Comments

1. 

   Elliot G.

   June 5, 2017 at 20:43

   Sorry - I don't agree at all that we need to empathise. We should certainly try to understand what motivates terrorist acts and the psychology of terrorism; but empathy is a gift to bestowed on those in need of and seeking help.
2. 

   Jack B.

   June 6, 2017 at 10:52

   A prevalence of illiberal views in British Muslim communities - e.g. over 50% of British Muslims think homosexuality should be illegal. Combined with religious texts that illiberal (as bad or worse than the Old Testament).
3. 

   Jerome

   June 7, 2017 at 06:13

   So what can we do? One important statistic to remember is that in 2016, 40 per cent of the people arrested for terror-related offences in the US were converts to jihadism. The comparable figure for this country is one-fifth. That is a remarkably high percentage. And it indicates that perhaps perceiving this issue as a “Muslim” problem solely is misguided. Agreed. But left unspoken is that while it doesn't indicate it is a Muslim problem, it does indicate it is an Islam problem. Islam is the common theme. It somehow provides the groundwork that fundamentalists can build upon.
4. 

   burt smiley

   June 10, 2017 at 12:08

   It is Muslims, not Methodists, who are bombing and beheading citizens of the West. Admittedly, we of the West cannot consider ourselves innocent of the, yes, war crimes of "collateral damage" when a drone attack kills innocent bystander and children in the Middle East; so it may be an equal responsibilitty of citizens of the West to rail against the current climate of death-dealing. Yet those in the West who have tried as whistleblowers to unmask our own lawlessness--have faced or maybe will face prison time for treason, viz., Manning, Snowden, Assange,et al--but where are the voices of irate Muslims decrying murder and mayhem in Europe and America? Where? Is self-condemnation against crimes in the name of Islam too much to ask?--or is it a reversion to the violent conquests of Muhammedism in previous centuries? (Which may eventually incite a new Crusades?) We have our own "cross to bear" in the West for our own wars--Crusaders and Nazis have much in common in that department--but should People of the Book--the Old Testament, the Bible, the Koran--remain as mute as the desert sands from which their very similar faiths arose?
5. 

   Iftikhar Ahmad

   June 12, 2017 at 18:00

   Muslim rapes of non-Muslim girls and women should be counted terrorist crime. If Muslims fart or sneeze or both at the same time, that should be counted as biological terrorism. All Terrorists are Muslims… Except the 99,6% that Aren't. We are not terrorist as west call us but we are victims of terrorist like BUSH. Every act of terrorism is a criminal act, but not every criminal act is terrorism. If you minus all the criminal acts, I doubt there is even a 5% of terrorism due to extremism of religion by non-Muslims. Here's a portion of a memorandum from the Israeli Justice Ministry which refers to terrorism. They apparently apply a broader definition to terrorism than you. Defining a word like terrorism is a silly concept. A gorilla beating his hands on his chest to scare away another gorilla is terrorism Terror is the biggest business today at home and abroad. Everyone is a beneficiary. The government gets more clout and more powers over the lives of its hapless subjects through new terror laws and activation of old ones in an atmosphere where no one dares to question the motives of the politicians over the vital issue of "security". Security forces get immunity for illegal acts and crimes for which they win medals, rewards, promotions and huge funds with no accountability attached. Newspapers and TV channels improve their circulation and ratings sensationalising real and imaginary terror stories with total impunity as no one would dare question their rightful concern for our safety and security. White people shooting down other white people is a "skirmish". Black people peacefully marching 30 days and rioting on one is called a murderous mob of thugs Where are all the white on white crime whiners?..."crickets" America...devolving to the wild west/mad maxistan... preventable? Yes, when the cancer of (every-man-for-himself, extreme individualistic selfishness, my-rights-or-a-bullet-at-you) is cured. Who says that America is not a terrorist state? America is terrorising the whole world while American citizens are victim of terrorism by their own people. In Islam there is no commandment to kill people by making such allegations against them. The cartoonists had exercised their freedom of expression, and freedom of expression is totally allowed in Islam. Even during the Prophet's time there were several instances of ridicule, however the Prophet and his Companions neither punished such persons nor asked anyone to do so. On every occasion of this kind, the Prophet's Companions always tried to positively disseminate the message of Islam. They never tried to punish these people. The killing of those people who had published the cartoons is a gravely un-Islamic act in the name of Islam. What did killing Saddam Husain do. What did killing Osama Bin laden do? NOTHING!!!. There is a long line of replacements. I don't know the answers. He was asked by MI5 to join them...so you know he is working for them. We do not hold Norwegian Christians responsible for the actions of the fascist Anders Breivik, whose 2011 rampage left 77 dead. We do not hold white people collectively responsible for Timothy McVeigh, the US neo-Nazi whose 1995 Oklahoma City bomb killed 168 people, or for David Copeland, the former BNP member who planted bombs across London in 1999. Nor should anyone suggest that Britain’s Muslims are collectively responsible for yesterday’s attack. Why is the NATO merrily slaughtering thousands of innocent people and children every week with these drones and not called to heel? Why is the mass scale of these daily atrocities and carnage never reported and just callously written off as collateral damage? This not a war on terrorism at all, and its more than blatant bullying. This actually IS terrorism. And the worst of it is that our government despite all the death and destruction, are happy to stain their hands with the blood of collateral damage too. Its all so horribly wrong! And this is what gives fuel to terrorists and the real reason they hate the west. Thousands of innocent children and women killed by these. A vast majority of people in this world just want to live their lives with their families and friends, and don't give a hoot about what other people do, as long as they can go on with their families and friends. I find it almost impossible to believe that most Muslims want to kill people who don't share their views. The matter at hand is how to change the mind-set of people so a higher percentage does not turn to violence. One should not lump all individuals of any particular Faith in with the violent actions of a few misguided individuals who USE Religion to justify their violent actions. Every now and then a Muslim kills in the US and some people jump on ALL Muslims, as though WHITES, CHRISTIANS or otherwise, do not kill. They forget that non-Muslim killing far outnumbers Muslim killing in the US. They call for the expulsion of Muslims. The BEST SOLUTION would be for all FOREIGNERS to go back to their roots and return the country to the original AMERICAN NATIVES. Is this not a FAIR PROPOSAL? LOL! You white Christians have destroyed the Native Americans and it is only fair and right that YOU be destroyed by other communities.
6. 

