British Muslim leaders condemn Terrorist Violence by ABC News / Telegraph (UK) 10:11am 2nd Apr, 2004   01/04/2004    (Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC TV: Lateline: Transcript. Reporter: Tony Jones).    TONY JONES: Joining us now in our London studio is Imam Ajmal Masroor. One of his mosques is in the suburb of West Ealing where some of the anti-terror raids took place. He's also spokesperson for the Islamic Society of Britain.    TONY JONES: Thank for joining us.    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR, SPOKESMAN, ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF BRITAIN (LONDON): Hello.    TONY JONES: There's a good deal of -- or been a good deal -- of shock in Britain at how many of these men who have been arrested were extremely young, all of them of course were born in Britain. What do you think is going on here? Why are such young men being attracted, evidently, to radical ideas?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: There has been a lot of radicalisation, also polarisation amongst young Muslims today because of what they see in the world. For example, the crisis that they see, the Muslims suffering in Palestine, in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. Our world leaders are not doing enough to sort out the problems of Palestinians but they're very quick in responding to other that do not really need such prompt and swift response, so the young people are seeing double standard and hypocrisy and therefore they think the only solution to these problems are to become radical extremists and rejectionist. Of course we condemn that. That is not Islamic. The Islamic solution is to engage, to discuss and to debate and to come together to fight what we see are common concerns and causes of problems.    TONY JONES: The 'Guardian' newspaper has a leader on this today. It's saying that Islamism, radical Islamism, has come to the suburbs and it's about time people realise that. Do you think it's true?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: That's a misleading title.    What does Islamism mean they need to define? What we're talking about is a group of extremist people who are on the fringes, there are 1.8 million Muslims living in Britain today and out of that -- very small number who may be very radical or extreme -- but every community have their rotten apples and we have some of ours and we need to deal with them. We are inviting all the Muslims to join hands and cooperate with the police so that the security and safety of our country in Britain remains the paramount and most important agenda of all our activities. So this is what we're talking about. We do not want to brush all Muslims as radical, as extremists. Only a small number.    TONY JONES: Here's what the 'Guardian' is saying. They're saying that warnings have been coming from inside your own community since the 1990s that we're about to see a generation radicalised. Do you accept those warnings were coming from inside your community first of all, and is there a possibility given what you're saying about the injustice that many young educated Muslim men see in the world around them, that we may be seeing something like that happening now?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: Well the radicalisation started a long time ago. Do you remember when Bush says you are against us or with us. That is also another statement of very similar radicalisation. You make a point where you say you either stand with us or go against us. This is not what we're talking about. Young Muslims may have resorted to some of the extreme measures but we want to contain them and manage them. We want to transform their anger into some positive action. We cannot do that unless and until our leaders, international leaders, really listen to the concerns of the people in the street rather than only listen to the pressures that they come under by their local pressure groups. What we are seeing today in the streets of London, larger number of young Muslims wanting to embrace their faith the right way and that is love, peace, justice, and tolerance. But because they see injustices, they are sometimes pushed to take sides and that's what we do not want to see. We want to see a harmonious co-existence of people tolerating the difference.    TONY JONES: You say they're pushed to take sides and I wonder if a lot of that isn't happening in some of the more radical mosques in London and throughout Britain and Europe and even here in Australia, the same things are happening. Doesn't a lot of the responsibility lie with some of the Muslim clerics who are teaching these young men about Jihad, about the crusaders and what they're doing in the Middle East and so on?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: Well, the small clip that you showed about a young man with a long beard saying we should support our brothers whether they're oppressors or oppressed. He is talking nonsense. Such statement does not exist. In fact in the Koran we find statements such as saying, you must stand for justice even if it means you have to go against your own selves. This is what is important in Islam -- justice because that is becoming God conscious and this is in the Koran. We need to teach our young people this very message. From the mosques, for example the one I lead, I have been speaking about balanced, I have been talking about cooperation, I've been talking about justice and peace for the last five years and I know out of the 1,000 mosques in Britain 99.9 per cent are preaching exactly this. The very view who are maybe radical we can deal with them if we address the causes of those radical elements, but we are not addressing the causes of radicalism yet we are trying to deal with the symptoms.    TONY JONES: You'd have to agree though wouldn't you that some other Imams like Sheik Abu Hamza, for example, at the Finsbury Mosque have been teaching to large numbers of young people a very different set of ideas to the ones you're putting forwards now?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: When you say large numbers, you must have some number, a number in mind, Finsbury Mosque, I used to go there when I was younger, he is not an Imam of that mosque. He was only an Imam there by almost proxy or by force for about three years. He may have preached to a few hundred people but that's not 1.8 million Muslims and that's not the 1,000 mosques we have in Britain. The vast majority of the people do not follow Abu Hamza and the likes' views. These are radical people who have other agenda in their mind. They're only causing problem and young people and most normal people are paying a hefty price because of their radical views. We're condemning it, we're telling the communities to be vigilant and to support and cooperate so that we can make Britain safe and sound for all.    TONY JONES: So what do you think is happening then with these small groups of people, the eight young men arrested. Although we know they're not facing charges at this stage. We don't know what's going to happen to them. But they are being connected to a potential terrorist bombing and then you had the two young British men who signed up to become suicide bombers for Hamas recently and went on video talking about this. Where are these people coming from? Who is responsible for training them?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: I think we are all responsible for failing them rather than training them. Failing them -- we have failed in giving them a vision. We have failed in giving them a reason to perhaps be more constructive. Our leaders have miserably failed them by their hypocrisy and double standard We need to take the responsibility first. Where they are coming from and why they are being influenced? I have said earlier -- perhaps because they see the injustices in the world. What we can do for the future is by educating the youngsters, using the mosques and education system, using the faith, teaching the right element and ensuring those who have radical views have no room or space in the mosques. What I call on the communities, Muslims and non-Muslims together, is to come together and not become prejudicial in this very crucial and difficult time and work together shoulder to shoulder, stand against intolerance and bigotry and really we need to do this at this very difficult time otherwise we'll be playing into the hands of extremists and they will be winning.    TONY JONES: Would you accept that in some of these mosques, as you've just said you've got to root out if you like the bad apples, but would you accept that those bad apples are coming from places like France and other countries in Europe, coming to preach, to find young men to recruit and send to Jihad.    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: I'm not in the immigration services, nor the mosques have any immigration centres where they deal with the application of those wanting to come to Britain. It's the immigration service who vet people to allow them into the country and if they are allowed and are in the country they're free to go where they want.    We cannot really respond for those people who do what they do. We can say we are taking steps, Muslim council of Britain, Islamic Society of Britain and many other organisations, have come together, we are standing shoulder to shoulder and saying enough is enough. We are not going to tolerate any more nonsense or extremist ideas, not going to tolerate anymore bigotry. We need to wipe out, root out, all those responsible for causing such havoc in the minds of people and also we need to tell our leaders they need to deal with the root causes of such frustration and anger in young people.    TONY JONES: How hard is it going to be to root them out? Because obviously they must have taken root in some quarters of your community?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: It's going to be very hard with lack of resources. Remember there are more than 1,000 mosques in Britain. Most of them are run voluntarily by the money that comes from the donation of the worshippers. It will be very hard running those projects and programs. What we need is a positive dialogue, positive interaction, a joint working partnership between government and Muslim organisations where we can create education system, we can support and fund mosques and programs that they run. We can build the capacity of voluntary organisations who can deliver some of those projects. Together as well as using the religious teachings I'm sure we'll be able to change that maybe over a generation, but what we need to do is begin now. If we leave it now we will lose it.    TONY JONES: We have seen today what appears to be the most straight forward appeal that I've seen to Islam to effectively reform itself in Britain, along the lines that you're just talking about. It comes in this letter from the Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Iqbal Sacranie. He's saying that Islamic clerics have to start preaching the part of the Koran which says that he who kills anyone or who spreads chaos through the land should be looked upon as if he has slain all mankind. How important is that message and how hard will it be to get it across when young people see injustice and want to fight against it?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: This is precise message that we believe Islam to have taught its followers throughout history. Mohammed, peace be upon him, taught that to his followers. He said if you cannot find beauty in something, then there is no Islam in it.    Anything that does not contain tolerance, respect, love, mercy, compassion, cannot be Islamic. Terrorism is not Islamic. There is nothing holy about a war so there is nothing called a holy war as such.    We have a wrong interpretation given by radical people who have come with their own baggage and their experience from the respected countries that they've come from. We need to begin to teach our young people that Islam is about tolerance, about peace, about intergrating with the communities, about working with the community and accepting the difference. This will be very hard. We're going to be at it and we're not going to be giving up. We will continue our struggle in order to educate the young people. But the onus is also on the government, also on the media, so that they do not jump on to the sensationalist band wagons and respond to them insensitively and also often in a manner that alienates young people.    TONY JONES: Finally, because we are running out of time and have to be brief here but there is one other section of Mr Sacranie's letter that will be quite controversial I think among young Muslims in particular. There's a suggestion here that Muslims should start informing on their Muslim brothers if they fear or see that they're about to do anything wrong they should go to the police?    IMAM AJMAL MASROOR: Well, this is nothing unusual for people to feel so much attached to one another because they feel the unity comes because of the faith. In fact Islamic teaching is contrary to that. What Islam says is you must stand together for that which is good and you may not and should not cooperate with one another in that which is bad. If you see someone doing bad you must take action and one of the most productive way of taking action is to report them to the appropriate authorities. This is Islamic teaching. If young people do not know about it we must teach them that and tell them they must not be blinded by their emotions and by what they think is their connection, rather they should be connected because of justice, because of what Islam teaches and because of the common good of the people. We're going to do that and hopefully we will get the message across.    TONY JONES: It seems a very important message to get across.Thank you for coming in to deliver part of it to us here the tonight.    1 April, 2004    Muslim leaders in the UK circulate anti-violence message (ABC Radio: AM -   Reporter: Fran Kelly)    TONY EASTLEY: The arrest of eight young British muslims on suspicion of terrorism, has prompted the leaders of the Muslim community in the UK have warned other followers of Islam to be vigilant and to assist police in the fight against terror. In a letter delivered to every mosque across Britain the Muslim Council reminds its members that Islam forbids violence. The letter also called on all Muslims to report any suspicious activity to the authorities.    Europe correspondent Frank Kelly reports.    FRAN KELLY: Struggling with an image problem that has seen their religion linked to the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11 and most recently those in Madrid, Muslim leaders in Britain have stepped in to limit the damage that the rise of Islamic extremism is having on their community.    Daud Abdullah, from the Muslim Council of Britain, is a signatory to the letter that will be read out at Friday prayers in mosques right around Britain this week.    DAUD ABDULLAH: This is a time of great trial for our community as a result of acts committed abroad and we have been hearing reports that there is an imminent threat to Britain also.    We believe in order to avoid you see a very severe and unsavourary backlash from all of these events it is appropriate that we intervene and give direction to the members of our community.    FRAN KELLY: It may have been a letter of reassurance and advice to their own community, but it was also aimed at a wider audience.    Its message that Islam forbids violence and its insistence that people should work with the police if they detect anything suspicious in their midst is meant to reassure the rest of Britains that all Muslims aren't terrorists.    The letter also urges Muslim teachers to give more guidance to the young, a message with added resonance following yesterday's raids.    DAUD ABDULLAH: You see, the Muslim community in Britain is a very young one. Unfortunately many have been disenchanted because of poor housing, bad health, poor education etc, so these are fertile ground in which extremist tendencies can take route, and so we are calling upon our leaders to step up their activities of educating our young people and helping them to avoid, you see, such temptations.    FRAN KELLY: Do you share concerns that some militant Muslim groups are influencing and radicalising young British Muslims right now?    DOUD ABDULLAH: This may be so but the manner in which it is portrayed in the media is very much exaggerated. Even after the hundreds of arrests that were made in the last three years, according to the Home Office only seven have been actually charged. So until now there has been no significant proof that the British Muslim community is a hub of criminal or terrorist activity.    London. April 2, 2004    Muslim leader calls for curbs on rogue preachers. (Telegraph/UK)    Britain's most prominent Muslim leader has demanded a crackdown on "rogue" Islamic preachers, blaming them for brainwashing young men with sermons promoting holy war against the West.    Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, was backed by the families of some of those arrested in Tuesday's anti-terrorism raids in south-east England.    Police continued to question eight men about the seizure in west London of more than half a tonne of fertiliser thought to be part of a plot to explode a car or truck bomb.    Mr Sacranie said he had been urging the Government for some time to introduce an offence of incitement to religious hatred which could be used against fundamentalists who operated on the fringes of a few mosques.    "These elements are preaching a message of hatred and violence which is against the Koran," he said. "They have nothing to do with Islam. There are more than a thousand mosques in Britain. We are not aware of this sort of activity in more than one or two."    Mr Sacranie made his appeal for tougher legislation after taking the unprecedented step of writing to every mosque in the country urging them to help in the fight against terrorism. Visit the related web page
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