Offensive and paranoid images such as these have been stoked by the mainstream media in an attempt to demonise and whip up hatred against ordinary muslims

The recent shootings at Westfield Mall in Kenya have already sparked a flurry of online retorts against muslims.

Many have urged muslims to apologise for the actions of a minority of people who claim to share their religion.

That is akin to asking all christians to apologise for all of the shootings, and bombings that continue to occur in Northern Ireland. Should all catholics apologise for the paedophile scandals that have beset the catholic church? Where are all the cries for ordinary catholics to speak out, to demonstrate that they are truly against paedophilia?

Or perhaps all Irish people should apologise for the IRA?

Better yet, should all caucasian people be made to apologise for institutional racism and police brutality? That would be just as ridiculous as asking all black people to apologise for gun crime or asking them to say sorry every time a crime committed against a white person…oh wait.

But if one group of people in society should be constantly made to grovel or condemn the actions of a minority of people who do not represent their interests, then surely the same should be applied to all religions and races? Otherwise it smacks of racism – the idea that one race of people are more deserving of “an apology” than others, due to perceived notions of superiority.

But perhaps the saddest thing of all is that despite the error of this belief system, muslim leaders are constantly feeling the need to apologise for crimes they did not commit.

Just recently, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) issued a press release condemning the actions in Kenya. Of course, that didn’t make it into the media.

On their website, a spokesman for the MCB, said: “The Muslim Council of Britain today condemned the brutal violence experienced in Kenya, Pakistan and Iraq in which scores of people have lost their lives. In Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, many were killed on Saturday — some fellow Britons – while others are being held hostage. In Pakistan, Pakistani Christians were killed in a bomb in a despicable attack outside a church. And in Baghdad, some 75 were killed in an attack at a funeral.”

Farooq Murad, Secretary General of the MCB added: “The utter carnage we have witnessed is sad and shocks us all. These are acts that have no basis in our faith, and no cause should condone the slaughter of innocents. These people who perpetuate these murders have no regard for the sanctity for human life. We must stand together within faith and from across faiths and not allow them to divide us. I can only reiterate the words of the Grand Mufti of Bosnia, which he made a few days ago on the occasion of the International Day of Peace, “God did not create people to fight one another and shed blood.”

After the Woolwich incidents, every muslim association in the UK issued statements of condemnation and “not in my name”.

But this failed to satisfy the appetite of those who ignored that and called upon the muslims to apologise again anyway, just to make sure.

The fact that many of the big muslim mosques across the country work closely with the police in stamping out extremism and giving fundamentalist muslims the boot is also conveniently overlooked. In other words, whatever they do, it will never be enough. So why should they?

But another curious anti-muslim story was making the waves this week. In papers such as the Daily Mail and the Mirror, it was reported that hate preacher Choudary Anjem’s daughter has taken to Twitter to urge fanatics to wage holy war in Syria.

According to the reports, 16 year old Hediyah Mehraj tweeted: “The ultimate way to help Syria is not Muslim aid or temporary convoys, rather it is to take authority via Jihad and implement Allah’s law.”
The teenager, who used the name Hediyag Bint Anjem, reportedly echoed many of the radical views spouted by her father before her account was deleted.
According to the news reports, the family is living on benefits and has proclaimed their dislike of London.

Well if you believe this, you’ll believe anything, frankly. In almost every other Twitter story in the Mail, where it is alleged that someone has made offensive comments online, a screenshot of those tweets are displayed in the media, along with a photograph of the perpetrator.

Interesting that neither appeared in either the Mail or the Mirror stories. As of yet, an image of this mysterious Hediyah Mehraj is yet to appear.

It is also relatively easy for anyone to set up a Twitter account under the auspices of another person. Just saying.

Just a few weeks ago, there was a story in the Mail about children having to forgo a glass of water in class allegedly because of the presence of one muslim child who was fasting at the time. The claim was vigorously denied by the school in question and the source of the complaint was one disgruntled parent. It hit the national headlines anyway.

As with any other religion on the planet, there will always be a corrupt few who distort the religion for their own ends. It is also true that both the Bible and the Koran have sections in it which no right-thinking person would agree with. We have to bear in mind of course that these books were written by men thousands of years ago.

We cannot however use those two facts as a reason to unleash hate towards one section of the community, due to the senseless actions of a minority who do not even represent their interests. If anything, they are working against their interests. Why? Because the ordinary, law abiding muslims are the only people who will bear the brunt of the backlash. This only feeds into the hands of the terrorists. It also feeds into the divide and rule agenda meted out by those who remain unaccountable to the public.