Muslim leaders join Christians and Jews in denouncing terrorism

Muslims say terror is evil
BY SIMON CALDWELL
ISLAMIC leaders have joined Christians and Jews in denouncing terrorism as “evil” amid the dawning realisation that the London bombers were British-born Muslims. Sheikh Zaki Badawi, head of the Council of Mosques and Imams, said the bomb attacks in the capital were “totally contrary to Islam”.
He said that terrorism “is an evil that cannot be justified and that we utterly condemn and reject”.
Dr Badawi read from a joint statement at a press conference in Lambeth Palace, London, on Sunday, which was also attended by Cardinal Cormac MurphyO’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster; Anglican leader Dr Rowan Williams; Free Churches Moderator Dr David Coffey and Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks.
Each of the religious leaders took turns to read a part of the statement, the first they have issued jointly since the outbreak of war in Iraq in 2003.
Dr Badawi said the leaders had come together “to express our shared commitment to resisting and overcoming the evil of terrorism, which the events of recent days here in London have brought home to us afresh and with such devastating clarity”.
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said: “We want to signal the common ground on which we stand as faith leaders, and to reaffirm the values we uphold at this time of sorrow and pain. It is vital, when many will be feeling anger, bewilderment and loss, to strengthen those things we hold in common and to resist all that may drive us apart.” Many of Britain’s 1.6 million Muslims are bracing themselves for reprisals after the bombings of three underground trains and a bus by suspected al-Qaeda terrorists.
In the three days that followed the blasts attacks were reported on mosques in the cities of London, Bristol and Leeds, in Birkenhead, near Liverpool, and in Telford, Shropshire.
Muslim leaders were also shaken by claims by Lord Stevens, the former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, that up to 3,000 men with British links have trained in Osama Bin Laden’s terror camps.
Lord Stevens, writing in the News of the World, said at least seven attacks on civilian targets in Britain had been averted in the last five years. It was confirmed on Tuesday that all four bombers were British born.
Last Friday Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham visited the Central Mosque in Birmingham to offer support to the Muslim community.
On Sunday, at the end of a Requiem Mass for the London dead in Bristol’s Clifton Cathedral, Farooq Siddique of the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society was invited to read out a statement issued by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and the Muslim Council of Britain.
“This crime must inspire us to work unceasingly together in pursuit of peace,” he said.