DAR AL HARB - U.K.: THE RESPONSIBLITY LIES WITH THE UMMAH

Muslims must take responsibility
By Zia Haider Rahman

Yesterday saw three men charged with the July 7 bombings. Chillingly, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command, said "I firmly believe that there are other people who have knowledge of what lay behind the attack in July 2005 - knowledge that they have not shared with us, in fact I don't only believe it, I know it for a fact." What he is referring to is the rotten truth that sections of Britain's Muslim community are shielding terrorists.

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The shielding of terrorists belies the uncomfortable truth that many Muslims of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin do not regard Britain as home. Those who are civically engaged in these communities, as I am in London's East End, know all too well that many Muslim parents teach their children that home is elsewhere, a hamlet in Pakistan or a village in Bangladesh. Against that upbringing, what possible hope is there that a young Muslim will grow up with a faith that he has a British identity, that his place is here and not in some imaginary homeland?
Unless British Muslims recognise their responsibilities and act to develop new identities with a demonstrated commitment to Britain and manifest that commitment in the messages they impart to their children, Islamic extremists, determined to terrorize, will flourish among us.


Zia Haider Rahman is a writer and lawyer


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