Guardian : Muslim anger: the real story

Muslim anger: the real story

Some blame religion and talk of 'the enemy within'. Others point to alienation and Britain's foreign policy. In this detailed dispatch from one of the foremost analysts of Islamic affairs, we investigate the reality of the new wave of radicalism

Jason Burke | Sunday August 20, 2006 | The Observer

Soon the storm will have passed. There will be no foreign TV crews on the corner, no journalists hunting quotes on Walthamstow high street and no need for Musa, the 70-year-old caretaker of the Queen's Road mosque, to say: 'We have an enemy within the community.'

'These people are fanatics,' Musa says. 'They are against the mosque. I am not blaming non-Muslims. I am blaming my own community.' And his voice cracks. Around him, worshippers file into the mosque for Friday prayers and a sudden fierce rain lashes the nondescript, suburban east London road.

There are a lot of people blaming the British Muslim community these days. Ten days after a first wave of arrests in east London, Birmingham and High Wycombe, police are still holding 23 young British Muslims who are suspected of involvement in a plot to blow up packed passenger jets over the Atlantic. Several worshipped at the Queen's Road mosque.

Coming just over a year after the 7/7 attacks that killed 52 people along with four young British suicide bombers, the operation has provoked fevered debate and sparked global interest. Outside the mosque is a French TV team here to report on 'the collapse of the British model of integration' and an American reporter probing 'why the UK is a hotbed of Muslim violence'.

After the prayers, Imtiaz, 21, tells The Observer that the latest debate has not surprised him. 'It's the usual bollocks,' he says, leaning against a wall. 'Muslims are different, Muslims are all about to blow someone up. Muslims this, Muslims that. We have been here before.'

We have indeed been here before. After every new terrorist attack, real, putative or imagined, since 2001 the same arguments and analyses have been heard. For some, often on the right, Islam itself is the problem. For others, often on the left, politics, specifically the government's foreign policy, are responsible. Many talk of a failure to integrate Britain's 1.5 million-strong Muslim community, of whom around 750,000 are of Pakistani origin. This, say many on the right and some on the left, is the inevitable consequence of a fundamental incompatibility between Islam and 'British values'. For other commentators, it is a lack of tolerance that is to blame, not an excess.

But if the answers are complicated, the question is very simple. 'What is happening in Britain's Muslim community?'

Sheraz Dar, 33, is standing outside the Oval cricket ground waiting for a friend with tickets for the second day of the England v Pakistan test match. 'How integrated do you have to be to count as "integrated"?' asks Dar, a marketing manager. 'I was born here, studied here, work here. I have friends from every creed and colour. I play cricket at the weekend. I am a practising Muslim. I don't drink, I pray on Fridays and I keep the Ramadan fast. Am I integrated? I think so.'

The question of integration is key. There are certainly parts of the UK where Muslims live in communities that appear virtual ghettos. In Walthamstow, Urdu is widely spoken by the older generation. Mixed race marriages are less common than many like to think. But the reality of lives in Britain's Muslim communities - and many contest the reduction of the multi-faceted identities of hundreds of thousands of people to the single category 'Muslim' - is more complex. 'Except in a few cases, Muslims are very well integrated in [British] society,' said Ahmed Versi, the editor of Muslim News. 'The idea of non-integration is part of a stereotype that portrays Muslims as outside mainstream society who don't obey the law. It is ridiculous.'

Versi points to a wide range of recent research, such as studies showing the high number of women from Muslim backgrounds in higher education, and the number of civil servants from Asian backgrounds. Amar Latif, a 23-year-old medical student and spokesman for an umbrella group representing 90,000 Muslim university students, claims that surveys 'revealing' that 75 per cent of UK Muslims put their religion before their nationality are based on false premises.

'To ask "are you Muslim or British?" forces people to make a false choice. We asked our members if they felt there was a conflict between Muslims values and British values and the majority said no,' he told The Observer last week. The issue is difficult, however. Dar, the cricket fan, is supporting Pakistan in the test match. 'It is about roots,' he said. 'It's about not forgetting where you are from. But if someone asks me, "Are you British?" the answer is definitely yes. I was born here, I have had every opportunity in this country and have never really personally experienced any exclusion.'

The degree of integration may, however, be cold comfort. It is indeed possible that it is the uncertainty brought by the loss of the hierarchies and values of traditional societies such as that of rural Pakistan, of the Punjab or Kashmir, from where most British Muslim Pakistani immigrants originally came, that is behind some of the militancy. Certainly studies show that most of those suspected or convicted of terrorist crimes in recent years have not been marginal, alienated figures.

