Islamic scholars urge unity to fight terror

THE GUARDIAN

Islamic scholars urge unity to fight terror
Monday 25 July 2005, by Sam Jones

A conference of Islamic scholars from around the world yesterday denounced the recent terrorist attacks on London as "barbaric and inhuman", and called on the public and media to work more closely with the Muslim community to fight extremism.

Speakers at the Metropolitan police-sponsored conference, which was designed to educate young British Muslims about extremism and Islamophobia, also criticised the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes but said the young Brazilian’s death should not be allowed to upset community relations.

Kamal Helbawi, a consultant on Muslim affairs, called for an independent inquiry into the shooting in Stockwell, south London, last Friday.

"The boy was on the ground with no pistol," Dr Helbawi said. "He should have gone to court. To kill him when he had no pistol in his hand is not good and is not consistent with the police attitude in Britain. We should not kill innocent people."

Ahmed von Denfer, from Germany, urged people to wait for the facts to emerge before commenting on the killing but offered his condolences to Mr de Menezes’s relatives. "We pray for the innocent man that his family will find consolation," he said. "But we also pray for the person who shot him that he will find hope and consolation."

Tariq Ramadan, a Switzerland-based scholar whose visit to speak at the conference attracted condemnation from the Sun newspaper, said: "We should call for an independent investigation to make sure that this does not happen again."

He asked people not to react emotionally to recent events and to act as citizens who say "no to discrimination and no to extremism".

Prof Ramadan added: "All of us must not fan the flames, we must collaborate and send a signal to try to find a way to get rid of this extremist threat to this country ... There must be no more killing. There is no justification. The Muslim community needs to work from within to solve this."

He rejected suggestions that imams and the elders of the British Muslim community were out of touch with the young but agreed that the future lay in the hands of a new generation young European Muslims.

"The second and third generation of Muslims are going through a silent revolution ... These are the men and women of the future. In all European countries we have these new Muslims understanding that they are Muslim and at the same time European. In the last 50 years what we have [done] in these European countries is remarkable. The young will have an enormous impact on the future."

Prof Ramadan also warned the public and the press not to become obsessed "with what the extremists want to put in our minds".

Jamal Badawi, a US-based scholar, called on reporters to stop interviewing demagogues and extreme imams whenever Islam was in the news and to seek out more moderate, mainstream voices.

The Middle Path conference, organised by the charity Da’Watul Islam, was targeted by members of the National Front, who staged a protest near the Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, central London. About 20 members of the far-right organisation waved banners reading: "Britain for the British" and "Keep Alien Wars Off Our British Shores", and chanted obscenities.

A much larger group of about 250 protesters was intercepted by the police at Baker Street and dispersed.

Source : The Guardian