ALL CONCERNED.

I am sure that a so called educated fellows like yourself can understand how this process is well structured and will actually produce results.

Also I take issue with your comment “too much of our history is being taken away” please show me the evidence because the last time I checked the schools, colleges and Universities located in the West Midlands all teach history as a subject, the Black country museum is open for all to explore (as is Dudley Castle), the library contains many books documenting our history and you can even go online and learn about Dudley’s history!!

So how can the building of a single Mosque and a community centre wipe out years of history? clearly as you believe it can you are an insecure individual who is pejudice against Muslim’s.

The right to practice your chosen religion is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT and if yo research ISLAM you will find that respect for other religions is an important part of being a Muslim.

The examples you quote of A CHRISTIAN BEING UNABLE TO BUILD A CURCH IN A MUSLIM COUNTRY ARE NOT BACKED UP BY GOOD EVIDENCE AND HENCE DIVISIVE. This is simply just a broad sweeping ALLEGATION that you have made and which you are using to sytematically TARNISH ALL muslims across the World.

Given that ISLAM is one of the biggest religions in the World, with aprrox 1 BILLION MUSLIMS it stands to reason that there will inevitably be a few bad apples amongst this population. However to simply highlight the short comings of a few muslims and then extrapolate this as being true of what is taught in the religious doctrine is clearly a BIG MISUNDERSTANDING ON YOUR PART.

Therefore before making inflammatory statements that imply Muslims are hostile towards Christians remember that no one group is homogenous in nature be they Christian, Muslim, Jew OR Sikh. I am sure you can find mistakes made by all communities or groups at some point but this HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PLANNING PROCESS FOR THE MOSQUE AND COMMUNITY CENTRE which will I am sure help to build good community relations.

The reason why Andrew may have implied that you do not have much intellect could be due to another silly comment you made for example

“I’m not racist, I believe everyone should be free to choose their own religion and worship where they want to worship, as long as it’s not in a mosque in Dudley”

It can easily be inferred from the above quote that you are a HYPOCRIT, HOSTILE TOWARDS THE muslim community in Dudley and therefore can not have much intelligence.

In your research into the History of Dudley you glossed over the FACT that MUSLIMS ARE THE LARGEST ETHNIC MINORITY in Dudley and like many other residents are hard working tax payers who have contributed to the success of this country.

The problems regarding housing, schools etc that you referred to in your second comment are true but you need to put them into context.

You imply that by building the Mosque somehow these probllems will be left on the back burner by the council. Again another howling ERROR ON YOUR PART. The funding for the Mosque will be provided for ENTIRELY by the Muslim COMMUNITY.

The cost of the Community centre will be sourced from the various Govermenet and Non- Goverment agencies like Advantage West Midlands, Sports council UK, The EU development fund etc. Access to funds from all of the aforementioned organisations can be made by anyone who applies through the proper channels and gives valid reasons backed up by GOOD EVIDENCE.

Hence as you feel so strongly about these problems why don’t you apply for funding from similar agencies instead of trying to imply that the Muslim community will be using Local Government cash to finance this project?

Again if you have CONCRETE EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRAY PLEASE PUT UP OR SHUT UP!!!

On the whole your continuous rantings sound like yet another NOT VERY HIGHLY EDUCATED/ACHIEVEING, WORKING CLASS, RACIST BIGOT!

PS refrain from using derogatory names for religious places of worship as it is offensive and not childish and definitely not the type of mannerism that reflects the writing of an eductated responsible individual.

Report abuse

Oh my life. Reading these comments is more than depressing. Some (a lot) of the comments are racist and very narrow minded. I was born and bred in Dudley. We need to attract more foreign investment into Dudley and with the tone of the emails its not going to happen. There are many churches in Asian countries and they are very well respected – just look at Mumbai. Very sad.

Report abuse

I agree with you Jas.

The tone and language like “you lot”, “christians not eing able to build churches” “no worshiping in mosques” “when in Rome” etc all have racist overtones.

I feel sad that there are so many narrow minded people in Dudley. I think they feel scared of anything new, no wonder Dudley is turning into a dump!

I believe everyone has the right to choose their religion and worship where they want. I feel the Mosque would ADD TO DUDLEY’S STORY, AFTERALL MUSLIMS ARE BRITIS CITZENS TOO.

However those who like to blow their trumpet about GREAT BRTAIN frequently forget to mention how it systematically stole much of it’s wealth through it’s Empire which was based on the principle of divide and conquer, raped many a country of it’s resources be they minerals or humans (slaves).

Wake up and live in 2007!! integration and livig in harmony is surely a good thing.

Report abuse