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Only We Can Terrorize Ourselves For this eighth anniversary of that terrible day, the first post-Bush-era anniversary, let's remember what actually happened: When the planes became missiles and the towers became torches and then shards and clouds of dust, many were afraid, but few if any panicked, other than the President who was far away from danger. The military failed to respond promptly, even though the Pentagon itself was attacked, and the only direct resistance that day came from inside Flight 93, which went down in a field in Pennsylvania on its way to Washington. -- Rebecca Solnit | |||
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Eight years ago, 2,600 people lost their lives in Manhattan, and then several million people lost their story. The al-Qaeda attack on the Twin Towers did not defeat New Yorkers. It destroyed the buildings, contaminated the region, killed thousands, and disrupted the global economy, but it most assuredly did not conquer the citizenry. They were only defeated when their resilience was stolen from them by clichés, by the invisibility of what they accomplished that extraordinary morning, and by the very word "terrorism," which suggests that they, or we, were all terrified. The distortion, even obliteration, of what actually happened was a necessary precursor to launching the obscene response that culminated in a war on Iraq, a war we lost (even if some of us don't know that yet), and the loss of civil liberties and democratic principles that went with it. 
Who should we blame for the failure of the 9/11 truth movement to fix the historical record and, better yet, identify those in the government who turned 9/11 into an excuse for going to war, getting them indicted, prosecuted, and punished for their murderous acts?
Following the 9/11 attacks on the United States when the world turned upside down for Muslims around the world, Dr Naik stepped up his battle of hearts and minds by travelling around the world and offering lectures, talks and interviews, to distinguish the original faith of peace from the hateful death cult championed by extremists like Osama bin Laden. He has delivered at least 1200 public talks in the US, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Asia since 9/11, not to mention countless others held in India.
The Quran emphatically asserts that death is not the final end but a gateway to a different kind of life: We mete out death among you.... that we may transfigure you and make you what you know not. And verily you know the first creation. Why then do we not reflect? (56: 61-63)![[col4.gif]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8o4gUQ0IFXk3fhn0KZ1VAK0tg8gf_CZWqMSGy-2dxklSG0WzFvDpRiBJ9zDjuhUperbG025Rm_F-DvOchBYk_xN1GfztDSKz5r6kchP3jZCHK0_QoGYo1PfoyGRmYtalHmgPPTPL5C0E/s1600/col4.gif)
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Boris Johnson on his visit to the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel. Photograph: Tony Kyriacou/Rex Features
Here's what the future Mayor Johnson wrote in The Spectator shortly after the bomblings of 7 July 2005:
The Islamicists last week horribly and irrefutably asserted the supreme importance of [their] faith, overriding all worldly considerations, and it will take a huge effort of courage and skill to win round the many thousands of British Muslims who are in a similar state of alienation, and to make them see that their faith must be compatible with British values and with loyalty to Britain. That means disposing of the first taboo, and accepting that the problem is Islam. Islam is the problem.
To any non-Muslim reader of the Koran, Islamophobia - fear of Islam - seems a natural reaction, and, indeed, exactly what that text is intended to provoke. Judged purely on its scripture - to say nothing of what is preached in the mosques - it is the most viciously sectarian of all religions in its heartlessness towards unbelievers....
It is time that we started to insist that the Muslim Council of Great Britain, and all the preachers in all the mosques, extremist or moderate, began to acculturate themselves more closely to what we think of as British values.
Emotions ran high after that cruel atrocity in Central London, so perhaps allowances should be made. Also, if you read the whole article, you'll see that Boris's argument is more nuanced than this extract might make it appear. Even so, his claim that Islam is intrinsically an obstacle to Muslim loyalty to Britain seemed pretty unequivocal. Compare it with what he said during a Politics Show debate last April as Mayoral election polling day approached:
The problem is people who wrench out of context quotes from the holy book of Islam, the Koran, and use it to inspire evil in men's hearts. That is a fact that few serious people would deny and we need to tackle the extremists.
So three years after 7/7 Boris no longer seemed prepared to say that "Islam is the problem" only that a minority of Muslims who deliberately misinterpret its scripture are. And now this, uttered at the East London Mosque last Friday:
I urge people, particularly during Ramadan, to find out more about Islam, increase your understanding and learning, even fast for a day with your Muslim neighbour and break your fast at the local mosque. I would be very surprised if you didn't find that you share more in common than you thought.
This has excited much comment, most penetratingly at Harry's Place where (via Conservative Home) some rather unBritish connections of the mosque's imam are documented at length. My interest here, though, is in Boris's intriguing journey from an anti-Islam, pro-"Britishness" position where he called for Muslims to align their faith with "British values" to one where he urges everyone who's not a Muslim to sample an Islamic lifestyle.
Perhaps the answer lies in something else he said in Whitechapel last week:
Whether it's in theatre, comedy, sports, music or politics, Muslims are challenging the traditional stereotypes and showing that they are, and want to be, a part of the mainstream community...Muslims are at the heart of every aspect of society. Their contribution is something that all Londoners benefit from. Muslim police officers, doctors, scientists and teachers are an essential part of the fabric of London.
Islamic finance is contributing to the economy by changing the way Londoners invest, save, borrow and spend. There are valuable lessons that people of all backgrounds can learn from Islam such as the importance of community spirit, family ties, compassion and helping those less fortunate, all of which lie at the heart of the teachings of Ramadan.
It really does appear that "Islam is the problem" no more - quite a conversion. Is it because Boris believes that his call for British Muslims to embrace "British values" has been heeded in the four years since he made it, or are other considerations involved?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog/2009/sep/08/boris-johnson-islam-east-london-mosque
Posted by Syed Asadullah