Every mosque should
with Muslims “when appropriate and possible to have private discussions around how Mosque communities can deal with radical and violent distortions of their religion. In contrast, it may not therefore be beneficial to publically advise the wider Muslim community as to how it should express itself on this.
“Many Muslim leaders have clearly condemned the recent attacks and what we need to create now are developed relationships with mosque leaders and worshippers.
In response to the letter, Board vice-president Marie van der Zyl said: “Jonathan was echoing many eminent Muslim leaders in calling for their communities to reclaim their faith from the extremists.” She added: “The answers to this question of how to tackle extremism are certainly not simple, but we won’t get anywhere through spurious name-calling.”
ON A warm Saturday evening three men drove a van on London Bridge as a prelude to an orgy of violence in which they ran down and stabbed dozens of people who had been enjoying a night out in London with friends. Seven died, closely followed by the terrorists themselves — shot by police within minutes of the start of their murder spree.
The questions we all ask ourselves after each terrorist atrocity is “why” and “where will this end?” Extremists have no realisable objectives except to sow division in British society and to undermine confidence in democracy. Theirs is a nihilistic death cult in which enjoying a drink on a night out is somehow sinful and depraved, yet butchering people with a kitchen knife is a righteous act.
Ironically, what stands out from the London and Manchester outrages are the acts of compassion and bravery. In Manchester taxi drivers gave free rides to concert-goers who were stranded, people offered strangers a place to sleep and social media was flooded with stories of kindness. In London unarmed members of the public confronted knife-wielding terrorists, with bottles, chairs and even their bare hands, delaying them long enough to allow terrified bypassers to run to