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Yesterday, according to the BBC, four explosions in London killed 50 people and injured over 700. The explosions were coordinated including three subway attacks and another on a public bus. The headlines across cable news channels and covers of newspapers around the world all proclaimed that this was an Al-Qaeda style attack.

I am praying that Muslims didnt commit these attacks. But the fact of the matter and reality and recent history suggest that it probably was Muslims who committed these actions. I for one, as a Muslim, publicly condemn any actions of terrorism or unjust violence in the name of Islam.

For more on Islam and terrorism, you can read:
1. What does Islam say about Terrorism?
2. What is the Islamic Stance on the London Bombings?

Again, one thing that sticks out from that 30 Days show last week, was how Dave was so suspicious of Muslims and always was wondering if there were any “sleeper cell terrorists” from the group. Furthermore, after having reservations about how Islam was such a violent and harsh religion, during his 30 day transformation, he realized how ‘peaceful’ Muslims actually were. For above all else Islam is a religion where peace and justice are considered Divine Attributes are God, and those are attributes that we, as vicegerents of God, should strive to attain to the fullest. But if that is the case, why are so many Muslims violent and barbaric and strive to terrorize and act harshly in a manner that is anything but peaceful? Moreover, why dont we, the “peaceful Muslims” stand up and condemn and put down this group of people who claim to share our beliefs and faith. Well, I can assure you that all the major mainstream Muslim organizations in the U.S. and the world, including most, if not all of the Mosques as well have condemned these actions. Even I made a point to condemn it, and i just run this little blog. We are publicly crying outwardly in condemnation of these actions, now as for why people arent hearing our cries, this leads to other questions.

Nonetheless, I, for one, continue to be appalled at not only the actions but the mentality of these so-called Muslims. Like I have said in the past on numerous occaisions, i do truly believe the the greatest enemies of Islam are not any external group or goverment or country or even religion. The greatest enemies of Islam are Muslims, those Muslims who act in the name of our deen, the same deen that their thoughts and actions so radically contradict.

And finally, below I have copied and pasted a response to the London Bombings by Imam Zaid Shakir of the Zaytuna Institute.

The Roads to Peace
By Imam Zaid Shakir

The roads to peace are paths of war,
The gentle dove will leave her scar.

Only our Creator knew,
We’d kill so many to save so few.

The recent terrorist tragedy in London is disheartening. Once again some nefarious force has seen fit to totally disregard innocent human life in pursuit of a vile agenda that few of us know and even fewer could understand….
The response of the world leaders assembled in Edinburgh for the G-8 Summit is perhaps more disheartening, as it promises more of the misguided policies that have proven so ineffective in prosecuting the war on terror. The leaders of the Western powers continue to imply that they will fight violence with more violence of their own. If current events are any indicator of future developments, such a policy will only serve to beget yet more terrorism.

This is a war being guided on both sides by self-righteous hypocrites whose motives and proclamations mirror each other. Each side sees God as being exclusively with them. That being the case, the restraint and judiciousness urged by Christian and Islamic theology to guide the execution of war is cast aside with wanton impunity. Each side manipulates a vulnerable public to create a climate that allows for the perpetuation and the inevitable escalation of the ongoing slaughter. Each side reserves the right to use the spectacle of indiscriminate violence to “Shock and Awe” the opposition, yet will deny that its tactics can be described as terrorism. Each side sees their civilian population as hapless, innocent victims, while the suffering innocent civilians on the other side are acceptable collateral damage.

There will never be any real progress in ending this terror war, until we realize that we have all become collateral damage, unacceptable collateral damage. That being the case, there is no they or we in this affair. We are they and they are we. When a child in New York never sees his mother again because she was crushed in a collapsed tower at the World Trade Center, we all have suffered an irreplaceable loss. When an impoverished family in Afghanistan is bombed from the face of the Earth by a misguided missile, something of our collective humanity is destroyed by the blast. When a child in Iraq is born with gross birth defects due to his mother’s exposure to depleted uranium, we have all been deformed. When London commuters fear ever again entering the underground, because of the ill-advised actions of a handful of desperate fanatics, their insecurity touches us all.

We, the collaterally damaged, will continue to exist in a state of dehumanizing loss, deformity, and insecurity until we rise up, unite, and refuse to support at any level the policies of leaders who continually fail to heed one of the surest of all political lessons: killing innocent civilians will never lead to a positive outcome for the transgressing party. This realization is the first meaningful salvo anyone could fire in a real war on terror. However, as long as we are not as moved by the suffering of innocent civilians anywhere as we are by the suffering of those close to us, it will be a salvo that remains unfired.

Imam Zaid Shakir 7/7/05