7/7 Is A Story Best Told In Pictures
AMJAL Masroor’s face is added to the seven whose lives were “altered” when Islamist bombers murdered 52 people on July 7 2005 – the 7/7 massacre.
We see Gill Hicks, who lost her legs; Farrah Jarral, a surgeon who treated horrific wounds; Raj Babbra, whose former lover Benedetta Ciaccia was murdered on the Tube near Aldgate; John McDonald survived Edgware Road amid “a horrible slime, there were bits everywhere”; Esther Hyman’s sister Miriam was murdered on the number 30 bus; and George Rhoden is a copper who witnessed the horror at King’s Cross Station.
This that this is no random group but one selected to illustrate the killers’ will to just kill anyone: Farrah Jarral is an Essex-born Asian woman; Gill Hicks is a white woman; Raj Babbra is an Asian man who dated an Italian; John McDonald is a Christian; Miriam Hyman was a Jew; and George Rhoden is black.
Point made. But why is Amjal Masroor there? Well, he’s an imam. And his life was “altered” in a moment that “Changed their world” because Muslims were angry and frustrated and…
“…I was scared that the reprisals may be very severe.”
Understandable. But the repisals wer not severe.
In featuring a moderate imam, the Mirror patronises and fails to trust its readers. It shows LibDem councillor and broadcaster Masroor because he is a personable and media friendly Muslim cleric. But was his life changed? There is more on him at Harry’s Place – and a reply to that at Pickled Politics – including how he preaches at a Harrow Mosque whose website links to some organisations that aren’t all that keen on cultural diversity. You can read Masroor’s views here.
Masroor illustrates a truth that Muslims were anxious after 7/7 and more so after the failed bombs of 21/7. He is being used by the Mirror to remind readers that not all Muslims are murderous nutters. Anyone who needs reminding of that is most likely beyond help, or too stupid or bigoted to care what Masroor says.
But rather than looking for a Muslim who felt afraid but still manages to work in the media, be himself and preach his faith, why not focus on they who lost their lives and had reason to be scared witless? People like:
Baptist Jon Adams; Polish citizen Anna Brandt; Ms Chung For Yuen, an accountant who was originally from Mauritius; 22-year-old Oldham resident David Foulkes; Turkish national Gamze Gunoral, 24; Mother-of-three Ojara Ikeagwu; 20-year-old Shahara A Islam; Ihab Slimane, a 24-year-old waiter from Paris; Attique Sharifi, an Afghan national; and; and; and…
The names of the victims of mass murder carried out by religious extremists speak for themselves. London survived. On that day, the non-victims just got on with it. One foot was placed in front of the other. And we made it home and back to work the next day…
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Metropolitan Police handout issued Wednesday July 27, 2005 of one of the suspects from last week's failed London bombings. The man, who is believed to be the Shepherd's Bush bomber, is seen on board the number 22 bus as it travelled from Wood Lane, west London, towards Wandsworth, south London, last Thursday.
Posted: 5th, July 2010 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