'People who think kids do it because they are poorly integrated are wrong,' said Mark Sageman, former CIA officer and terrorism expert. Sageman, a forensic psychiatrist, has studied the backgrounds of hundreds of militants and concluded that there is no 'terrorist type or personality' nor evidence of psychological illness.

Instead, Sageman points to small group dynamics as a key trigger. 'Kids get together. They talk the talk. A few decide to act. These are self-organised groups of volunteers. Al-Qaeda is like Harvard. It doesn't need to recruit.'

It is in this context that material circulated on the internet can be very important, experts say. Gory images showing executions, recruitment videos and massive waves of emails showing recent events in a particular light all have an impact. Versi said that within hours of any event in the Middle East his newspaper was 'bombarded' by emailed images and statements. Police are believed to have found 'martyrdom videos' recorded on laptop computers belonging to suspects currently being questioned.

Fred Halliday, professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and a respected author on Islamic affairs, agrees with Sageman that 'young people from relatively calm backgrounds can be radicalised very quickly'. 'It is about who they come into contact with, about being in a radical context, about being influenced,' he said. 'The internet can play a key role.'

According to Profesor Ian Reader, at Lancaster University, Islamic networks in the UK are behaving like cults, distancing themselves from normal social contacts, creating closed societies where they generate an intense fanaticism and dedication. The progression of UK militants through progressively more extreme mosques, study groups and finally into autonomous cells is typical, Reader says. Police and intelligence analysts believe that groups like the Tabligh Jamaat, a non-violent group that promotes a rigorous and conservative personal vision of Islam, can thus act as a 'gateway', leading some on to more extreme and politicised activity. Several of those currently held by the police and a number of 7/7 plotters are thought to have become involved with the group.

Yet there is no evidence of 'brainwashing'. Instead, Reader says, cults often grow out of broad veins of anger, dissatisfaction or alienation in mainstream society. And it is here that the vexed question of the British government's foreign policy becomes crucial.

The government insists that there is no link between British foreign policy and Islamic militancy. Ministers brusquely rejected a letter signed by 36 Muslim associations and public figures, including several Labour MPs and peers, claiming a connection. But though the positions of some are predictable - Haji Mustafa of the controversial group Hizb-ut-Tahrir told The Observer that anger at 'the Bush-Blair doctrine of "follow our values or we'll bomb you" lay behind the violence - the breadth of anger at the British government's position on the war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian question and the conflict in Lebanon is undeniable.

Imams at universities talk of widespread and profound anger and disaffection, as well as a deep cynicism towards political institutions. 'For five years young Muslim people have been trying to influence a policy that they are profoundly opposed to without success,' said one. 'Naturally they are losing faith in the democratic institutions of the country. That means that their anger and frustration is more likely to be channelled elsewhere. I have had young people literally crying with frustration in front of me.'

Although few believe that anger at British foreign policy is the only cause of extremism - the phenomenon is 'circumstantial, conjunctural' according to Halliday -most analysts see it as a key contributing factor. 'These kids come from hot neighbourhoods,' says Sageman. 'Foreign policy did not create al-Qaeda but has expanded the pool of people who want to do things. Local grievances acquire a global element and people are more willing to sacrifice themselves for a global vision.'

Others describe foreign policy as 'the catch-all cause' that everyone can identify with or 'the tipping point'. Crucially too, experts say, the belief that you are fighting injustice, or even involved in a war of good against evil, allows you to believe that you will have the support of your community, even for a suicide bombing. 'They want to be heroes to those around them,' said Sageman.

It is equally true, however, that France and Germany, which have followed very different foreign policies, also suffer a threat. German police found bombs on trains last week that they fear may have been placed by Islamic militants. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French interior minister, described the threat to his nation as 'sustained and elevated.'

And religion, or, more accurately, certain strands within Islam, does play a role. Few outside the British Pakistani community distinguish between the many different styles of observance practised in the UK.

According to Yahya Birt, of the Islamic Foundation, most original immigrants to Britain followed the Barelvi - folksy, rural, tolerant and non-political - style of Islam. In the 1970s a more conservative, rigorous strand known as the Deobandi school began to gain ground. Though officially non-political, in its most extreme form the Deobandi school has spawned the infamous Taliban. Of the 26 Islamic seminaries in Britain today, 17 are Deobandi and the Tablighi Jamaat, currently under suspicion of acting as a 'gateway to militancy', is a Deobandi offshoot. Then there are strands influenced by Saudi Arabian conservatism.

Finally, there are a number of modern, highly politicised interpretations of Islam. One is the debased, violent radical discourse of al-Qaeda, which genuinely attracts only a tiny minority. Another, however, is 'Islamist' and dedicated to the creation of a modern, religious state. According to Birt, this strand is popular among a small number of upwardly mobile British-Pakistani Muslims who are well-organised, politically savvy and enjoy far more visibility and influence on the government than their limited numbers would otherwise allow.

