DAR AL HARB - U.K.: MOSLEMS WILL NOT PROTEST AGAINST JIHAD, BECAUSE IT IS PART OF THEIR 'PERFECT & PEACEFUL' RELIGION - ISLAM

Muslims must raise their voices in anger

On the face of it, the most recent wave of terrorist attacks in Britain is different in nature from the incidents of July 2005. Until the capture of the seven prime suspects now being held, there was an almost universal assumption that these latest attempts, like the earlier ones, had been initiated by disaffected British-born Muslims - most probably the descendants of Asian immigrants.

So accustomed has public opinion become to the idea that the children of unassimilated migrants are ready fodder for recruitment to Islamic fundamentalism that little attention was paid to the possibility of systematic incursion by foreign jihadis. Now it would seem that none of those under suspicion is British, and that at least two are nationals of countries closely involved in the conflicts in the Middle East: Iraq and Jordan.

There is one sense, at least, in which this can be considered good news. If the indigenous Muslim community had appeared to produce yet another tranche of would-be mass murderers, the consequences for race relations and the possibility of ethnic minority integration might well have been disastrous. So moderate British Muslims may well be feeling relieved, possibly even absolved, by the revelation that these potential outrages do not seem to have originated from within their ranks.

advertisementA number of Muslim leaders have made clear how shocked and offended their community has been by these incidents. But given the state of public anger and alarm over the series of failed attacks, and the sense that it was only the most extraordinary good fortune that prevented them from ending in carnage, it may no longer be enough for British Muslims to offer verbal condemnations after the fact.

In her statement to the House yesterday, the new Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, said, "Terrorists are criminals who come from all religious backgrounds", which, in the present context, is absurd. Obviously, all Muslims should not be branded as potential terrorists, but, for present purposes, all terrorists are likely to be Muslims. So the efforts of security services, police and courageous civilians cannot safeguard innocent life in Britain without the active co-operation of the Islamic community, not only because its members are in the best position to be aware of co-religionists behaving suspiciously, but also because it is they who will have to accept the infringements of liberty that follow from racial profiling and the targeting of likely terrorists, which are now necessary for public safety.

Perhaps the many British Muslims who detest terrorist activity might consider raising their voices against it in public protests, to demonstrate their understanding of the need for the hard measures to come.



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1) Muslims must raise their voices in anger