Reply To: London
If people started bombing and killing and stabbing and beheading in my name then I would be appalled. And I would condemn it in the strongest possible language.
Would I be responsible for it? Well I didn’t actually do the killing so I am not responsible for that. But if I am silent then the message I send is that I accept people killing in my name.
The focus should turn to who then can stop these extremists?
So lets put the question in terms of how do we reach these extremely religious people who commit crimes in the name of their religion.
A religious zealot is not going to listen to me. They may listen to a fellow muslim and it is these less religious muslims who need support from us. We can support them by sending them the message that speaking out is ok and it is right and it is necessary.
So in terms of finding a solution – it would appear essential that the less extreme believers speak out.
But rather than culpability we need to be talking about responsibility. It is my view that all muslims have a responsibility to take ownership of the problem and ownership of the solution. This quite clearly is not happening.
