Keep the faith

It's hard work being a Muslim in the 21st century. Islamophobia is rife and they’re queuing up to have a pop at you. The Pope wasn't shy about getting stuck in with a verbal kicking, and then Jack Straw announced his dislike of the full veil on the grounds that the women who wear them frighten small children and police horses.

On the streets of Britain there are plenty of people happy to join in, and anyone suspected of being a Muslim is seen as fair game for dog’s abuse. They’re harassed in the street and sworn at in shops. The risk of violence is constant.

Graffitists, of course, don’t miss a trick. Armed with an unreasonable grievance, all they need is a small piece of wall and something to write with and they’ll air it in public. When the anti-Muslim bandwagon rolled into view, they clambered aboard.

In summer 2005, the delightfully libellous statement MUSLIMS SPITING IN CURRYS appeared in all its orange-chalked glory on a wall on the corner of Infirmary Street and High School Wynd in Edinburgh city centre. It’s yet another example of the sort of thing that Muslims have to put up with.

But without further explanation, we’re left in the dark. Quite why followers of Islam would want to expel their phlegm in a branch of Britain’s leading retailer of quality electrical goods at low, low prices is anyone’s guess.