Posted on 07/08/2005 12:59:23 PM PDT by phoenix_004
Thousands of Muslims crowded London mosques for Friday prayers, condemning the bombings, but also wary they could be made scapegoats and fearful of reprisals against their growing and vibrant community. At the East London Mosque, near the site of one of Thursday's attacks, an imam told the 8,000 worshippers to be "confident in our identity" as part of London's multicultural fabric.
The mosque said it had received hate e-mails and a telephone threat to disrupt Friday prayers. A few police officers stood outside during the prayers, which ended peacefully.
Outside, some Muslims said the attacks had made them more cautious on the streets, but others said they were secure in their identity as Londoners - confident of the city's tolerant traditions.
"It will have some impact on people. But this is London, a cosmopolitan city," said student Ali Ayubi. "Maybe after one or two months it will go back to normal."
At the huge brick mosque in an East End neighborhood that's home to many with roots in Pakistan and Bangladesh, imam Sheikh Abdul Qayyum told worshippers that Muslims were "part of the rich diversity of British life."
"At this difficult time, some people in our community may feel insecure purely because they are Muslims, but these terrible events have nothing to do with us. The Muslims of London are victims as much as their fellow citizens," he said.
All of Britain's major Muslim groups condemned the bombings, which killed dozens and wounded more than 700. But some feared they would be blamed for the bombings, which police said bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida.
"This morning I was driving to work and a woman on the radio said she'd had her headscarf pulled. I was shocked, to be honest," said Ahmed Shafi, 31, a grocery store manager. "In this day and age you don't expect that."
Almost 1 million of London's 8 million people are Muslims. They're inseparable from the fabric of the city's society and its history. From the opulent glitz of Harrods department store - owned by Egyptian-born Mohammed al Fayed - to the kebab shops that dot the city's streets, Muslims have long been part of London's glamour and its grit.
Prime Minister Tony Blair stressed that Islam was not the culprit in the bombings.
"We know that these people act in the name of Islam, but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims, here and abroad, are decent and law-abiding people who abhor this act of terrorism every bit as much as we do," he said Thursday.
That message was underscored by Muslims on the streets.
"Many Muslims are British. They have lived here for years. What happens to London happens to them," said Suraiya Zammath, a Bangladeshi woman visiting relatives in London. "This should not be singled out as 'Islamic terrorists.' That destabilizes the community."
Abdul Mukith, a 37-year-old supermarket worker in Brick Lane, the heart of London's Bangladeshi community, agreed.
"What's religion got to do with it?" he asked. "I'm bloody Muslim, and I'm afraid to go into the city" just like anyone else in the aftermath of the attacks.
Still, some feared a backlash. The Muslim Council of Britain said it had been deluged with hate e-mails, which caused its server to crash late Thursday. Though it was up and running Friday, the council said it was still getting a steady stream of vitriolic missives.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said Friday that police were aware of one or two "very minor incidents" involving backlash against Muslims, but he didn't elaborate.
He said that so far, "Britain with its liberal and welcoming approach to people is taking this in its stride. I'm very proud of that."
Representatives of several religious faiths held a silent prayer vigil Friday in a street near Aldgate subway station, where seven people died.
"There is a worry, but I think we can overcome this because we have been working with all the communities together," said Muhammad Abdul Bari, chairman of the East London Mosque.
"As Muslims, as British citizens, as Londoners, we are confident nothing will happen to us. We have to face it with resilience and with confidence."
But Shafi feared he and other Muslims would endure animosity in the coming days and weeks.
"I'm a practicing Muslim, I've got a beard. After 9/11 people called me bin Laden," he said. "But I was born and brought up here, and I don't consider myself anything but British."
Well the Soccer holligans have been inactive since a playoff in Turkey for the World Cup.Maybe they can get some practice points in to make up for the layoff between elimination finals.BTW I picked up this from the article
"I'm a practicing Muslim, I've got a beard. After 9/11 people called me bin Laden," he said. "But I was born and brought up here, and I don't consider myself anything but British." You bet! I wonder what the people are calling him now?
