"I Feel Unsafe these Days"

There's been a string of retaliations against British Muslims following the bomb blasts in London. Don Macgillivray looks at how British Muslims are coming under increasing pressure in the aftermath of the bombings.

Friday afternoon at the East London Mosque: Just a few hundred metres from here one of the bombs exploded near the Aldgate underground station. Thousands are streaming into this mosque for afternoon prayers. None of them know it yet, but one of their congregation has died in the blast. 20-year-old Sharaha Islam was on her way to a dental appointment.

Mosque chairman Mohamed Abdul Barry is aware that all Muslims may be blamed and he fears for the safety of this afternoon's worshipers. "We are of course careful we are worried," he says. "It's a very open place anyone can come in and do anything. We try to be as vigilant as possible, careful as possible. At the end of the day we rely on Allah that hopefully nothing will happen."

Constant fear of violence

In his quiet office in the north London suburb of Wembley, Mahsood Shaw-Gerry, chairman of the Islamic human rights commission, talks about the distress Muslims have experienced since the bombs exploded. So far the occasions of serious violence have been rare. Hundreds of incidents have been reported to police and Islamic societies. But the great majority of these involve insulting behaviour and name-calling.

"The majority of victims are women," Shaw-Gerry says. "Therefore we have given special advice saying that if they have to go out they should make sure they have some one accompanying them and try to go to areas that are crowded, be careful at night, to go in well lit areas."

For some London Muslims the constant fear of violence is almost as bad as an assault. Casheef Aslah waits at a bus stop in Edgeware Road, a few steps from one of the underground bomb sites. "I feel unsafe these days", she says. "If I go home late at night somebody is going to come up to me and say you are a terrorists. It's not a big problem here but in other cities like Leeds I feel for them because there may be racism over there."

Shaw-Gerry says even one anti-Islamic incident is intolerable. No one should have to put up with abuse from ignorant people: "It's not the case for God's sake that the whole of British society is going around bashing Muslims. Far from it the overwhelming majority of people are not that way inclined but now there is a sizeable group of people who feel legitimately right to do this sort of thing. It's not just the extreme right. People are being abused by blacks, whites and Asians. Your are not talking about racism you are talking about islamophobia."

Vigil for the London bombing victims

One week after the bombs. Thousands attend this vigil in Trafalgar Square, honouring the victims. The death toll has now pushed past fifty and it's confirmed that the explosions were defiantly set by fanatic Muslims. In a moving speech mayor Ken Livingstone tells the crowd that Londoners are a resilient bunch and misguided men who kill in the name of extreme Islam will not cause division within the community.

Joining mayor Livingstone at the microphone are leaders of many faiths, delivering the same message. They plead with people not to blame all Muslims for the actions of a few.

Even though the mood here is largely supportive few are willing to go as far as Carol Graves. She mourns the four bombers who also died in the blasts. "We just have to remember their souls," she says. "They were completely sick and frightened and they must have done it because they thought it was good. Because no one could do anything like unless they thought there was some good about it."

While the speeches drone on in the background Allan Burford walks behind the stage. A one-meter-high poster that proclaims Islam is not to blame catches his eye after a quick scan he gives his opinion:

"Islam is to blame because the Koran writes peace in one sura and war in another sura," Burford says. For him it is contradictory preaching both peace and war: "If there is a contradiction everyone is entitled to choose which version he or she wants. The notion of a jihad has its roots in that section which preaches war against the infidels. They have a duty to apply the principles of critical thinking to their own sacred book the Koran."

Standing beside Burford, overhearing the conversation, is Martin Green. He shakes his head in disagreement. "I don't think that makes a great deal of sense. I think the Bible is equally contradictory. It glorifies the smiting of Jehovah's enemies and then preaches love to all men by Jesus. People choose what they do and you can't blame a 12 hundred year old book and say they told me to do it. You choose what you do."

Green who is as distressed with the bombings as any other Londoner, says no-one can possibly blame ordinary Muslims: "You would no more say of the extremists the people who claim to be Muslims that they represent Islam than you would say that Catholicism was responsible for the IRA just because they happened to be Catholics. I don't think you can blame the religion. And if you look at the five pillars of Islam I can't imagine a better creed for living your life. So I don't thing the fundamental message of Islam can possibly justify the interpretation that these lunatics put on it."

Increasing alienation

These lunatics as Green calls them have certainly increased tensions between British Muslims and the rest of the population. But Mahsood Shaw-Gerry says friction between these two groups has existed for many years. His Islamic human rights commission conducted a poll a couple of years ago and found the majority of British Muslims felt persecuted in their daily lives.

Shaw-Gerry talks about Islam's collective identity. An international community of faith when a Muslim is victimised anywhere in the world, a British Muslim feels it as deeply as if it had taken place in Birmingham, Leeds or London.

"They are seeing that to be a Muslim you are going to be treated completely different than anyone else," Shaw-Gerry says. "What happened in Bosnia had a great impact on the Muslim community. What has happened in Iraq and Afghanistan had a great impact. What is happening in this country the level of islamophobia and being victim of it is having a great impact on the community. And the fact that nothing is being done it also shows that alienation is going deeper and deeper and deeper."

While British Muslims are united by their fears about retaliation following the London bombings they are divided about their attitude to the suicide attacks in New York, Iraq, and Madrid. Most condemn the murders but some applaud them.

A year and a half ago a couple of fanatics caused tension in the community by releasing a video of a song called "Dirty Kuffar" or "Dirty Infidels". It's the Al Qaida message set to music. The video shows the rapper, Sheikh Terra, posing with a Koran in one hand and a gun in the other as he urges young British Muslims to join the holy jihad.

The song honours Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaida terrorists who brought down New York's twin towers. The lyrics condemn the dirty infidels: George Bush, Tony Blair, Ariel Sharon and Saddam Hussein, who the rappers call a tyrant.

The angry rappers have certainly paid attention to their enemy's music. It sounds as if it was produced in New York. In an odd way, it's like the anti-American rant is a homage to US culture.

Friday prayers at the East London mosque are over. Worshipers head home or back to work. Across the street Roy Ames watches the congregation leave the building. He says the slaughter may have been caused by pathetic men and boys, sponsored by Al Qaida, but he won't find fault with local Muslims.

"I don't blame them, I blame Blair because he is backing America too much," Ames says. "Blair and Bush are side by side. Whatever Bush does Blair is going to follow and we are going to pay for it now. The general public who didn't really want the war in the first place, 78 per cent of the British public didn't want to go to war in Iraq and now we are paying for it."

Much of the anti-Islamic feeling has diminished in the week since the bombings. But the potential for intense confrontation survives. The great fear here is that racist right-wing groups will take advantage of the situation to rouse hatred against Muslims and in a way the ground work has been laid. If another similar attack occurs the immediate reaction will likely be more extreme, violent and widespread.

Don Macgillivray

Qantara.de

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