Bishopnose

A report, Muslims shift from violence, in the International Herald Tribune today says that a survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project conducted before the 7 July London bombings has found that Muslims in the Middle East and Asia see less justification now for violence against civilians than they did two years ago. The poll was conducted in 17 countries, among 17,000 people, including 6 predominantly Muslim countries, excluding Malaysia, between late April and early June. The IHT says "it offers an unusually broad look at Muslim attitudes, and at Western attitudes on a range of Muslim issues." The six predominantly Muslim countries which took part in the survey are Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan and Turkey which together have a combined Muslim population of about 516 million, less than a third of the 1.7 billion Muslim people worldwide, while the 11 countries with minority Muslim population which participated in the poll are Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and the United States.

Question: Can 17,000 people (0.001%) speak for 1.7 billion Muslims in the world? Can the sampling of 5,228 (0.0004%) in the 6 Muslim countries in the poll speak for 1.2 billion Muslims in the Middle East and Asia? There are 46 predominantly Muslim countries in the world.

Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Turkey in the Middle East together account for about 110 million Muslims while Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, and Pakistan in Asia make up about 406 million Muslims.

It seems that Shakespeare might be wrong to say that "the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." Everyone seems to have good things to say about the suicide bombers in England. Here's another "eulogy" from a report, "Trail From London to Leeds Yields Portraits of 3 Bombers", in today's Washington Post:

 As parents dropped off their children at the Hillside Primary School in Leeds on Thursday, they had nothing but good things to say about a teaching assistant, Mohammed Sidique Khan, one of the suspected bombers. They called the 30-year-old instructor kind, bright and popular, especially with the special-needs students he was trained to help.

"He was brilliant with the children. He went on trips with the kids, and my little girl went with him on a trip to London," Sharon Stevens, whose 11-year-old daughter attends the school, told reporters.

"I just can't believe that somebody like Mr. Khan could be involved in something like this," said another mother, shaking their head.

Good gracious, he isn't Tony Blair. The Guardian today reports that the Picaddilly line bomber from number 10 ... Northern Road was a figure of contrasts. Well, sounds like Bambi anyway. It says of Lindsey Germail in the intro of the story "Loving father, bad neighbour, Picaddilly line bomber": Neighbours would see him hurrying to and from his red Fiat Brava, carrying his baby in doting fashion. Sometimes they would be forced to berate him as he blared Arabic music from his house and his car, often in the early hours.

Here's a quote from The Guardian's story:

"These people might think they are good Muslims, but they are not. I was born and bred here. They just make life harder for the rest of us." -- Aman Azram, 23, an insurance clerk.

The Star proudly proclaims on its front page today:

Here are excerpts from The Star report, "Malaysians: Bombers lived among us?" quoting Malaysian Azmi Shafeei who lives a few doors away from London teenage suicide bomber Hasib Mir Hussain in Leeds:

"It is shocking that my wife and I have been staying in the same neighbourhood as these people for the last two years. 

But all our neighbours seemed to be very nice and friendly. We go to the mosque and pray together, especially during Ramadan," he said yesterday in a telephone interview from his house in Leeds, about 350km north of London.

"I used to see some of them going to the mosque every day. They seemed so religious," said Azim (sic) who is from Kelaantan (sic).

Note: Emphasis is mine.

I'm overcome by sadness after reading today's story Hasib Hussain: The boy who grew up to bomb the No 30 bus in The Independent newspaper. I won't say anything more except that my heart bleeds for all those who died in the terror attack; particularly for Hasib Hussain. With apologies to The Independent, I've lifted a part of its story here which says much:

A man who said he was Hasib Hussain's uncle said yesterday his nephew was not "the type'' to be a bomber. "He was a nice lad. He was really nice," he said. "He wasn't the type of guy to do it. He wouldn't do it. I wish in my heart he was still alive."

A series of setbacks in Hussain's life may be behind a sudden change from a British Asian who dressed in Western clothes to a religious teenager who wore Islamic garb and only stopped to say salaam to fellow Muslims.

School created the first setback. After attending Ingram Primary, he moved up to Matthew Murray secondary- now the Holbeck campus of South Leeds College - in September 1998, where he was entered for a number of GCSEs. But he was withdrawn by teachers from his GCSEs and left on 20 July 2003 with a GNVQ in business studies.

He had always found an escape in football. But, about two years ago, the Hornets' pitch was closed down. At about the same time, Hussain seemed to disappear into another world, according to associates.

"He was really into cricket and football. We would get together every weekend, then they closed the pitch down. I never saw him much after that until six to eight weeks ago," said a friend.

It seems he thought he had found Islam. He grew a beard and began dressing in traditional Muslim clothes. When he was last spotted by the friend he had shaved off his beard. Al-Qa'ida analysts have claimed that may be a sign of a radicalised Muslim's intention to become a terrorist. The friend said: "I asked him why he had shaved off the beard. He said it was a long story and that he did not like one mosque saying one thing and another mosque saying that was the wrong way. When he heard so many arguments he thought, 'Forget it. I will go my own way'."

It seems that he found no answers from the devoutly Islamic household where he grew up. He was close to Imran, according to locals. Imran, believed to be 24, works as an administrator in Leeds, and he has a young daughter.

But, according to some, Hussain's parents despaired of him for a time when, in the words of another friend, he went "off the rails" as an adolescent and they made desperate attempts to instil discipline into him. His father, Mahmood, a devout Muslim, is in bad health and has been unable to hold down a regular job....

Although Hussain's parents did not know it, his fatal association with the three men who joined him last Thursday may have dated back to those formative years at Ingram Primary School.

Note: Emphasis is mine.