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British Muslim Body Urges Anti-terror Cooperation
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"We want to isolate and stop tolerating those spreading hatred against the country using the name of Islam," said Sacranie
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By
Mustafa Abdel-Halim, IOL Staff
CAIRO,
March 31 (IslamOnline.net) - A British Muslim body called on mosque
imams and community members to be vigilant against "any
mischievous or criminal" elements and report them to police, an
appeal met with mixed reactions from Muslims in the country.
"We
want to isolate and stop tolerating those spreading hatred against the
country using the name of Islam," Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary
General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), told IslamOnline.net
Wednesday, March 31.
"We
have to get our house in order."
The
MCB made the unprecedented move of sending letters to mosques and
community leaders, urging concerted effort to work for the peace and
security of all in Britain.
"It
particularly urges imams to observe the utmost vigilance against any
mischievous or criminal elements from infiltrating the community and
provoking any unlawful activity," the group said in the letter
posted on its website.
It
also appeals to Muslims "to liaise with the local police and give
them the fullest cooperation in dealing with any criminal activity
including terrorist threat".
"Islam
tells us to stop bad people. We have a duty and responsibility in
this," Sacranie said.
This
came one day after police arrested
eight men, all British citizens of Pakistani descent, in a new
anti-terror sweep.
The
Muslim leader said the step would help Muslims to further integrate in
the society and avoid a fierce backlash from threats of potential
attacks.
A
Guardian/ICM poll survey carried out in the aftermath of the Madrid
train bombings found that most voters feel the government is
"handling the crisis well".
However,
the Guardian reported Monday, March 29, that Muslims in Britain
are complaining of maltreatment
by police stop-and-search operations under the Terrorism Act for no
apparent reason other than being Muslim.
Sacranie
argued that the MCB's new line of action is working to put an end to
such maltreatment by catching suspected terrorists.
'Mixed'
Although
several Muslims welcomed the appeal as a self-criticism measure,
others lambasted it as further associating mosques and Islam with
terrorism and justifying attacks against community members.
"This
will solve our problems 100 per cent," Soha El-Saman, a resident
of Reading, in the south-eastern district of Berkshire, told IOL
enthusiastically.
Saman,
a Muslim activist of an Egyptian origin, cited a rising influence of
what she described as "extremist" groups, naming Hizb
ut-Tahrir and Jama'at Al-Muhajirun.
"We
should face those group denting the image of Islam by managing to
recruit members of the community for their superficially smooth
words," Saman said.
Asked
whether Muslims would pay heed to the MCB appeal, the 32-year-old
activist who have been living in Britain for four years gave a full
confident yes.
"They
will obey the call. They are afraid themselves."
Massoud
Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, pointed to
Home Office figures which showed that in 2002-03 there were 32,100
searches overall under the Terrorism Act, 21,900 more than the
previous year.
"Muslims
were the subject of a hugely disproportionate number of these, but
four of six people proven guilty after the raids were Muslims,"
Shadjareh told IOL.
But
he said the MCB letter would not prove a healthy solution to the
crisis, cautioning it "could be counter-productive."
Shadjareh
opined that associating mosques and Muslim leaders with
"extremism and terrorism" could be further justified by the
appeal letters.
"You
have Catholic extremists and criminals. And two of the six indicted
after the mass raids were Sikhs. Why you point fingers at Muslims
only," he said.
Ihtisham
Hibatullah, the head of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) media
office, agreed.
"Terrorism
does not come from mosques. We all the time stressing that it is a
problem of society rather than a one of religion."
However,
the MCB secretary general argued that Muslims should face their own
problems bravely rather than hiding or at least ignoring them.
"We
have a duty in society as British citizens. We have to be a part of
this larger community," Sacranie said.
He
asserted that the government and the media have a role to play for
Muslims to respond effectively to the appeal.
Inayat
Bunglawala, another official of the MCB, criticized the media coverage
of Tuesday’s raid, picking out one headline which read:
"Islamic bomb attack foiled".
"First
of all we don't know whether it was a bomb attack, and secondly, to
describe it as Islamic is offensive to ordinary Muslims," he told
BBC Breakfast.
The
head of Scotland Yard's terrorist branch, Peter Clarke, was at pains
on Tuesday to say that police were not suspicious of the Muslim
community as a whole.
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