UK Muslims to fight extremism on the road and Web
UK Muslims to fight extremism on the road and Web
Coming soon to fight extremism in Britain: the Imam Roadshow and Islam Online.
After years of watching radical Muslim groups teach violence in town meetings and on the Internet, British Muslim leaders announced plans on Thursday to fight back by taking the message of mainstream Islam onto the road and out into cyberspace.
A task force set up after July�s suicide bomb attacks in London concluded that extremists have found recruits among young Muslims “fueled by anger, alienation and disaffection from mainstream British society.”
At universities, in schools and in prisons, extremist groups are shouting down “mainstream Muslim organizations that are perceived as pedestrian, ineffective and �part of the system,”� wrote the task force in a 100-page report.
Among its recommendations were a roadshow of Islamic scholars — who could visit towns and cities and explain mainstream Muslim teachings — and “Islam Online,” a Web site for British Muslims looking to understand their faith.
Both steps would give young Muslims opportunities to learn from recognized scholars with mainstream views, said Muslim Council of Britain spokesman Inayat Bunglawala, who convened one of the committees that made up the task force.
“What this roadshow would hopefully do is to highlight that the answers extremists give are no answers whatsoever. There is nothing Islamic about committing mass murder,” he said.
“There is no doubt that the Internet has opened opportunities for all sorts of people and groups. And some are extremist groups who have used the Internet as a means of propaganda to spread their hate and division. There is a need to ensure that mainstream Islamic teachings are also disseminated.”
The task force — including prominent Muslim figures ranging from members of the House of Lords to Yusuf Islam, the former singer Cat Stevens — also proposed new training for imams and better teaching of Islam in schools.
Controversially for British Prime Minister Tony Blair Tony Blair, the report concluded that British foreign policy was a factor in stoking anger among Muslims. Blair has insisted that his decision to wage war in Iraq Iraq was not a cause for the July bombings.
The report comes on the heels of a report in Brussels by the European Union European Union�s racism watchdog, which praised British authorities and Muslim groups for averting a backlash against Muslims in the wake of the July attacks.
“The lesson of July 7 is that strong, coordinated action by all stakeholders works effectively,” wrote Beate Winkler, director of the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia.