Opinion: Attacks Have Nothing to Do With Religion

July 8, 2005

Source: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1523812,00.html

On July 8, 2005 The Guardian ran an opinion piece by Sher Khan, chair of the public affairs committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, on the terrorist attacks on the London mass transit system. Khan writes, "There are people claiming responsibility for these atrocities, calling on the 'nation of Islam and the Arab nation to rejoice' as these acts are 'retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan.' These people give the lie to religion... Islam does not sanction such murder. Indeed, there is no one with a genuine belief in God who can have sympathy for such evil acts. The pursuit of justice cannot be used as an excuse for committing injustices against others. People who have lost their way in life have challenged our values. We must reply with a united voice. Two of the areas targeted have large Muslim communities. In fact, one in seven Londoners is a Muslim. This should make us all realise that the perpetrators of these crimes do not believe that any life has value: Christian or Muslim, Jew or Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh. They value no race either. Rather, they revel only in the indiscriminate killing of the innocent, and thus we are all their victims."