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Muslim Blogosphere Reacts to London Blast

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, South Asia, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Breaking News

We hope that multi-lingual bridge-bloggers can help translate more of what bloggers are saying in Arabic, Farsi and other languages. (If you have done so please let us know in the comments section at the bottom of this post.) Meanwhile, here is what has come through our aggregator [1] in English (and a little French):

Mahmood at Mahmood's Den sends his condolences to the bereaved, and calls the terrorists “animals.” [2] He writes:

The way to beat them is not to give in to them, and more democracy and democratic institutions, a complete overhaul of the education system in the Arab and Muslim worlds and the full separation of Mosque and State.

The time is now. We have to get this done. Otherwise we will be completely left behind and will suffer much more at the hands of these terrorists.

My heart and thoughts go to the people of the United Kingdom in this very difficult time.

Ali Mostashari at Free Thoughts on Iran calls for moderates everywhere to unite against extremism of all stripes [3]:

The choice of the Islamic fundamentalists, the Neocons and Christian Fundamentalists seems clear. What is unclear in this period of time is the role of the progressive peoples representing the multiple civilizations at odds. For long the only thing we have achieved is to condemn acts of wars and atrocities, without an actual and concrete alternative to offer. So how about it? Do we want to sit and watch while the hatemongers in our nations take over the destiny of mankind and steer us towards massive bloodshed? What concrete ways are there to address issues of terrorism and bigotry in the Middle East, the growth of the military-industrial complex and religious fundamentalism and the retreat of rationality and human ideals in the West? Are there ways to address these issues on a global level? What I would like to see is something beyond the conventional intellectual response of demonstrating outside the White House etc. Where do we start? What do we learn? What ways can we propose? What organizations can help get our agendas on the table? I personally don’t have any answers to these, but I believe in collective wisdom. If we think about it together we might be able to do things beyond just empty talk.

Progressives of the World Unite!!!

From Cairo With Love tells the terrorists to go to hell, but has no love lost for the Bush administration's war on terror [4], either:

Damn. One hell of a terrorist attack in London. Devastating. We already know how mindless sick bastards those terrorists are. But I have one question, what the hell have Bush and Co. been doing for the last few years? Four years fighting that alleged war on terror, making us live hell in the process. And our Ambassador to Iraq has just been executed today. Boy, do I feel safer now!

Iraqi Expat (who lives in London) had a friend who is only alive today because he mistakenly got off at the wrong subway stop and decided to go for a smoke. A Muslim himself, he describes the “rage” and “irrational thoughts” [5] he and his family experienced all day:

Today's attacks must – and they will – strengthen our commitment to defeat this barbaric hateful terrorism. We will not bow – I will never bow – to these despicable terrorists, even if my life depends on it. What happened to London today was an outrageous evil act by shameless criminals who, sadly, call themselves Muslims. Today, my family and I are ashamed of being Muslims.


Hammorabi
in Iraq extends his condolences [6] from a people who understand how Londoners feel today:

We know the pain, sadness and chaos that such inhumane acts may bring to a lot of innocent people and families because we experiencing it on a daily basis from the same thugs, the Wahabi terrorists cockroaches.

We wrote before about cutting the route of such terrorism from the doctrine of the wahabism which gave birth to Al-Qaida and its barbaric groups. Again we repeat the same call here; f the world wants to cut the route of terrorism it has to be done from the wahabism not from the tails.

Jordanian blogger Natasha at Mental Mayhem is horrified [7].

Pakistani blogger Hardly Innovative writes [8]:

To anyone out there who thinks they can change the world by hurting others: Terrorism is NOT OKAY. Killing people is NOT OKAY. This is NOT ISLAM. This will NOT get you to heaven. Terrorism is SATANIC and barbaric! Islam even forgave the very people who wanted to destroy it from the moment it was brought to the world!

People everywhere, raise your voice against terrorism, dont be intimidated by it! Raise your voices against the crimes of the terrorists, against the state-led terrorist acts, against war, against poverty!! Dont sit back and take whatever your governments give you. Dont just watch CNN and blindly believe whatever they say and not think about what they dont! Make yourselves aware, and make sure you are heard!!!!

We all deserve better leaders and a better world, a more peaceful world. May common sense prevail.

Turkish blogger Serdar Kaya writes at Socioeconomics: [9]

Be it Al-Qaida or not, most people today are suffering from the actions of those who believe to be in the possession of ultimate truth, and do not feel a need to check their premises or try and see the world from other viewpoints.

Tunisian blogger Neila Charchour Hachicha asks: “is condemnation enough?” [fr] [10]