A year ago, four Muslim suicide bombers blew themselves up in London, killing 52 people. It was the worst bombings since World War II, Britain’s 9/11, a horror made worse by the fact that the killers were British. This was homegrown terrorism, a blast of hatred from young, alienated second and third-generation British Muslims. The anniversary has been an occasion of intense examination of the views of British Muslims on their position in UK society. Does alienation still exist? Have views hardened or softened? Could there be more suicide bombings?
A survey in The Times newspaper last week, the largest ever of British Muslims, reveals an unsurprising situation. There is no one view. British Muslims are no more single-minded than the rest of British society or the rest of Muslim society. But the poll also reveals that most British Muslims do not feel alienated. They feel that they contribute much to the UK. They are proud to be British.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims in Britain would be happy for their children to serve in the British armed forces (even though those forces are in Iraq and Afghanistan) or the police. An overwhelming majority also wants tougher government action against extremists within the community. Will the poll change attitudes among the rest of the British populace? Probably not. One of the three British soldiers killed this week in Afghanistan was a Muslim, proud to be serving his country. That, too, has probably done little to change the view of many non-Muslim Brits. But views need to change. Almost 80 percent of the Muslims polled say that they sense increased hostility toward them since 7/7.
The sad thing is that far from presenting the poll as good news, certain elements of the UK press dressed it up in the worst possible light. The discovery that one in ten of respondents in fact regarded the killers as martyrs was presented as a “split” in British Muslim society. That is a deliberate distortion. Ten percent is not just a minority, but a small one. Ten percent is also too many, but why not concentrate on the 90 percent of Muslims in Britain who were horrified by the homegrown treachery of the bombings.
In France, the racist National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen regularly wins about 15-18 percent in elections; yet no one suggests that French are split on racism and therefore somehow suspect.
Tony Blair has now said that moderate Muslims must do more to confront the militants in their community. He is right, and most moderate Muslims agree — but they need practical help. As the poll infers; although unhappy about the way they are regarded, they are in fact well integrated and certainly much more at ease than a year ago when in the aftermath of the explosions a poll indicated that two-thirds were considering leaving the UK.
But it is not easy trying to reason with bigots, ultra-nationalists and militants when some sections of the UK media still peddle the line that there is something basically suspect about Muslims. The death of a young British Muslim soldier goes a sad way to help, but alienation is not going to die until in the UK media changes its tune.
