Who Is Hatun Tash?

The UK now has a large Islamic population, including many white converts, and since the 9/11 atrocities it has seen its own Islamist terror attacks, the worst by far being 7/7.  Most such outrages have been perpetrated by individuals or very small groups who have been radicalised, or have radicalised themselves on-line.

One such attack, and it can be called that, took place at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park on Sunday. The victim was a woman named Hatun Tash; she was stabbed. Fortunately, her injuries were far short of life-threatening as can be seen from the videos of the incident that were uploaded to YouTube; this one includes commentary by her fellow traveller Jay Smith, who is now based in the United States.

Having said that, she was extremely lucky, because if it hadn’t been raining, if her assailant had put more thought into the attack, or if he hadn’t feared the consequences and run off, we could be looking at a murder here. So who is Hatun Tash and why was she targeted?

She grew up in Turkey, and is apparently from a Moslem family. At some point she converted to Christianity, and like many apostates she went the extra mile condemning her former religion. She studied at the Oxford Centre For Christian Apologetics and went on to found her own organisation: Defend Christ Critique Islam. This appears to be run solely by her and her dog; it isn’t a limited company or a charity, raising funds as do countless individuals nowadays by on-line donations, and while your website might be powered by WordPress, hers is “Proudly powered by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit”.

Hatun is a regular at Speakers’ Corner on Sunday mornings; this isn’t the first time she has been physically attacked there; she has also been arrested. Last year, a semi-literate, defamatory petition was uploaded to change dot org calling for her to be banned from Speakers’ Corner. It garnered little support.

So again, why was she attacked? That is a rhetorical question because there is a lunatic fringe within Islam that considers any slight on the religion as warranting of severe punishment, up to and including death. Hatun certainly falls into that category; on Sunday she was wearing a Charlie Hebdo shirt; she might consider trading that in for a stab vest. Not content with attacking Islam for the usual reasons Christian apologists do, Hatun has adduced physical evidence that Islam is wrong. On her travels, she has collected many different editions of the Qur’an using this to push the “holes in the narrative” theory, taking along a copy of the Qur’an punched full of holes.  Needless to say, this has caused even more offence than her Charlie Hebdo shirt.

She has been countered intelligently at times, although an atheist might marvel at the vitriol heaped on both sides who are each peddling their own revealed truths. Nevertheless, stabbing and potentially killing someone over such ultimately irresolvable differences is a step too far and then some. No arrest had been made as of Monday night.

The attack was reported widely by news websites as well as both Christian and Islamic YouTube channels. Two major Islamic channels condemned the attack, although one commentator said he had no sympathy for her. Christian channels were of course far more supportive. Hatun will doubtless be back at Speakers’ Corner next Sunday where she will be shadowed covertly by men with warrant cards in their pockets.

Sadly, although this attack was potentially fatal, it is by no means a one-off. Jay Smith was physically assaulted more than once when he was challenging Moslems with the same rhetoric, something Posie Parker should bear in mind when she cites the attack on Hatun as yet another example of men trying to silence women.