After a terror attack on a popular nightspot in London that left seven dead, more than 50 wounded and 21 in the hospital in critical condition, British Muslim groups expressed both dismay and anger at the murderous assault linked to Islamist extremists.
This attack is “an attack on all communities, including Muslim communities,” declared Mak Chishty, a commander in London’s Metropolitan police and the force’s leading expert on hate crime.
“Every time a terrorist attack takes place, Muslim communities either face or fear a backlash against them,” he said, speaking for London’s Muslim faith leaders. “[We] appeal to all sections within our own communities to root out the scourge of terrorism which hides amongst our own people and masquerades as Islam.”
Chishty wondered aloud how an attack by three people that would have required planning went unnoticed and was not reported. “We are now asking questions to understand how extremism and hatred has taken hold within some elements of our own communities,” he said.
“Last night we witnessed horror on our streets,” said Harun Khan, secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain. “This is the third attack in as many months: they are truly shocking and we condemn them in the strongest terms.”
“We are angry,” added Khan. “That this should happen in this month of Ramadan, when many Muslims were praying and fasting, only goes to show that these people respect neither life nor faith.
This is an ideology that makes killing and hating cool, and uses the words of Islam as a cloak to justify it. To the terrorists and to those who are sympathizing with them—This is not Islam. This is not our deen. This is not the way of our beloved prophet.”
While London was reeling from Saturday’s murderous spree, President Trump sent a poison pen tweet to Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, bashing him for a comment that Trump apparently misunderstood.
Khan still enjoys the support of both Prime Minister Theresa May and the U.S. ambassador to the UK, who commended his “strong leadership as he leads the city forward after this heinous attack.”
Meanwhile, the Very Reverend Andres Nunn of London’s Southwark Cathedral declared, “Now, more than ever, Christians need to ally with Muslims and work together … We all have good colleagues and neighbors who are Muslims, we know there are more good people around than bad.”