For a good while now, every negative news story involving either a Muslim, a group of Muslims or even a person with a vaguely ‘Muslim-looking’ face or a ‘Muslim-sounding’ name is swiftly followed by one sentence of immense stupidity:
Muslim communities need to do more to root out (insert crime here).
‘Why is this such an immensely stupid statement?’ I hear you ask.
When a white Briton commits the very same crime, and they do (quite often as it happens), do we see media outlets ask the same question of white British communities? Never. Do white British communities do enough to root out Paedophilia? It’s a ridiculous question to ask. Is it a cultural thing that means Paedophilia within white Britons is more likely than other communities? Of course it isn’t. Do white people need to apologise for every white Paedophile or rapist? Don’t be absurd.
So why do we see that minority communities in Britain face these very same questions? Muslims in particular face the pathetic accusation that we ‘Don’t do enough to root out terrorism and extremists in our midst’. If the accuser would stop for just a moment to allow the brain-mouth link to function correctly they may begin to understand why it is so ludicrous.
I’ve been to a great many mosques over the past five years. I’ve been to Pakistani mosques, Indian mosques, Somali mosques, Bengali mosques, Libyan mosques, Iraqi mosques, mixed mosques, Arab mosques, revert mosques, university mosques, multi-million pound mosques, garden shed mosques, multi-storey mosques, mosques in India, Nepal, Egypt, UAE, Palestine, Turkey and Britain. Not one of them had a dark little hideaway labelled ‘Terrorist Corner’.
What you must understand before asking whether Muslims ‘do enough’, or just outright declare that we don’t, is that terrorists or extremists in our midst don’t exactly shout their opinions from the rooftops. They probably don’t even discuss their views within the mosque itself and there’s actually a damned good reason for that too: It isn’t Islam. It isn’t welcome in our mosques, it isn’t welcome in our communities and it definitely isn’t welcome in our name. Our imams don’t preach hatred or talk of commandeering these isles in the name of Islam or of enforcing ‘Sharia Law’ on the native white population. They preach love and tolerance, equality and peace.
I often wander around inside mosques, casually eavesdropping on conversations and surprisingly enough I’ve never encountered any hushed groups of four to five angry, bearded, robed men sat around the blueprints of a major landmark discussing strategically placed plastic models of TNT. Usually they’re talking about the beauty of the Qur’an, talking about it’s pronunciation or meaning, talking about the Almighty or his Messenger. Mosques are not sinister breeding grounds for extremism and misogyny.
Consider this: how many ‘Dawn raids’ do police carry out on mosques on Counter-Terrorism grounds? None. The raids are always on houses, usually belonging to another seemingly mundane member of the local community. Usually the inhabitants eat, sleep, shower and s**t in that house. Often, they actually leave the house to buy food or talk to people about sport, news, the weather or family. Sometimes they invite people into that house, other times they’ll visit other people’s houses. They seem to be ordinary people. In fact some of them don’t even live within a ‘Muslim Neighbourhood’, some have the audacity to live next to White British people.
The problem then for the Muslim community then becomes a little more apparent don’t you think? In Islam, we believe in many miracles. Sadly mind-reading is not one of them. So tell me: What should Muslims be doing exactly? And what are you doing about Paedophiles, Rapists and Murderers?
war0nwar 
A very well written article. I for one do not feel the need to apologise for these barbarians. At the end of the day, it’s not Islam. It has nothing to do with me nor the rest of the Muslim community. However, when I do get asked about my thoughts on these situations, I tell them the truth: this is not Islam, Islam is derived from the word peace, why would God or any other god accept murder?
There’s a need for a “common enemy” to keep people afraid, create the illusion of difference, and distract people from looking at the real source of their everyday and long-term problems and suffering. The Muslims fit this bill very well. They can be grouped because of a common religion which is incompatible with Christianity, and which most non-Muslims are ignorant of. [Note that this is quite similar to Hitler’s scapegoating of the Jewish population, or even blaming illegal aliens for the economic hardship of working class citizens.]
The real problems stem from the corruption and selfish misuse of power by those who actually have power, and they are the same ones orchestrating the campaign to create a “common enemy” scapegoat. Taxation loopholes for multinational corporations are hurting the average citizen more than “terrorism”, because they are destroying economies (except for those skimming off the top and making a killing). There are think tanks working hard to disseminate misinformation, and create false impressions targeting Muslims. It’s all in the name of deceiving the general public (well, some of it may be genuine ignorance and stupidity).
You say the terrorists don’t hang out and scheme in mosques. That’s probably true. But I have a problem with even the term “terrorists” these days. The term is used for people risk their own lives to protect the environment, or merely oppose the illegal machinations of the banking industry. Whistle-blowers such as Julian Assange and Bradley Manning have been labeled “terrorists”, as have peaceful protesters gathered in Wall Street.
“Terrorist” have come to mean “automatically alien and wrong”. If you can label someone a “terrorist” there’s no need for a trial, or even to think about where they might be coming from. There’s no question of walking a mile in their shoes. They are the devil incarnate. They are not human.
But the heavy brush being used to tarnish anyone who opposes governmental and corporate corruption and crimes as a “terrorist” calls into question the those assigning the labels as much as those getting them. Now the word “terrorist” is becoming meaningless. I’ve started to notice that it almost always applies to underdogs in any conflict. If you shoot citizens with attack helicopters it’s not terrorism, but if you throw a rock at riot police it is. “Terrorism” has also come to signify the plight of the desperate and poor.
I agree that the term “terrorist” is highly suspect these days, and I additionally think that those with the most invested in the label are the ones who are also the most responsible for the real suffering of the majority of people alive today.
Totally agree, I also don’t like the term terrorist and I seriously dislike the use of extremist too.