Helping police an ‘Islamic duty’
British Muslims have been told it is their ‘Islamic duty’ to help police ensure the safety of British citizens – Muslims and non-Muslims. The statement was issued by the Muslim Council of Britain following a ‘lively’ two-and-a-half-hour meeting in London from which the media were excluded.
More than 200 people, including imams, community activists and police representatives, gathered to lay out ways to combat the threat of terrorism. A spokesman said there was a real willingness to accept the ‘problem within the Muslim community’.
A representative of the Muslim Council of Britain told the BBC that the problem of terrorism lay with a small number of extremists who shared a ‘violent worldview’ and who are ‘killing civilians for what they believe is an interpretation of Islam’. He added that leading imams at the meeting called it a ‘lethal misinterpretation’.
