Maybe not every single one of them, but enough of them do for them to be considered a serious threat.
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."
"not a word condemning the killings....."
From the original article:
"Thousands of Muslims crowded London mosques for Friday prayers, condemning the bombings"
"All of Britain's major Muslim groups condemned the bombings"
We are all sinners and equally in need of God's love and redemption. ALL our righteousness is as 'filthy rags'......even those of us who were raised in Christian countries, or are actually followers of Jesus Christ.
The difference in us is not in our own righteousness, but in God's mercy and grace. The problem is in their man-made, violent religion and in their culture and training, all of which can be changed if their hearts are changed. There are plenty of people who were raised in America who are not Christian, but have been influenced for the good because we are a country that bases its laws on God's laws. That could also be true in democracies in the Mid East.
The Muslim people are not fundamentally evil any more than we are.......that's what God has told us in His word. Those who are guilty need to be eradicated. Those who are not need to be redeemed.
When those 'condemning' the bombings turn the perpetrators in, and rebel against the hate and destruction they have been taught in their religion, we will begin to believe them.
Until then, their 'prayers' are empty and meaningless.
"Everyone in the Muslim community knows someone who has committed such an act"
Why bother making a statement that is just patently obviously wrong?
The Koran specifies to be "converted to Islam or be killed" and it continues by ordering those who have been converted to carry out such killings. They live by the Koran so therefore they are pure evil and I do not love evil. Read the link and you may understand more than just the part where God orders us to "love thy neighbor".
http://www.lastdaysreporter.com/israel-arab-conflict.html
"Why bother making a statement that is just patently obviously wrong?"
Prove I'm wrong!
Solidarity? Really?
I read your press everyday, all of it, including the Arab press, and I have been reading it for years now.
I see no solidarity, except in victimhood.
I see infintile slanders of good men and women, libel, anti-semitism, disrespect for the President of the United States and your own PM, during a time of war, I see aggrandizement of Saddam and Sons, Arafat, OBL and others, I see anti-americanism, and reputations of our election.
You are right, it is telling, very telling indeed.
"Prove I'm wrong!"
Your assertion is that every single one of the billion odd muslims in the world knows someone that has committed a terrorist act?
You're making the whacked out claims, you prove you're right.
Oh you again. Well, as they say, you're either with us or you're 'gainst us and at least you've left no-one in any doubt as to your choice of sides.
Maybe not every single one of them, but enough of them do for them to be considered a serious threat.
Do not take my words out of context. I didn't say terrorist acts, I said criminal act. Immigration laws are also criminal acts that harm people as with theft, murder, terrorism and contributing financial aid that makes it's way to terrorist. Now prove I'm wrong!
I don't believe in JUST 'love thy neighbor'..........and if you actually read my posts you'd know that.
The evil of the Islamic enemy doesn't change God's command to love our enemies.
What we have here is a difference in theology. I base mine on the entirety of Scripture, and I don't believe that you do.....
toby, you'll gain more ground if you stick to the truth rather than emotional outlandish rhetoric. The truth about Islam is strong enough to convict them. You don't need to make accusations that can't possibly be true.
We have a serious threat here, and making things up about it exacerbates rather than solves the problem.
read 473
"Do not take my words out of context. I didn't say terrorist acts, I said criminal act. Immigration laws are also criminal acts that harm people as with theft, murder, terrorism and contributing financial aid that makes it's way to terrorist. Now prove I'm wrong!"
Considering that your posting in a thread about a terrorist attack, I think I was taking your words *in* context. Given the context that you now ask me to apply, it's possible that it is the case that all Muslims know someone that has a criminal act that could harm someone. I mean, now your widening it to include immigration laws and presumably things like speeding, etc. So, yeah, pretty much every adult in the world probably knows someone who has committed such an act under that context. Presumably everyone of those has an obligation to inform the authorities. Can't see why the religion of the person in question would affect that responsibility in any way.
One way they can do this is to turn in their buddys that have committed any crime against innocent people. Everyone in the Muslim community knows someone who has committed such an act.
.......and it's a fabrication of your own mind.
As I said......if you stick with the facts and stop making up garbage, you'll go a whole lot farther in convincing others of your (rational) points.
Making statements like this hurts your argument.
The dear Muslim woman I referred to in Milwaukee doesn't know people who have committed such crimes against innocent people either.
Your hyberbole is nonsense.
If she knows anyone in this country illegally or even has a reasonable suspicion then she has an obligation to contact the authorities. How are you so sure she doesn't know someone that has committed a criminal act?
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