LONDON, 21 January 2003 — For radical Muslims, yesterday’s police raid on a London mosque was the perfect rallying cry to attract young extremists to their cause.
“This raid will increase our recruitment,” Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, global leader of the radical Al Muhajiroun group, told Reuters after police burst into the mosque in Britain’s biggest anti-terror operation since the Sept. 11 attacks.
“In this environment, the issue becomes black and white. Now the moderates have no gray area to monopolize. If they arrest us, we will become martyrs,” said the Syrian-born cleric who supports Al-Qaeda.
Bakri said: “This is a violation of the house of God. It will raise the question of the authenticity of man-made law. Any embassy has immunity. The house of God has no immunity.”
The London-based radical has in the past caused outrage after reports that he called British leader Tony Blair a “legitimate target” for Muslims and urged followers to kill anyone involved in military action against Muslims.
Police said then they had insufficient evidence to prosecute him for racial incitement, but would monitor his activities.
Bakri later said Al Muhajiroun’s Pakistan branch had described Blair as a legitimate target for Muslims, not him.
Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the Arabic newspaper Al-Quds-Al-Arabi, agreed that the raid could be a blow to moderates among the 1.8 million Muslims in Britain.
“Definitely there will be more radicals. Frustrated people will become more frustrated. It will create hatred among young people and we don’t need that,” he told Reuters. “We should not treat everybody as terrorists.”
“It is outrageous to raid a mosque like that,” he said. “Police are panicking. Every Muslim is a suspect.”
Radical preachers at the raided Finsbury Park mosque do not have to look far for recruits. Hundreds of unemployed Algerians gather in coffee shops and many gather at the mosque to hear fiery sermons every Friday.
What moderate Muslims fear is a backlash against their community after the discovery of deadly ricin poison in London and then the death of a policeman in follow-up raids.
“Muslims have suffered increasing Islamophobia since Sept. 11,” said Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain.
“Ordinary Muslims feel uncomfortable at work. They are looked at with suspicion, they are regarded with a wary eye,” he said. “Muslims will feel unease at a mosque being raided but we understand the police have a difficult task to do.
“If police believe that evil actions occurred, that needs to be put before a court. What should not happen is that they are detained indefinitely without charge.”
The aftermath of Sept. 11 exposed Britain as a fertile ground for militant Islamist groups.
Security experts said the country’s diverse population, a giant financial center in London, a government perceived as relatively tolerant and good global transport links helped to spawn a small but potentially significant hub of extremists.
“The trouble with terrorism is that you don’t need large numbers to be a serious threat,” said terrorism expert Paul Wilkinson.
But he insisted that Britain should not over-react, warning of the dangers of an xenophobic backlash.
“I believe the measures we take should be compatible with democratic values,” said the professor of international relations at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews. “If we start over-reacting and creating an atmosphere of repression and fear among Muslims, we will create a greater recruiting bed for Al-Qaeda.” (R)
