Daily Mirror

Stop lumping all Muslims together as agents of hate

- BY YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR

PIERS Morgan asked me on ITV’s Good Morning Britain whether I thought the “Muslim community” is doing enough to stop terrorism.

“There is no Muslim community,” was part of my reply.

We are diverse peoples and individual­s. I am a Shia Muslim. We have our hardliners, but almost no Shias have been involved in suicide bomb missions.

Ahmadis, another minority Muslim sect, are also totally peaceful and against jihadism. The main agents of mass destructio­n are those who follow Wahhabism – Saudi Arabia’s pernicious version of Islam – and extreme Deobandis who get their money from Saudi Arabia and have the largest number of Mosques in Britain.

Hammad Munshi, who at 16 became the youngest ever convicted British terrorist, and Mohammad Siddique Khan, leader of the London bombers, both came from Dewsbury, Yorkshire, where ultra-conservati­ve Deobandis control the mosques. These facts matter.

I have more in common with Yorkshire birdwatche­rs than these Allah followers.

So I ask you please not to lazily clutch this notion. It’s a colonial leftover.

What was done in Manchester was an outrage. I prayed, wept, cursed the cold killer. Like many blameless Muslims I felt guilt, shame and fear too.

The terror level is at critical. Soldiers are on our streets. Questions need to be asked about government anti-terror policies since the 9/11 attacks in the USA.

They are not working. Firstly because the sponsor of this violence is Saudi Arabia, which remains our bestest ally.

Next, conservati­ve Muslim families have too long been in denial about what is going on in their homes and mosques: tiny girls in headscarve­s, intolerant religious schools, irrational beliefs and self-segregatio­n have no place in Britain.

Finally, the government Prevent programme must be dumped. Most Muslims, educators, social workers and parents I have talked to feel this interventi­on to divert young children away from radical ideas is counterpro­ductive, the brand toxic. Manchester is a wake-up call. The police and security services need cooperatio­n from good Muslim citizens and the government must make bold, brave policy changes.

 ??  ?? OUTRAGED Yasmin on TV yesterday
OUTRAGED Yasmin on TV yesterday

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