'There are serious question marks over who are appointed as advisers and interlocutors of the government,' said Brunel University's Professor Anthony Glees, who has recently completed a study of radicalism on campuses. Britain has thus followed trends elsewhere which have seen tolerant, apolitical Islamic strands forced on to the back foot.

One of the suspects currently being questioned by police is Waheed Zaman, a 22-year-old who worshipped regularly at the Queen's Road mosque and is head of the Islamic society at London Metropolitan University where he is in the third year of a biomedical science degree.

Sheikh Musa Admani, the softly spoken imam at the university, said that, despite all the current tensions, he was optimistic. 'When Muslim communities feel dislocated and uncertain, they have always gravitated towards utopian international ideas of Islam,' he said.

'There is still a bumpy ride ahead, but values such as freedom, equality, human dignity and fairness, the well-embedded core of Britishness, are values which a lot of young Muslims identify with. They are Islamic as well as British values. Yes, we need to address the growing hatred of the West; yes, we need to inculcate basic Islamic values such as compassion and respect. But people have woken up and the debate on how to move forward has started.'

We asked: Do Islamic values conflict with British values?

Hafizul Islam Khan, 43, self-employed fruit and vegetable wholesaler

My family has lived in Britain for three generations and I can honestly say that there's never been any conflict between our way of life and the British way of life. There are no restrictions in Britain for Muslims who want to obey the tenets of their faith. The only reason the West thinks there is a conflict between our values is because it looks at a minority of Muslim extremists and think s they represent the majority. British law enables all religions and all people to live in harmony. It doesn't segregate people according to their religion or their culture, and that's one reason I'm so happy to live here.

Zainab Bint Muhammed, 16, student in Tower Hamlets, who wants to be a human rights lawyer

Muslims are beginning to get angry about the way we are being treated. Muslim boys have to prove their innocence on the streets now, instead of the police proving their guilt. This is supposed to be a multicultural society, yet there are increasing divisions between the people who live within it. British foreign policy is disastrous for harmony in this country. How can Muslims trust the government any more? It condemns Hizbollah, but funds Israel to kill innocent children. No wonder Muslims are angry. But the Koran says that to kill one innocent person is to kill the whole of mankind, and real Muslims adhere to that.

Ashraf Miah, 34, civil servant

There is no conflict between British and Muslim values. There are obvious diff erences in lifestyles, but that is an issue of choice - and regardless of which choice you make, it doesn't mean you can't be British... it's a question of understanding and of dialogue. There are huge problems with the impact of the government's foreign policy on the Islamic world, but this isn't a confl ict between Muslim values and British values; it's a conflict between an ethical foreign policy and an unethical one.

Abdirahman Mahdi, 38, manager of a linen factory

In many ways, Muslims and non- Muslims have two totally different ways of life. But those differences shouldn't make any diff erence to our ability to live in harmony. Conflict raises its head only when something happens between these two communities that reveals how little the Western world understands the Muslim religion. That's what's happening now. Overall, Britain is a tolerant country, but the tide is flowing in the wrong direction and we all need to work hard together to increase our mutual understanding.

Abida Peters, 25, community cohesion worker at the East London Mosque and mother of seven-month-old Haleem

There is no conflict between British and Muslim values.

There are obvious differences in lifestyles, but that is an issue of choice - and regardless of which choice you make, it doesn't mean you can't be British... it's a question of understanding and of dialogue. There are huge problems with the impact of the government's foreign policy on the Islamic world, but this isn't a conflict between Muslim values and British values; it's a conflict between an ethical foreign policy and an unethical one.

In many ways, Muslims and non-Muslims have two totally different ways of life. But those differences shouldn't make any difference to our ability to live in harmony. Conflict raises its head only when something happens between these two communities that reveals how little the Western world understands the Muslim religion. That's what's happening now. Overall, Britain is a tolerant country, but the tide is flowing in the wrong direction and we all need to work hard together to increase our mutual understanding.

I converted to Islam six years ago and married a year after that. I see no conflict between British and Muslim values. On the contrary, we share our core values: treasuring family, friends and behaving honestly and respectfully. It's a great virtue of British society that we are all free to live according to our own values.

British foreign policy is not helping the majority of Muslims, who are peaceful; it's helping the cause of the terrorists. The double standards shown in the way the government has dealt with Israel and Palestine are very upsetting. The unfairness of Britain's approach has made Muslims feel disempowered.

Interviews by Amelia Hill