It’s never a Muslim’s fault

These two rather nasty incidents resulted in charges of attempted murder while I was on holiday earlier this week, hence I’m only just posting now.

On 27th February a man aged 82 was leaving the West London Islamic Centre in Ealing when another worshipper engaged him in conversation, and then sprayed the old man with a substance and set him ablaze. The old man was seriously hurt but he will recover. CCTV of the congregation showed the assailant (left) to be a young black man who other worshippers said had once been a member of the congregation, but had not been seen locally for some time. Despite this the attack (and it was indeed a wicked thing to do) was condemned as “racist” and “islamophobic”.

On March 20th at the Dudley Road Mosque in Edgbaston Birmingham something similar happened again. A young black man engaged an older Asian man in conversation. The conversation was said to have been about language; the younger man was an Arabic speaker  who challenged the older man who declared that he spoke Urdu. The younger man then sprayed a substance and set light to the older man who was taken to hospital with burns to his arms and face. CCTV showed that the two assailants looked very similar.

The assaults were again loudly condemned as Islamophobic and racist. White supremacists are every where. Racist is going to be quite a likely motive if the reports of the exchange regarding Arabic v Urdu are accurate.

Counter terror police became involved in the investigation as the believed the two incidents were linked. And they are. The same man was arrested for both attacks and he has been charged with two counts of attempted murder. .

However even pointing out that the CCTV of both incidents showed that the attacker is clearly black didn’t convince everybody. Ismail Y Syed describes himself as a scholar and lawyer of Islamic and International law.

On 21st March he wrote

Very sad. The issue of the above black individual being used or hired by white supremacist or by vested interest groups should also not be ruled out either.

Two days later on the 23rd March the police named the man as he was to appear before the Birmingham magistrates court that day.  He is Mohammed Abbkr, 28, from Sudan  but currently living in Edgbaston (presumably why he was no longer seen in Ealing Mosque). He will appear at the Crown Court Birmingham next month.

Ismail Y Syed hasn’t tweeted on the attack since; he has confined his comments to his other interests of Kashmir and Palestine.

But just to be on the safe side the congregations of some east London mosques have been issued with personal alarms because they feel vulnerable

Community group Newham Muslims said that last night (Thursday, March 23) dozens of the devices were dished out to safeguard members of the community. . .

A Newham Muslims spokesperson tweeted: “Last night we distributed dozens of personal alarms to mosque leaders in Plaistow so they can provide reassurance to anyone feeling vulnerable after the recent incidents.

Attendees were told: “Try to car share to reduce traffic at the Masjids, but also as a safety precaution, offering lifts to your elderly and young neighbours. Try to attend and depart from the masjid walking in groups walking in similar directions – walk with elderly if they are alone.

“Be alert as opportunistic crimes increase during Ramadhan. Invest in a loud Safety Whistle in case of emergency for yourself and young and elderly family members. Become a Marshall at your local masjid and encourage others to endure the safety of our elders going home. Masjid trustees and management need to ask for an extended police presence during Fajr and Taraweeh – not only outside the Masjid but also circulating in the local area where Muslims will be walking to and from the Masjid.

I wish the elderly men who suffered such nasty attacks well in their recovery. But their community must look to their own for motive and culpability.