Post by maruf on Jul 14, 2005 2:53:40 GMT -5
UK immigrants' dream laid waste by their own children
By Jonathan Guthrie
Published: July 14 2005 03:00 | Last updated: July 14 2005 03:00
An immigrant dream has been shattered by the realisation that the suspected suicide bombers behind last week's London attacks were British-born Muslims.
The first generation of Muslims in the UK, who from the 1960s began arriving from Pakistan and Bangladesh, wanted to make a better life. They hoped to participate fully in Britain's institutions while peacefully maintaining their religious identity. Now, they find the words "Muslim" and "terrorist" are beginning to overlap in the public mind.
So there was much head-shaking yesterday among the old men gathered outside the Makkah Masjid mosque in Leeds, in the northern English county of West Yorkshire, just a short distance from a suspected bomb factory where three local extremists are thought to have stored devices used in the London attacks.
"We are very sorry for what is happening," said Mohammed Munir, chairman of the mosque committee. Local people had scrimped and saved to pay for the splendid building, he said. Now its image was appearing around the world, illustrating news bulletins on British suicide bombers.
One of the bombers - Shehzad Tanweer, 22 - might have exemplified what first-generation immigrants hoped their children would achieve. His father, Mohammed, owns a fish and chip shop. But Shehzad, who studied at Leeds university, could have moved into the professions. Instead, he is suspected of having killed himself and the commuters around him by detonating a bomb on an underground train at Liverpool Street.
It is not known whether radical groups such as Hizb ut Tahrir, which has a history of proselytising at British universities, played a role in radicalising Shehzad - although Mr Munir said extremists from the group had been active on the fringes of the mosque until the elders banned them.
But Arshad Javed, chief executive of Asian Trade Link, a West Yorkshire business body, said: "Deprivation and poverty had nothing to do with it. This came from external influences."
Mr Javed, who owns a catering business, says discrimination has made it harder for Asian Muslims to find jobs and set up businesses than white non-Muslims. Even so "there are excellent success stories across West Yorkshire, of people who came here with nothing and now have businesses with hundreds of millions in turnover".
The prejudice that revelations about the suicide bombers could trigger would "create just another hurdle for us Muslims", he said.
The feeling among older men was "an absolute sense of shame", said Mr Javed. One response has been to deny that Muslims were behind the London bombings or the September 11 attacks in the US. Privately, some Muslims talk of a US or Zionist plot to smear their community and justify invasions of Muslim countries.
Yunus Patel, a small businessman who lives a few doors from Mohammed Saddiq Khan, a suspected suicide bomber from Dewsbury, said a generational split between the law-abiding old and the restless young was to blame in part for Islamic terrorism. Many young Asian men were at loggerheads with their fathers because they wanted "drugs and girls", he said. But "a small minority plan terrible things".
Danielle Joly, a professor of ethnic relations at Warwick university, saw a similar generational difference: "There is huge regret and astonishment among older Muslims, even though just a tiny number of young men were involved. Muslims have engaged with British society at all levels; they vote more and are involved in mainstream politics."
Yet discrimination remained a problem, she added, citing statistics that people with Muslim names were twice as likely as other candidates to be rejected at job interviews.
Some young Muslims mock the boasts of fathers and grandfathers about arriving in the UK with only loose change in their pockets. But their elders overcame huge barriers. Now, thanks to the bombers, life could be about to get more difficult again for the UK's 2m-strong Muslim population. Mr Javed said: "We will just have to go that extra mile [to overcome this], as the first immigrants did."
My comments
It is astonishing how Muslims have been so ready to apologize for something we really do not even have evidence that a Muslim was involved in.
What about Western objectives in the so-called "War on Terrorism" in the first place?
Do we read the histories where Churchill's and Britain's objectives for the ottoman khilafah during the world wars were revealed? If we go back and read the history, you will always see that the West created situations and used situations for their benefit. They had to create public opinion for their populace and the international scene in order to seem just in their use of force and aggression. But, their objectives have always been to open markets for their businesses and spread their hegemony.
If this has been the case, why would I be so quickly to believe reports by their sources and media that serve their objectives?
Of course the heat is on Muslims, but when do I fear the anger instead of the fear? When do I raise my level of political awareness? When do I even understand the objectives of capitalism and the West?
When do I understand the difference between Haqq and Batil? When do understand the difference between Kufr and Islaam? When to I stand up and be a leader if I am supposed to be a Imam or Muslim figure?
Or do I keep bending over and playing the role of a weak man hoping this will save me? It is sickening thought, we are suppose to be more than just immigrants to various countries--hoping for a piece of the pie. We are suppose to carry Islaam as our active thought and action setters, not mere just so happen to be baggage. May Allah help us to be strong men of Iman who our children, family, and Ummah will be proud of. After all, our Deen demands it.
Find this article at:
news.ft.com/cms/s/a9604a50-f404-11d9-af32-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.html
By Jonathan Guthrie
Published: July 14 2005 03:00 | Last updated: July 14 2005 03:00
An immigrant dream has been shattered by the realisation that the suspected suicide bombers behind last week's London attacks were British-born Muslims.
The first generation of Muslims in the UK, who from the 1960s began arriving from Pakistan and Bangladesh, wanted to make a better life. They hoped to participate fully in Britain's institutions while peacefully maintaining their religious identity. Now, they find the words "Muslim" and "terrorist" are beginning to overlap in the public mind.
So there was much head-shaking yesterday among the old men gathered outside the Makkah Masjid mosque in Leeds, in the northern English county of West Yorkshire, just a short distance from a suspected bomb factory where three local extremists are thought to have stored devices used in the London attacks.
"We are very sorry for what is happening," said Mohammed Munir, chairman of the mosque committee. Local people had scrimped and saved to pay for the splendid building, he said. Now its image was appearing around the world, illustrating news bulletins on British suicide bombers.
One of the bombers - Shehzad Tanweer, 22 - might have exemplified what first-generation immigrants hoped their children would achieve. His father, Mohammed, owns a fish and chip shop. But Shehzad, who studied at Leeds university, could have moved into the professions. Instead, he is suspected of having killed himself and the commuters around him by detonating a bomb on an underground train at Liverpool Street.
It is not known whether radical groups such as Hizb ut Tahrir, which has a history of proselytising at British universities, played a role in radicalising Shehzad - although Mr Munir said extremists from the group had been active on the fringes of the mosque until the elders banned them.
But Arshad Javed, chief executive of Asian Trade Link, a West Yorkshire business body, said: "Deprivation and poverty had nothing to do with it. This came from external influences."
Mr Javed, who owns a catering business, says discrimination has made it harder for Asian Muslims to find jobs and set up businesses than white non-Muslims. Even so "there are excellent success stories across West Yorkshire, of people who came here with nothing and now have businesses with hundreds of millions in turnover".
The prejudice that revelations about the suicide bombers could trigger would "create just another hurdle for us Muslims", he said.
The feeling among older men was "an absolute sense of shame", said Mr Javed. One response has been to deny that Muslims were behind the London bombings or the September 11 attacks in the US. Privately, some Muslims talk of a US or Zionist plot to smear their community and justify invasions of Muslim countries.
Yunus Patel, a small businessman who lives a few doors from Mohammed Saddiq Khan, a suspected suicide bomber from Dewsbury, said a generational split between the law-abiding old and the restless young was to blame in part for Islamic terrorism. Many young Asian men were at loggerheads with their fathers because they wanted "drugs and girls", he said. But "a small minority plan terrible things".
Danielle Joly, a professor of ethnic relations at Warwick university, saw a similar generational difference: "There is huge regret and astonishment among older Muslims, even though just a tiny number of young men were involved. Muslims have engaged with British society at all levels; they vote more and are involved in mainstream politics."
Yet discrimination remained a problem, she added, citing statistics that people with Muslim names were twice as likely as other candidates to be rejected at job interviews.
Some young Muslims mock the boasts of fathers and grandfathers about arriving in the UK with only loose change in their pockets. But their elders overcame huge barriers. Now, thanks to the bombers, life could be about to get more difficult again for the UK's 2m-strong Muslim population. Mr Javed said: "We will just have to go that extra mile [to overcome this], as the first immigrants did."
My comments
It is astonishing how Muslims have been so ready to apologize for something we really do not even have evidence that a Muslim was involved in.
What about Western objectives in the so-called "War on Terrorism" in the first place?
Do we read the histories where Churchill's and Britain's objectives for the ottoman khilafah during the world wars were revealed? If we go back and read the history, you will always see that the West created situations and used situations for their benefit. They had to create public opinion for their populace and the international scene in order to seem just in their use of force and aggression. But, their objectives have always been to open markets for their businesses and spread their hegemony.
If this has been the case, why would I be so quickly to believe reports by their sources and media that serve their objectives?
Of course the heat is on Muslims, but when do I fear the anger instead of the fear? When do I raise my level of political awareness? When do I even understand the objectives of capitalism and the West?
When do I understand the difference between Haqq and Batil? When do understand the difference between Kufr and Islaam? When to I stand up and be a leader if I am supposed to be a Imam or Muslim figure?
Or do I keep bending over and playing the role of a weak man hoping this will save me? It is sickening thought, we are suppose to be more than just immigrants to various countries--hoping for a piece of the pie. We are suppose to carry Islaam as our active thought and action setters, not mere just so happen to be baggage. May Allah help us to be strong men of Iman who our children, family, and Ummah will be proud of. After all, our Deen demands it.
Find this article at:
news.ft.com/cms/s/a9604a50-f404-11d9-af32-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.html