   Iftikhar Ahmad

   June 12, 2017 at 18:01

   The IRA was a TERRORIST organization who bombed schools full of children, massacred innocents and put bombs in busy London subway stations ...oh, and thy were all "devout" Roman Catholics .....how many Catholics were blamed for this and generalized as terrorists? ..I'm just saying. The Government has stated that “Nursery staff and child-minders are given duty to report toddlers they risk of becoming terrorists under new Home Office measures.” So basically if a child-minder thinks your toddler is showing concerning behavioural traits they have to report them, as if being a toddler isn’t hard enough already. There will never be an end to extremism and terrorism as long as Muslim children keep on attending state schools with non-Muslim teachers. Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with Muslim teachers during their developmental periods. Muslim children must develop their cultural, spiritual and linguistic identities before they are exposed to wider world, otherwise, they would be lost in western jungle. It is a crime against humanity to send Muslim children to state schools with non-Muslim teachers. Children from minority groups, especially the Muslims, are exposed to the pressure of racism, multiculturalism and bullying. They suffer academically, culturally and linguistically: a high proportion of children of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin are leaving British schools with low grades or with no qualification. The demand for state funded Muslim schools is nothing to do with integration or segregation. It is purely an educational issue. None of 7/7 bombers and British Muslim youths who are in Syria and Iraq are the product of Muslim schools. They are the product of British schooling which is the home of institutional racism with chicken racist native teachers. 7/7 bombers have been radicalised in the context of racist schools rather than in Pakistan. Imams and Masajid are not the brainwashers of Muslim youths. It is state schools who have been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 60 years. The media for the last 15 years have targeted Muslims as a threat to British life. Many of 9/11 and 7/7 attackers were not from the poor, down trodden, under-educated and alienated sectors of society but were well-educated, middle to upper class and from stable family backgrounds. Muslim youths suspected of carrying out blast across India, have not been educated in Madrassas but western qualified and had respectable jobs. All terrorists and extremists are home grown. Not a single terrorist is an immigrant, second or third generation Muslim youths become an extremist because they were mis-educated and de-educated by western education system. Most terrorists( as 7th July and Lee Rigby cases have shown) are home grown traitors. So no amount of "vetting" is going to stop that. It is absurd to believe that Muslim schools, Imams and Masajid teach Muslim children anti-Semitic, homophobic and anti-western views. It is dangerously deceptive and misleading to address text books and discuss them out of their historical, cultural and linguistic context. It is not wrong to teach children that Jews are committing the same cruelty in Palestine what German did to them before or during Second World War. It is not wrong to teach children that anti-social behaviour, drinking, drugs, homosexuality, sex before marriage, teenage pregnancies and abortions are western values and Islam is against all such sins. This does not mean that Muslim schools teach children to hate westerners, Jews and homosexuals. The British establishment is wrong in thinking that Imams are to blame for extremism. Imams are not solution to the problem for extremism. Extremism is nothing to do with Imams. Extremism is not created from abroad, it is coming from within. Britain fails to help Muslim communities feel part of British society. Race trouble is being predicted by the Daily Express, because of an ethnic boom in UK major cities. Muslim communities need imams for the solutions of their needs and demands in their own native languages. Muslim parents would like to see their children well versed in Standard English and to go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. The fact is that majority of Muslim children leave schools with low grades because monolingual teachers are not capable to teach Standard English to bilingual Muslim children. A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to become notoriously monolingual Brit. Terrorism and sexual grooming is nothing to do with Masajid, Imams and Muslim schools. Those Muslim youths who have been involved in terrorism and sexual grooming are the product of western education system which makes a man stupid, selfish and corrupt. They find themselves cut off from their cultural heritage, literature and poetry. They suffer from identity crises and I blame British schooling. My argument is that violent radicalisation is not the consequence of religious radicalisation, even if it often takes the same paths and borrows the same paradigms. Religious fundamentalism exists, of course, and it poses considerable societal problems, because it rejects values based on individual choice and personal freedom. But it does not necessarily lead to political violence. The three Jihadi Muslim girls and the Jihadi John were in a wrong place at a wrong time in a non-Muslim school with non-Muslim teachers during their developmental periods. They suffer from identity crises. They are unable to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. They were not radicalised at a non-Muslim school, says principal. But the school with non-Muslim teachers are responsible to create identity crises. Muslim children must be in state funded Muslim schools with Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school. Why should we be surprised? They have gone through a rotten education system where there is no consequences for anything and they have grown up in a rather pathetic, wet nation with a liberal criminal justice system which actually seems to view law upholding people with pure contempt. Jihadi John has been identified, tried and convicted by the media. Surely this would prejudice any criminal case against him. In my opinion, he was also radicalised by MI5. To stop radicalisation of teens we need to find out the cause. We will get no where if all we do is just condemn but to actually stop this we need to find the cause and stop immediately, that includes All the way from extremist imams to extremist family members AND the pressure and the factor some of the security forces have upon teens. IA http://ww.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk