Who should be blamed for radicalizing young British Muslims?

 

Dr. Abdulla Al-Madani

Published on July 20, 2005

 

To some observers, it was not surprising to know that the London bombers were Britons of Pakistani descent. Days before the disclosure of their names, the most common theory in relation to the criminal event had been that the bombers must be British Muslims of south Asian origin. This was largely based on making a link between several clues.  First, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was quoted in the House of Commons as saying that extremist Muslims were behind the bombings. Second, former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Lord Stevens predicted that the bombers were �almost certainly� British-born radicals. Third, Pakistani authorities said on July 8 that they re-questioned a British citizen of Pakistani ancestry, who had been arrested for a while for possessing maps of London�s transport network. And fourth, Polish police announced on July 10 that it was seriously investigating the possible involvement of a British national of Pakistani ancestry living in Poland. Additionally, there was the story of Saajid Badat, a British-born Muslim of Pakistani descent who admitted the plotting to blow up an aircraft bound for the United States in 2003. With the dramatic police raids on July 12 on houses in West Yorkshire �home of a large community of Muslims, most of whom originate from Pakistan and Bangladesh - the theory, of course, gained more ground.

 

British Muslims of south Asian origin are now under unprecedented pressures for the first time since the establishment of the community in the 19th century. Forming nearly 60 percent of the UK�s two million Muslims or 4 percent of population, they do not have any history of violence or involvement in terrorism and atrocity. This, despite the early problems they faced in assimilating and the many campaigns launched against them by racist groups.

 

However, signs of change came in the 1990s with the increased involvement of the community�s young men with Islamic mosques, centres, or organizations run by extremist fanatic clerics from the Middle East. Deprived of freedom of action in their own countries, figures such as the Egyptian Abu Hamza Al-Masri, Palestinian Abu Qatadah, Syrian Omar Bakri, and many others found a convenient haven in the United Kingdom. They carefully exploited the tolerance of the British and the country�s liberal system to breach orthodox Islam and promote the most radical Salafi and jihadi ideas. Their first target was British Asian Muslims, who do not know Arabic to learn about Islam directly. This played in the hands of these clerics who incited young British Muslims against Christianity and the West, encouraged them to glorify violence and death, and used them as tools to promote a political agenda espousing Al-Qaeda�s line.

 

One of the factors that helped them success, apart from London�s soft policy, was the marginalized situation of British Asian Muslims caused by poverty, unemployment, social ostracism and the consequent depression. This, in addition of torn feelings between two cultures and identities and the impact of the Islamization process and jihad movements in South Asia, drove many of the alienated Muslim youth to join extremist, Islamist groups.

 

To realize what these fanatic clerics have actually planted in the hearts and minds of young British Muslims, here are some of quotes from their speeches on different occasions:

 

�You don�t have to travel thousand of miles to become a martyr. You can be a martyr right on your own doorstep�. �The real weapons of mass destruction are the desire for martyrdom. Half a million martyrs is enough for Muslims to control the whole of earth forever�. �Declare jihad against non-believers and get training. What are you training for? It�s so you can get a Kafir [a non-believer].. so you can crush his head in your arms, wring his throat, and whip his intestines out. Forget waiting a bullet on them. Rip them to pieces� � Abu Hamza Al-Masri

 

�People like to call it suicide bombing. We call it self sacrifice. You must fight for the way of Allah, that is to kill first and be killed�. �I want to see the black flag of Islam flying over 10 Downing Street�. �We will transform the West into a region under Islamic rule by means of invasion from without. If an Islamic state arises and invades the West, we will be its soldiers from within� - Omar Bakri

 

It was such a violent and hate-filled rhetoric that created young men willing to kill without mercy and several extremist leaders within the south Asian Muslim community in the UK. Examples of such leaders includes Anjem Choudray - who was once quoted as saying: �One day the black flag of Islam will be flying over the Buckingham Palace� - and Abdul Haq - who once publicly urged British Muslims to fight for bin Laden and Islam, not for the Queen and Britain.

 

Among other equally ugly results was a tendency among some British Asian Muslims to make their primary loyalty to the Islamic umma rather than Britain. This was evident in a survey conducted by the Asian radio station Sunrise among 500 Muslims in Greater London. While 98 percent of them said that they would not fight for Britain, 48 percent said they would fight for bin Laden and Islam. Such positions and opinions have never been expressed by the first and second generations of British south Asian Muslims.

 

Also noticed was an emerging tendency among young men to refer to themselves as �a Muslim living in Britain� rather than �a British Muslim�- something that means it is their religion that provides their identity, not their country of birth and residence.

 
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Dr. Abdulla Al-Madani is an Academic researcher and lecturer in Asian affairs. He can be communicated through [email protected]