Our own people bombed us - why?

It was a shock to Americans to learn that the Oklahoma bomber was not some foreign terrorist, but a fellow-citizen. A similar reaction has gripped Britons upon learning that the London bombings were carried out by our compatriots.

Like most Britons, I was shocked that the London bombers were British-born — but not entirely surprised. It is not the first time that British Muslims have engaged in jihad or sacrificed their lives in what are called ‘martyrdom operations’ — two did so in Tel Aviv; the innovation is that the London bombers did it in the UK, against their fellow-Britons. What drives young Britons to attack their compatriots?

The Ummah

To understand this, we must recognise that people in all religions — including Muslims — have transnational confessional allegiances. Muslims belong to the Ummah Ð the global Islamic community. In the Declaration of Medina, effectively the constitution of the Islamic city-state, Muhammad stated that the Meccan migrants and the people of Yathrib (Medina) together ‘constitute one nation (Ummah) in distinction from the rest of the people.’ This Ummah is the primary community to which Muslims in Britain belong.

The strongest communal links for any Muslim will be those with the Ummah, rather than with fellows of his race, ethnicity or nationality. As a British Muslim student declared: ‘I’ve always believed that I am Muslim first, then British…’ The Ummah concept explains why British lads would turn on their compatriots.

The English Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More in his execution speech stated: ‘I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first’. If there is a cleavage between Caesar and God for any devout religious believer, God wins out every time. The difference in Islam is that God is Caesar, and temporal Caesars are ‘false gods’, to use the concept of Sayyid Qutb, the Islamic thinker who influenced Bin Laden. If there is a tension between loyalty to Britain and loyalty to the Ummah, for the kind of Muslim who carried out 7/7, the latter is primary.

Because of the Ummah concept, Muslims in Britain view themselves as part of the oppressed — when Muslims in Palestine or Iraq suffer, British Muslims see it as though they themselves are suffering, just as Americans in Los Angeles identified with the suffering of their fellow-Americans in New York on 9/11.

Shared guilt

Since the British government is a close ally of America, it follows that the British Caesar is at war with God, so it is clear where the loyalties of the Ummah’s residents in Britain should lie. Al-Qaida argue, against the tradition of Islamic jurisprudence, that anyone in a country occupying Muslim lands who pays taxes and votes for the government engaged in ‘aggression’ shares its guilt, and is a legitimate target. If any Muslims are killed, they are simply collateral damage. Hence, killing their compatriots — and even their co-religionists — presented no ethical problems for the bombers.

Even among the most moderate Muslim there is exasperation about US and UK foreign policy. From what they see as pro-Israeli bias, to the Gulf War, the stationing of US forces in the Islamic holy land of Arabia, despite the Hadith (narrations of Muhammad) forbidding the presence of non-Muslims there, the invasion of Afghanistan and the last straw, the occupation of Iraq, which engendered immense anger among Muslims, Muslims increasingly believe themselves to be the victims of a modern-day crusade.

After all, that is how Bush first de-scribed ‘the War on Terror’. Moreover, Islamic ethics, unlike Christianity, eschews turning the other cheek. Rather the Qur’an tells Muslims: ‘Fight in the cause of God those who fight you’ (Surah 2.190). This is the Islamic concept of Qisas, literally ‘balance’, comparable to the Old Testament ‘eye for eye’, etc.

Disillusioned

Muslim Council of Britain spokesman Inayat Bunglawala recently commented on Channel 4 news that young Muslims in the UK were disillusioned with the government over Iraq. The government refused to listen to the 2003 protest where two million rallied against the war — the biggest demonstration in British history. It also refused to listen to the electors — especially Muslims — who deserted Labour for the anti-war parties. Rallies failed, elections failed — leaving only one option in the minds of some Muslims. Muslims are influenced by the concept of family and communal honour (izzat) and defence of the honour of Islam (ghairat). Al-Qaida echoes the feelings of most Muslims about how ‘humiliated’ they feel by the occupation of Arabia, Iraq and Palestine, and honour can only be satisfied by blood.

The sexual humiliation of Muslim detainees in Abu Ghraib gave Zarqawi the religious and cultural justification he needed to behead Nick Berg — Americans humiliated Muslims, so Muslims would avenge that dishonour by blood — and Al-Qaida view all Westerners whose governments wage war on Muslims as legitimate targets for the satisfaction of that violated honour. In the UK at least, the avengers of that honour turned out to be British. Remember, Muslim honour, once violated, can only be satisfied by blood.

Our own people bombed us - why?

Reflections on the background to the July London suicide attacks

The Ummah

Shared guilt

Disillusioned

Dr. Anthony McRoy

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