Al Shindagah

4 | Al Shindagah | Issue 136 POLITICS ©APImages hen news of the terrorist attack in Manchester first broke, I experienced feelings of sorrow. England, where I have a country home, has always held a special place in my heart. But since soulless fiends murdered innocent people in London out enjoying a lovely summer’s evening, my sorrow has turned to rage. Eyewitnesses say the killers shouted “This is for Allah” during their indiscriminate stabbing rampage. One woman was stabbed up to 14 times. I do not know which god they worship or religion they follow. I do know it is not mine. They are cultish blasphemers hiding under Islam when their deity is death. The Holy Quran forbids the killing of women and children even during war and states that the killing of one innocent person is like killing all of humanity. These sick individuals are not only robbing human life all over the world, they are waging war against everything my tolerant, peaceful faith, the religion of Islam, stands for. Prime Minister Theresa May said enough is enough. She has finally admitted that the United Kingdom has been too tolerant of extremism. What took her so long to reach that conclusion? It is one that I came to many years ago when Daesh was touting for followers in the centre of London under the eyes of the police and its flags were seen fluttering over one of the capital’s suburbs. In December 2014, I wrote in an article headed “The UK, an extremist’s Utopia” that evidence is pointing to Britain becoming a safe haven for terrorist organizations. I went on to cite the ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal, where state- run schools in Bradford were found pursuing an extremist agenda, and the freedom given to Al Muhajiroon whose radical leader Anjem Choudary was recruiting for Daesh. It amazes me that one of the London attackers, Khuram Butt, was a Choudary Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor • Published in the media on 9 June 2017 W sympathiser who had been on MI5’s radar since 2015. Another had been flagged by Italy. The killer who murdered four people last March in Westminster had also been investigated by MI5 only to be written off as harmless. There seems to be a pattern here. What is the point of tracking suspects when they are free to embark on bloody rampages at will? It is a similar story in France and Belgium. Britain has even put out a welcome mat for the Muslim Brotherhood. When I read a message on the Home Office’s (Ministry of Interior) own website actually inviting “high profile or politically active” Brotherhood members to apply for asylum in the UK, I was incredulous. The father of the terrorists’ ideology was one of the Brotherhood’s own leading lights Sayyid Qutb. The UK’s politically correct culture has gone to ridiculous extremes. The police hesitated to arrest Pakistani gangs that were sexually abusing 1,400 children in the town of Rotherham because “of Britain must fight fire with fire