'How I learnt to love Muslims and hate non-believers'
By Arifa Akbar
13 April 2004

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=511010

Abdul Muhid can vividly recall the moment at primary
school when he realised he was different from his
classmates. Aged just eight, he was deeply affected by
the harrowing images of the Gulf war on television in
1990 and 1991.

"It was one of the turning points of my life. I saw
people who believed what I believed, being killed. I
drew a poster in class which said 'Stop the war' and I
remember the teacher telling me not to get involved in
politics because it was a dirty business. But I felt
really strongly, and every other Muslim at school felt
the same. I became aware of how to love Muslims and
hate non-Muslims for the disbelief they carry."

He was drawn to a fraternity of older boys at his
local mosque in Stoke Newington, north London. "They
knew of their Islamic responsibility and condemned the
attacks. We learnt from the imams that this was an
attack on Islam." By the time Mr Muhid, now 21 and a
British-born Bangladeshi from east London, had joined
Kingsland secondary school in Dalston, he sensed
antipathy from non-Muslim pupils.

"The hatred towards Islam was more apparent. I had
joked with my non-Muslim classmates before but now I
found their jokes included insults to Islam, about men
wearing tea-cosies or tea towels on their heads. As
the hatred grew with the conflicts around the world
against Muslims, the comments about 'our boys and our
war' made me think who they were referring to when
they said 'our boys'."

At 16, Mr Muhid found himself becoming more focused on
Islam. "My past was awakened with the second Gulf war
and I joined Al Muhajiroun. It was not anger that made
me join but I knew my obligation and I knew we needed
to be a team in Islam. I made Islam my priority. From
then on, I started studying it at home and in study
circles at the mosque."

With 10 GCSEs and three A levels, Mr Muhid began a
degree course in economics at London Metropolitan
University in 2000. He passed the first-year exams,
but discussed the course with teachers at the sharia
(Islamic law) school in Tottenham, north London. He
left university and enrolled at the school. "The main
principle of economics in this country is the belief
that there are not enough resources for everyone's
needs. But Islam says there are enough resources for
everyone's needs, though not enough for their greed. I
could not study a subject for three years if its
foundation were rotten, because it would bear only
rotten fruit."

He has since been arrested and released without charge
for obstruction in demonstra-tions but that has not
deterred him. He said the vigilante atmosphere in
which anti-terror laws have targeted Muslims in
Britain has made many feel unwelcome. The pressure was
on before 11 September but then the focus was on
trying to be one big global village, so as a Muslim,
you could not be anything different. After 11
September, that was blown to bits. Now it has become,
'Either you are with us or with the terrorist'. It
makes no difference any more, the label of terrorist
or fundamentalist or extremist. If extremist means
someone who is against the present law and order of
Great Britain, then I am an extremist.

"Muslims are being asked to answer, 'Are you with us
or are you with them?'. The British Government is
pushing me to make a choice. No one has defined what
'us' means. Does it stand for George Bush and his
military aggression?"

Mousa Admani, a chaplain and imam who counsels Muslim
teenagers, said: "A total and exclusive identification
with one religious group is dangerous. At five, a boy
could be sent for lessons in Islam, where he is given
the message that he should not associate with
non-Muslims. He gets layers and layers of messages and
by the time he is 16 or 17, he has alienated himself
from society." Such youths, he added, many from
affluent backgrounds, co-exist in mainstream society
while secretly harbouring hatred of it.

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim
Parliament of Great Britain, said the indiscriminate
arrest and detention of young Asian men had helped to
"alienate, marginalise and criminalise" Muslim
communities.

Mr Muhid said that Tony Blair's war against terror was
stoking dissent and increasing the membership of
Islamic groups such as Al Mujahiroun. "The British
government's drive on Islamaphobia is doing us a
favour."






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