LONDON – From a lukewarm almost casual indifference to a full blown criticism, Prime Minister Theresa May has had to respond to growing public outrage at news that president Trump will be invited to the United Kingdom on a State Visit.

Even as numbers passed over a million, she remained resolute, disregarding the growing public anger. But, at time of writing, with over 1.7 million signatures, Parliament has ceded and has agreed to debate the petition on the 20th of February.

Speaking in Parliament, MP Shabana Mahmoud said, “…on the personal impact that this ban is having on Muslims around the world. Particularly, Muslims in our own country, British Muslims. There are almost three million British Muslims and as a British Muslim, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you, that on my own behalf, that on my family, my friends, my community, people feel terrified. They feel this is an (indicator) of what is to come and they fear what there is to come.

“We live in an age of supremacists Mr. Speaker. There are supremacists on the rise, all around the world. They are the Muslim supremacists of ISIL or there are the white supremacists who think they have their (license) to be extreme with the administration in the White House. Supremacists on the rise, everywhere. And we have a duty in this age of supremacists and their success, to call them out, to stand up to them, to say not on our watch. To provide comfort and security to all of our minorities, that we will not let them down, we will not stand by, we will stand up and be counted.”

As scenes of a 5 year old boy in handcuffs went around the world, detained at an airport as part of Trump’s ban, the Whitehouse’s press secretary Sean Spicer, claimed that he ‘could have posed a security threat,’ despite actually being a US citizen with an Iranian mother. Decent Americans and non-Americans across the board are livid.

Prince Charles repeated his long-held view against religious persecution stating that it was ‘vital to learn lessons from the horrors of the past,’ while Amber Rudd, our Home Secretary addressed parliament saying that ISIS would ‘use any opportunity the can to make difficulties, to create the environment they want, to radicalize people, to bring them over to their side. So it is a propaganda opportunity for them, potentially,” adding, “I think the important thing is for this government to state that we disagree with the ban and we have said that it is divisive, it is wrong. I will continue to say that.”

Not Welcomed

LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 20: A protester holds a placard depicting Donald Trump during a demonstration against the U.S. President outside the United States Embassy in London on January 20, 2017 in London, England. Mr Trump has become the 45th President of the United States following an inauguration ceremony in Washington, DC today. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

This is an important point to understand. A perception of indifference to past State Visits is being presented as a rationale to validate the acceptance of President Trump visiting the United Kingdom.

But even if the response to previous visits was minimal, it does not mean that we remain silent now.

British Muslims across the board are responding in our support and solidarity. A press release signed by MASS, representing the Association of Muslims Lawyers, the Muslim Engineers Network, the Muslim Doctors Association, the Islamic Society of Britain, the Oxford Islamic Information Center and the Utrujj Foundation, said, “The ink was barely dry when global condemnation of the ‘Muslim ban’ began,” adding that “These Executive Orders are clearly designed to solely target Muslims.”

Shamelessly, former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani said in an interview on Fox News over the weekend that Trump, “When he first announced it, he said ‘Muslim ban,’” adding that he  “Called me up and said, put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.”

MASS, added that “Threats to national security should be based on evidence and hard data, not based on faith, race or national origin.”

In an effort to counter the Muslim Ban and to bring down barriers the Muslim Council of Britain have pushed their #VisitMyMosque campaign with a poster reading “No Walls. No Visas. All Welcome.”

While internally Muslims themselves often struggle with granting basic Prophetic rights of access and association to women, the election of President Trump, has through even more aggressive policies raised many issues, which perhaps will eventually be addressed.

As even President Trump’s own justice department refused to support the Muslim Ban, leading to the sacking of the Acting Attorney General Sally Yates.

Brexit Atmosphere

There is a stark similarity between the rise of Trump and the animosity that led to Brexit in the UK.

Speaking to parliament Conservative MP Ken Clarke said, “We’re combining withdrawn from the customs union with this great new globalized future which offers tremendous opportunities for us. Apparently, you follow the rabbit down the hole, and you emerge in a wonderland, where suddenly, countries throughout the world are queuing up to give us trading advantages, access to their markets, that previously we’ve never been able to achieve.”

President Trump has adopted a purposefully divisive approach not just targeting gender, resulting in the a mass march movement dwarfing his inauguration attendees, but disregarding large swathes of the American Constitution in creating a ‘Muslim ban.’

Like the mindset in the UK, which believes that Brexit will be like a scene from Alice in Wonderland where we will appear in a magical wonderland, President Trump strokes the same fears to achieve a similar utopian goal.

The reality is of course very different, as an Orthodox Christian Syrian family in Philadelphia discovered when their Christian Syrian relatives who all had visas and green cards were caught up and deported. They had voted for Trump.

The sooner we realize that hate, bigotry and targeting any community is not the way to solve problems, the sooner we as a society will be able to address the wider underlying concerns.

Till then, people irrespective of their faith and gender orientation will come together to remind our government of the importance of holding the best values and continue protesting against a State Visit for President Trump.