Guilty by association (From Asian Image)

Guilty by association

1:42pm Friday 25th May 2007 in News features By Asian Image reporter

As a British born Muslim it is quite distressing watching the news.

It has been distressing for a while now. Either there is a Muhammed trying to blow up a shopping centre or a Hussain planning to target British soldiers somewhere across the world.

As a British Muslim you cannot win. The media has a fascination with Muslims and has had one for some time now.

If there is anything with a Muslim angle to it then no doubt it gets printed. From Muslim marriages to Muslim porn stars. Stick a Muslim before it and somehow it becomes a good story.

And there is nothing you can do about it. Moan and you'll get told to shut up and take it. If you stay quiet and then they'll think you are hiding something and not debating the issue.

There are however a few home truths that need to be made public.

First of all British Muslims have not done enough to kick out the idiots from within their communities. The recent cases of more British-born Muslims caught planning to wreak havoc on the mainland was another example about how divided we as Muslims are.

But the reason these people have slipped through the net is because their ideas are alien to the average British Muslim.

The average British Muslim is Muslim by name only. If you don't like that statement then it is something we and the wider community needs to realise.

No we don't all go to mosque five times a day. No we don't all live our lives according to the strict principles of Islam. And most of all no we don't have close-knit families.

The modern-day British Muslim is far from being your model Muslim. The community is as disenfranchised as any other community in the land.

And it is this notion that annoys the hell out of most British Muslims' living here. The media and the government has painted a picture of unity and one where Muslims have segregated themselves from the mainstream.

This could not be further from the truth. This notion of one-community' has been hammered down the throats of the British public to such an extent that it has become totally laughable to most of us.

It is well-known British Muslims tend to care about issues affecting the wider Muslim world but do we honestly deep down care so much to do something about it?

Or is it more important to have the odd groan but ensure we have the latest gadgets for our home just like everyone else?

I spoke to one non-Muslim who after a witnessing a crime by a group of Asian men felt it wasn't a Muslim thing to do'. Well, It wasn't something anyone of any religion would do either' I replied.

Whilst there has been a major shift in recent years to reaching out' to ordinary' Muslims the government is gulity of playing the same old card with the same old people.

To many people, the authorities are not really interested in fighting terrorism at its roots. Because if they were they wouldn't continue to seek the guidance from their chosen contacts.

Fighting terrorism should not be about politics or parties or titles. But just like everything else it has become just that.

As one set of projects' and campaigns' ends another begins and who do we have heading these new initiatives?

Those same individuals who headed the last set.

I spoke to one man recently who was more interested in the funds being put forward for a Muslim-related anti-terrorism' home office project than what the project actually entailed.

We the British Muslims realise that we have amongst us people who want to kill and maim people because they think they are fighting some sort of holy war.

These people exist and no-one is denying that.

But to be guilty simply by association - that is one notion that will always see the authorities fail when it comes to fighting terrorism.