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1: London Bridges
- Johns Hopkins University Press
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Chapter 1 LONDON BRIDGES On the morning of July 7, 2005, Shahara Islam, a lively, outgoing 20-year-old, headed to her job as a cashier at the Cooperative Bank in London’s Islington district. Normally, she took the London Underground to work, but partway through her journey the tube stations were closed; the passengers were told there had been an unexpected power surge. Backtracking from the Underground station, she boarded the number 30 bus as an alternate way to get to work. It proved an ill-fated choice. Among the other passengers who boarded that bus was 18-yearold Hasib Hussain. Born and raised in Britain, Hussain was the son of Pakistani parents. His background was nondescript; he studied business in high school without distinction. He had only attracted notice once in the past, for shoplifting the year before. In 2003, his father had sent him to Pakistan to “gain discipline,” and it was there that Hussain became religious. On the morning of July 7, Hussain intended to bomb the northern train in a suicide attack coordinated with similar ones undertaken by three of his friends. But the northern train was out of service that day. He tried to call his friends on his cell phone but was unable to reach them. Needing to improvise his attack, he boarded the number 30 bus. Using 11 a homemade explosive device stuffed into his backpack, Hussain blew himself apart, destroying the bus and killing twelve other passengers with him near Tavistock Square. Although Shahara was born in Britain, her father, like most of London’s Muslims, came from Bangladesh. He worked as a supervisor for London’s transport system and had lived in East London for years, raising three children and attending the East London Mosque, where Shahara’s grandfather could be seen every Friday in the front row of the main prayer room. “We never thought something like this could happen here,” Dilowar Khan, director of the East London Mosque, later told me. “We thought that suicide bombings were something that happens in the Middle East, in Iraq or Palestine, but not here. We are in shock and disbelief.” It is one week after the attacks, and I have come to London, to the largest mosque in Western Europe, to speak with Khan. When I was planning the trip months earlier, I did not expect the mosque to be swarming with journalists. I pass a Japanese film crew and a pack of British writers on my way up to Khan’s office. It was only the night before that mosque officials received confirmation that Shahara was among the 55 victims killed and more than 700 wounded in London’s worst attack since the German Luftwaffe air raids more than six decades ago. “There were many tears among the worshippers,” Khan said. Shahara was well-liked by everyone who knew her. “Only God fully understands why tragedies occur,” he adds. “The Prophet tells us not to delve too deeply into the reasons, because humans cannot understand them.” This statement takes me aback. “But don’t we have to at least try to understand these events?” I ask him. “God gives us the free will to do good or evil,” Khan explains. “We cannot see all the connections in human affairs the way that God can. Some things will always be beyond human ability to comprehend.” Certainly one thing I find hard to comprehend is the intense 12 breeding bin ladens [54.144.233.198] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 18:00 GMT) hatred of Muslims which typically surfaces after attacks such as these. Most of the British public has been sympathetic to the Muslim community, Khan says, but a small number of them have sent angry, threatening email to the mosque. Excerpts from those messages follow, but be forewarned. The language is strong and undeniably offensive. It illustrates the fear and hatred which exists toward Muslims in Britain, and these sentiments are echoed by minorities of angry Europeans across the continent. We saw an example of that in normally tolerant Holland following Van Gogh’s slaying in 2004. Some of the messages are short and to the point. One reads simply: “Happy now are you? Look what your religion has encouraged . You are all disgusting.” Another note, claiming to be from the far-right British National Party, reads only: “Its now WAR on Muslims throughout Britain.” But others are much more explicit. Consider the words of this writer. I have quoted...