We do indeed have some over here who subscribe to anti-Americanism, although even they had the common decency to lay off for a few weeks after 9/11, that much seems beyond you though.
Much as I'd love to stay chat to you, it's time for bed.
Sincere thanks to all who have offered messages of support to the people of London especially, it's appreciated as ever.
The situation. Young Muslim Animals kills at least 50 people in London, disappears into the Muslim community, no ones talking about suspicions or unusual activity in this Muslim community. All the Muslims "condemn" the act after they blame US and UK. They then cry about being profiled and yell don't blame all Muslims for the act of a few but still don't provide any information because their Koran says not to. Please explain how you would defeat this enemy?
He's a know-it-all troll. He'll be at the Don't Blame Muslim, It's America's Fault Parade.
"Muslims Crowding London's Mosques Say They Fear Backlash in Aftermath of Bombings"
Too complicit and sympathetic to condemn the terrorists, and too cowardly to face the consequences.
The old Muslim, See Nothing, Hear Nothing routine. Their new motto is,"Condemn Today, Celebrate Tomorrow".
And he believes Saddam and Sons were innocent, just minding their own business!
And then proceeds to this board to lecture us on humanity and sympathy, after ignoring decades of tyranny by Saddam to his populace, then defending him against invasion by calling Bush a liar.
But what to expect from the left and their media, for whom history begins when they wakeup in the morning.
It could be the effect of the BBC who never met a Jew hater they did not like, and blame murder on "policy" disagreement.
You are right on target.
Yes, I remember, but have any clerics in London, did I miss it?
Because their religion expects/makes them to follow peaceful resolutions! /sarcasm
pfff do you seriously think all Muslims gather round the same table every thursday night or something? That london is the size of a small village and everyone knows who everyone else is and what they do? or perhaps you are saying the Koran gives the reader psychic powers.
This stupid assumption that I keep hearing that all the muslims in britain know who did the bombing just because they are muslim is getting beyond ridiculous.
Alright, you two great Bible scholars, siddown and listen.
First, this is not a New Testament/Old Testament issue. It has nothing to do with differences between the old and new Covenants.
Second, Exodous 23 has something inherent to it that the Koranic passages do not. That thing is a limit. The directives issued in Exodous 23 were to specific group of people regarding inhabitants of a specific area of land, and came with a "sunset clause": when Israel had fully occupied the land, the directives were intended to expire. Isreal would have, completed (ended, finished, accomplished -- all PAST tense) the conquest of the "Promised Land."
Third, read to the end of the chapter and tell me who, exactly, is actually ridding the land of these people groups? Is it not God, Himself?
v20 ...I will cut them off.
v27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.
v28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
v30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
Note in particular, the "sunset clause" in verse 30 "...until thou be increased, and inherit the land."
There it is. Until. It defines the conditions upon which the foregoing activities would end. That end is noted in Joshua 11:23 where it reads
"So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war."Israel, and Jews worldwide, do not, therefore, have a standing directive from Heaven to lay waste to all non-Jews.
However, the same cannot be said of Koranic passages calling for the destruction of infidels. The passages I have read come with no limiting clause EXCEPT one: When Islam has overrun the Entire world and all the infidels have either converted or been laid in the dust, THEN the Koranic directives officially expire.
Sorry. No dice. Exodous 22:20 is a warning to the people of Israel, not to anyone else.
"Britain with its liberal and welcoming approach to people is taking this in its stride. I'm very proud of that."
When you pet the snake and it bites you what should be done with the snake? The leftist liberals would want to rehabilitate it and excuse it's behavior..... OH so proud.
Right you are JerseyRepub.
I recall that. Too bad it was only the Spanish clerics and not a much more broad coalition of European clerics, or an even more broad group of Western clerics from both sides of the Atlantic.
I think that is what is called for in this dire time. I know that various smaller groups have issued statements, but something more global in scope would certainly resonate convincingly in the world's public squares.
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