View from Pakistan: A challenge for Muslims in the West

It was just after midnight in London’s Finsbury Park area. Muslims who live there, migrants from Pakistan, Somalia and Arab countries, had just finished taraweeh prayers at the Muslim Welfare House. Some others were helping an elderly worshipper who had fallen down while praying. That was when a white van suddenly appeared and crashed into the worshippers at the mosque.

It took about eight minutes for the London authorities to call the incident a terror attack and for medics to arrive at the scene. It was too late for at least one person, the elderly man who the worshippers had been trying to help. At least 11 other people were injured.

It was the ordinary people there who apprehended the attacker. The man, who had rented the van from a rental company, was shouting anti-Muslim slurs such as “You guys deserve this” when he was pulled out from the van which he had driven into the worshippers. The imam of the mosque intervened and ensured that nothing happened to the perpetrator. 

When the authorities arrived and he was finally arrested and taken away, he glibly waved to the crowd he was leaving behind. 

For Muslims who live in and around Finsbury Park, the attack was not a surprise. Even while terrorist attacks committed by Muslims gain media attention in the UK, attacks on Muslims are rarely reported. In recent months, Muslim women wearing headscarves have been assaulted and spat upon, Muslim men are routinely harassed, Muslim children are bullied in schools, all ignored by British authorities.

Even in the immediate aftermath of this attack, critics pointed out that the BBC continued to talk about fish markets and Brexit before it decided to provide live coverage of what had happened.

The Finsbury Park area is represented in Parliament by Jeremy Corbyn, who was recently able to propel Britain’s Labour Party to gain seats against the Conservatives. Corbyn was present at the scene at the Muslim Welfare House after the attack. The high-profile representation, however, seems to have done little so far to humanise his constituents in the eyes of the British public. It did, however, prompt a response from British Prime Minister Theresa May who said the man had targeted the “innocent”.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said the attack was in line with previous attacks in Manchester, on London Bridge and in Westminster. He promised that there would be more security at mosques. 

The reactions beyond Britain’s borders also revealed a lot about geopolitics. While it did provide coverage of the attacks, one article on CNN chose to focus on the history of the Finsbury Park mosque associated with preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri who was extradited to the US and was sentenced to life. 

Two groups, however, were openly celebrating. White supremacists in the US rejoiced at the attack. At least one Twitter account associated with white supremacists declared that there was hope for the British yet. The militant ISIS too was rumoured to be elated at the attack, using the video as propaganda to gain recruits and to encourage all Muslims to migrate to the “caliphate” immediately.

In this last bit lies the truth that all Western Muslims must face. It is unlikely that terrorist attacks in the West will abate. With Western media and many politicians actively promoting the idea that all Muslims are terrorists, it is these communities that will pay the price. With each terrorist attack being perceived as a collective indictment of Muslims, and with people starting to believe that Muslim beliefs may be linked to violence, many will likely have to leave these countries. This sort of subterfuge whether it is casting aside the hijab, or shaving off the beard, or ensuring that mosques have no visible signs of identification, may soon become not a matter of choice, but a matter of survival.