Only Muslim survivor of 7/7 says we must stand together against Islamophobia

I don’t know if she is blind to the truth or a taqiyya merchant. From the Sunday Telegraph and ITV News

The only Muslim survivor of the 7/7 terror attack in London is calling for unity in the face of increasing Islamophobia. Sajda Mughal was 22-years-old and travelling on the Piccadilly Line when four coordinated bombs were detonated by suicide bombers – including one on the train she was one. Now she says we should stand together against Islamophobia in the same way people did against terrorism a decade ago. 

As part of a unique initiative, she runs courses for predominantly Muslim mothers on how to spot signs of extremism in their children, teaching them internet skills, how to search web histories and which websites to look out for. In the two years the project has been running, Mughal has helped 200 mothers, and in February she was awarded an OBE by the Prince of Wales.

Mughal’s own life has been irrevocably shaped by terrorism. On 7 July 2005, then aged 22, she was on the same Tube train as Germaine Lindsay, who blew himself up, killing 26 people as well as injuring 340 more. 

That evening, Mughal started to hear news reports, first that it was a bombing and that the four men had carried out the attack in the name of Islam. For Mughal, a Muslim herself, this was devastating.

“It really affected me, having been down there and thinking I was going to die, then finding out it was done by men from my religion. Islam states if you take one innocent life it’s as if you’ve killed the whole of humanity – they had gone completely against Islam. . . But I couldn’t shake the questions I had. I was waking up every day thinking that 7/7 should never have happened. I kept asking myself, what could have been done to prevent those men doing that?” 

Now Mughal works tirelessly at the charity – despite receiving regular death threats from people she calls Islamophobes – from 9.30am to 7pm, often staying up until as late as 3am. “There’s always a funding proposal to write,” she says, wryly. 

It can be gruelling and distressing work. After the attacks she began researching extremist material online. “It was horrible. Some of the videos are disgusting. But I thought it was important to know what was out there.” She started speaking in schools, where some children would tell her they had sympathy with the bombers.

“I would tell them about my experience of 7/7 and tell them to imagine it was their mother, or sister, or friend down there. It’s important to have a face-to-face dialogue with children and provide counter-arguments, not push them online to find answers.” 

When Mughal spoke to a packed hall of mothers at the end of last year, still only four per cent of them knew about Isil. “That is why we need to keep working, to improve education and help save our children,” she says. 

But over the last decade she says she has seen an increase in Islamphobioa with attacks on women wearing the veil, vandalism of homes, discrimination in applying for jobs and bullying in schools. She also points to the recent trending hashtag “Kill All Muslims” as an example of how widespread it has become. 

“When we speak to young Muslims they tell us they are experiencing a rise in Islamophobia and they are feeling disconnected from society because of that. Extremism to some degree is fueled by Islamophobia, young Muslims are telling us first hand they have experienced it or their family has and that is making them feel alienated and that leaves some vulnerable to radicalisation.

What was poignant for me and what stood out [after 7/7] was how Londoners came together to help everyone that day, regardless of your background, and that is what I would like to see happen today to tackle the issues of extremism and Islamophobia we are facing.”

I’m sorry to have to tell you Mrs Mughal but knowledge once known cannot be dis-known. We know what it says in the Koran now,and the ahadith, and the conduct of Mohammed, that perfect man to be emulated in all things. I’ll assume that you are genuine and mean well. Until and unless Mohammed is treated as a man, flawed and sinful like us all and not a god, then Islam cannot reform into a Godly creed.