Home > Muslim leaders join condemnation of London Blasts
Muslim leaders join condemnation of London Blasts
by Open-Publishing - Thursday 7 July 20053 comments
International Religions-Beliefs Attack-Terrorism UK
Muslim leaders join condemnation
Muslim women in headscarves are warned to be vigilant
Muslim leaders have condemned the attacks on London and said they fear their communities could now fall prey to vigilante attacks.
Muslim Association of Britain president Ahmed Sheikh said the attacks would make the Muslim community less safe.
He said women in headscarves might be in particular danger and warned all Muslims to be especially vigilant.
Muslim News editor Ahmed Versi noted one of London’s biggest Muslim areas, around Aldgate, had been targeted.
Mr Sheikh said the unique good relationship Muslims had with the government and society was threatened.
"The person who did this was targeting along with wider British society the Muslim community, ruining the good relationship we have."
London rocked by terror attacks
He said the police should consider extra protection for mosques and Islamic schools and said Muslims, particularly women in headscarves, should be vigilant and avoid unnecessary journeys.
"It is scary. A tiny element of the community will make use of this. It is a blow to us, to all of us. It is a moment of sadness and we send our condolences to the families of those who have been killed or injured."
Sir Iqbal Sacranie of the Muslim Council of Britain said he utterly condemned the attacks.
"We are simply appalled and want to express our deepest condolences to the families.
"These terrorists, these evil peoplewant to demoralise us as a nation and divide us.
"All of must unite in helping the police to hunt these murderers down."
Mr Sacranie admitted "there may well be elements who want to exploit this tragedy and incite hatred".
Attacks danger
Mr Versi said he had already received one threatening e-mail about the blasts.
"There might be some increase in attacks on the Muslim community especially visible aspects of Islam like mosques, community centres and women with headscarves.
"Recently there have been a lot of attacks on Muslim women on buses in London, it has increased during the last few months."
But he said the immediate Muslim revulsion at the attacks could help calm the situation.
"I don’t think there’ll be as high a number of attacks as after 11 September because Muslims have come out very strongly, especially Muslim leaders, condemning the attacks.
"I’m sure many Muslims will have been injured as well... one of the bombs - at Aldgate - was near to the east London mosque, it’s a very heavy Muslim area.
"Muslims have to be vigilant now, especially the mosques, and I hope the police will increase security on mosques and Islamic centres."
Other religious leaders also offered their condolences and condemned the attack.
Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks said: "These terrible events have brought home to us the full evil that terror represents.
"It is not the weapon of the weak against the strong but the rage of the angry against the defenceless and innocent. It is an evil means to an evil end.
"I will be asking all our congregations to say special prayers for the victims and their families this Sabbath. We grieve for the dead, pray for the injured and share our tears with the bereaved."
Forum posts
7 July 2005, 18:23
I am sure that this is little more than the first steps to creating a situation in which it becomes "necessary" to attack another "terrorist state," like Iran or Syria. It is designed to give the empire-makers another excuse for their wars, raising the emotions of the common people, and giving them another crop of cannon fodder for their war machine. Keep your heads, and ignore the demagogues and hate spouters; all they want is power. Ignore them, and they become little more than sqeaking mice to be ignored.
The Hindus have called this the Age of Kali, the age of destruction and death, and they are very right!
8 July 2005, 02:33
This is somewhat encouraging. It is more important than ever for the Muslim community to send a loud and clear message denouncing the London attacks as desecration of the true teachings of Islam.
Purposely murdering innocent children, grandparents, sisters, fathers, etc. in the name of Allah, simply because of their geographic proximity to the perceived “enemy” should be labeled as an abhorrent act by Muslims around the world.
It is important for non-Muslims to hear it from Muslim sources that London’s attackers subscribe to a violent and intolerant interpretation of Islam, and that they do not represent mainstream Islam.
Unfortunately, I believe the general silence from most Muslim communities post-9/11 and post-Madrid did little to convince the rest of the world that, in the eyes of mainstream Islam, terrorists murdering innocents in the name of Allah actually represent the greatest affront to Allah.
Please, my Muslim friends, do not let the silence continue.
– Equalizer
8 July 2005, 13:04
Everytime this happens I get this deja vu sensation of more False Flag scapegoat stuff over and over and over again. Time to turn off the T.V and use our God given brains and intuition and do alot of very serious researching about what’s really happening and who may REALLY be responsible for these hatred inseminating acts. If we can’t seem to get over our own hateful prejudices can we try to overcome them for the future of our children? The ones we least expect may be the ones actually seminating hatred . Fool me once...blame you. Fool me twice... blame me. Let’s not be fooled again.