In Defence of Harrow Mosque

After recent events at the Harrow Masjid with trolls from the English Defence League targetting the masjid and trying to provoke a reaction, it was good to see a response from Asim Siddiqui in the Guardian:

"The mosque had weeks earlier issued a "code of conduct" for the younger members of its congregation on how to behave and show restraint in anticipation of the planned demonstration. They issued a press release making clear they had no intention of hosting a Sharia court – which was an accusation that had been levelled against them by the English Defence League (EDL). They had arranged for security and stewarding so young people would not take matters into their own hands. They had even laid out additional food for those who would be breaking their fast to bring them into the mosque and off the streets. The Friday imam, Ajmal Masroor, provided a sobering sermon to lower tensions and call for greater engagement with those that currently hate Islam. The congregation was urged to peacefully leave the mosque for their homes and places of work. The vast majority did, as was to be expected. The mosque could do little more. Beyond that, it was a sitting duck. The few that stayed behind did so for a combination of reasons: some still felt the urge to defend the mosque, others to show solidarity with the mosque, some to demonstrate against the far right, other non-Muslims to show solidarity with Muslims, and a small number were intent on provoking a clash."

You can read the whole article here.

The whole thing reminded me of the Bradford riots caused by the BNP a few years ago, where it was the Pakistani community that really pass the price and the BNP agitators got off scott free. Alhamdulillah there wasn't a repeat of that.