17 July 2005
Who
should be blamed for radicalizing young British Muslims?
By Dr. Abdulla
Al-Madani*
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.
elmadani@batelco.com.bh
*(Academic researcher and lecturer in Asian affairs)
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