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‘Anger still felt among our young Muslim men’

A leader of the Muslim community in Leeds today said that the anger that fuelled the four bombers is still felt among some young men in the area.

Akhlaq Mir also called on the Government to “face up” to its responsibilities and help them fight terrorism.

Mr Mir said: “There are still feelings there that triggered the bombings. As far as the Muslim youth are concerned, our soldiers are out in Afghanistan killing people every day and they are angry and they are frustrated.”

Mr Mir, chairman of an education centre in the Chapeltown area of the city, added: “We try to educate them, we tell them what Islam says.

“But the fear is always there that some of them will follow a path that they shouldn't.

“The Government needs to do more, to provide projects like ours with funding and also give some of these young people a voice, so they can vent their anger and feel like they are being listened to without resorting to violence.”

Kasim Nasir, 27, who was an imam at a mosque used by Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Jermaine Lindsay, said residents in Beeston were horrified by what they did, but that the responsibility to deter young men from radicalisation lies with the Government.

He said: “People are ed by what they did, but people aren't concerned that others from here will follow the same path, because that is not the message this mosque or any other gives out.

[Mod Note: this bit is not in the article, so is typed by event horizon, we presume]
Nope, no radicals here. Just us peaceful Muslims.

“The problem is outside the mosque and therefore the Government needs to sort it out.”

Fahad Khan, 23, who works with Muslim teenagers in Beeston, said: “The bombers hijacked the Islamic faith in a negative way. We don't want July 7 to be a legacy of Beeston or Leeds and so we are working hard to change that. Everyone wants to move on.”

A friend of the families of Tanweer, Hussain and Khan, said today was the day for the 52 innocent people killed but said the families “can't understand how their sons could have done this and they will never get the answers to their questions”.

The Imam says that the problem is 'outside the mosque' - and if true, he has a valid point, don't you think?

A hardline Islamic movement, whose leading UK imam preaches anti-Semitism and calls on Muslims to "shed blood for Allah", is controlling almost half of Britain's mosques, a police report has found.

The influence of the ultra-conservative Deobandi sect, which is characterised by its total rejection of western values, has grown to such an extent that police now believe it runs more than 600 of Britain's 1,350 mosques.

The revelations will put further scrutiny on plans for a "mega mosque" in east London by a group called Tablighi Jamaat, who are closely linked to the Deobandi movement.

The £100 million plan to build the "Islamic village" next to the Olympic site is already mired in controversy after intelligence services said the group was a recruiting ground for al Qaeda.

The Deobandi- controlled mosques are predominantly found in the Midlands and the North - such as the Tablighi Jamaat mosque which 7/7 bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer were known to attend.

Seventeen of Britain's 26 Islamic seminaries are also run by Deobandis, producing 80 per cent of clerics trained here.

The most vocal preacher in Britain, Sheikh Riyadh ul Haq, supports armed jihad and is openly contemptuous of Christians, Jews and Hindus.

Mr ul Haq, 36, who runs an Islamic academy in Leicester, gained notoriety with a series of outspoken lectures after 9/11 when he was Imam of Birmingham Central Mosque. He has since travelled the world preaching that America and its allies are seeking to wipe out Islam.

Tapes of his sermons reveal an open hatred of Western culture, an admiration for the Taliban and a passion for martyrdom - although he does say in one lecture that "British Muslims should not rise here"

A favourite talk of his, however, warns Muslims of the perils of befriending the "kuffar", or non-believer. He says: "The Koran teaches Muslims not to follow in the footsteps of the Jews and the Christians, yet of our own choice we decide to live, act, work, behave, enjoy and play just like the kuffar".

"Do not befriend the kuffarî was Allah's warning to Muslims, and Muhammad told his companions "to distance themselves and fear this alignment with the kuffar in every way, even to the manner of dressing"