London Bombings 7th July 2005

On 7th July 2005, 4 explosions took place in the heart of London during the city's rush hour. The 3 train blasts occurred almost simultaneously at around 8.50am on a circle line train from Aldgate East heading towards Liverpool Street, a piccadilly train from King's Cross heading towards Russell Square (which is where I normally stop!) and a westbound circle line train from Edgware Road on the way to Paddington. About an hour later at around 9.47am, another bomb exploded on a No.30 Bus from Hackney en route to Marble Arch, near the junction of Tavistock Square and Upper Woburn Place (which is so close to Hare & Tortoise, my regular lunch outlet). It was an event that shocked London but surprisingly people knew that it was inevitable. It was not the question of if, but when, it will take place. Frankly speaking, when I got an MA offer from SOAS, I knew that a terrorist attack will happen in central London during my study. I was so right but I never thought it could happen so close to where my university is, and to the Tube station that I normally stop at. That was shocking. Although it was not as horrific as the Madrid bombings when 191 people were killed mercilessly, the whole idea of targeting innocent civilians is utterly stupid and inhumane. Come to think of it, I am baffled that a fellow human being could actually think of, plan to do something as atrocious as this. We are talking about innocent people, who have lives, families and futures being killed with total disregard of the emotional distress suffered by loved ones.

But having said that, it is inconsiderate to point the finger to just one side of the picture. Yes, the terrorists are evil inhumane people, but the western governments (particularly those behind the US' "benign" war on terror) and their foreign policy should also take the blame. Their careless handling of relations with the Muslim world in general has been an important reason for discontent. The war in Iraq circumventing the powers of the Security Council and a clear disregard of the concerns of the international community, has been seen as a direct attack on Muslim dignity in certain quarters of the Muslim world. The media and the press should also take the blame. Their careless portrayal, their social stigmatization of Muslims as embodying a certain number of traits as radical, extreme, fundamentalists etc (which is of course condoned by their governments) fuels the anger which was already burning. Muslims are lumped into a superficial category and thus treated in this manner. Any deviations from this category is seen, in media rhetoric, as rebels of Islam, people who act against the pure Islamic faith(albeit in a positive light), rather than being treated as proper Muslims themselves. As such, their voices are often unheard, thrown into obscurity, while the limelight shines ever so brightly on the conservative radicals as the bodily manifestation of the Islamic faith. It is only recently, that this trend seems to falter, making way for a more accomodative view of Islam. Since then, many new bright progressive Muslim scholars have shone.

To really tackle the issue of terrorism therefore, we need to take ask a few critical contextual questions. I had a deep discussion with some friends from London concerning the future of terrorism in their city. We all concluded that heightened security is never the real answer for such a deeply rooted problem. All this hype about tougher immigration laws, ID cards and the likes is only practical in the short run. But how do we REALLY tackle terrorism? For this, we need to ask ourselves how we have been treating certain social groups? How has belligerent foreign policy, which might seem insignificant (for the US at least) to terrorism, precipitated the acts of terror? How has the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war, and most shockingly 'possible' terrorists who were deprived of their God-given right to fair trial, in Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib affected the dignity and sovereignty of the Muslim world? We live in a world of difference, which needs to be respected not denigrated. Equally on the other hand, we also need to ask ourselves how did we create such merciless people among our midst. Is there something in how we view our religion that created such a superficial boundary between Us and Them that neccesitates a confrontation? This dichotomy of Muslims and Kafir, do we really know what it actually means or are we just too lazy of thinking for ourselves and rather devolve the power to think to some self-appointed ulamas?

My tribute to the people who have died and suffered in the London bombings of July 7th, 2005. May God accept them.

The long road

When the road gets bumpy, don't be grumpy just smile, smile, smile, and be happy.

La cigale et la fourmi

I just came back from a very tiring but awesome trip. I attended my friend's wedding in Venice and it was so cool. We went by private boat from the island of Lido (where I stayed) to the Venice town hall. I was with Kevin, a friend of mine, who was in the same boat as the groom and his parents. My friend insisted he wanted a civil wedding and not in a church, which was very interesting considering the strong influence of catholicism in Italy, at least symbolically and culturally. Well, anyway, this friend of mine is a fine breed. He studied in the University of Venice. He did Persian literature and the Islamic world. It seems that Italians there seem to come out having such an admiration of the religion. They were taught to look at Islam from a very different angle. My friend speaks Persian and Arabic fluently. Anyway, the ceremony was not that long. After the thing, we were supposed to throw rice and lentils to the newly-weds. It was fun! Then, we returned to Lido and had a smashing party which started at 6pm and ended way past midnight. They served traditional venetian food which consists of all kinds of seafood, raw, grilled and whatever. It was really delicious. There were cocktails and food all night long. That same night, though, we had to leave for Florence (Firenze) at 3am. So we went back and packed, and shoot off to train station. We slept in the train and arrived at Florence at about 7am. Spend a whole day there, just to kill time because we had a bus to catch to Marseille at 10.45pm the same day. Personally, I didn't enjoy Florence eventhough it was my third time. It was boring, only with massive domes and churces, and naked statues. Probably art-lovers would enjoy the city.

Anyway, off to Marseille. Arrived at Marseille around 9am. Surprisingly, they didn't check our passports at the border. I guess the controls are not that strict on the road. We checked in La cigale et la fourmi ( a really cool backpacker's inn which was about 15 euros) and had a great time. Marseille in itself, is really boring if you were to ask me. The city is big, it's really an immigrant city which a huge migrant population consisting of North Africans and Senegalese. Apart from the port (and some nice Marseillian delicacies such as bouillabaise and moules et frites) there was nothing much to see. But Marseille has one of the most beautiful natural resource - Les calanques. Basically, the calanques are a series of mountain fjords. To access the calanques, you have to climb the limestone mountain but once you reach the calanques, you will have the time of your life. It is so beautiful, paradise for mountain climbers, nudist, cliff divers, scuba divers, and good for snorkelling too. Well, we did a bit of climbing and snorkelling, which was not too bad. But it was scorching hot in Marseille at this time of the year. I was completely tanned. After 3 nights, we went to Nimes to catch a Ryanair flight back to London. But before leaving, we had to do one last crazy thing. We actually walked from the train station in Nimes to the airport. We started walking at 11pm and reached the airport at around 7am! But we rested infront of a small shop and slept for about 2 hours before moving on. There was one time along a very dark road, we heard a very loud bark. It seems like a very big fierce dog, and the shittiest thing was, we didn't know where it came from because it was pitch dark. So we ended up standing there for a few good minutes because I told my friend that if we were to run, it is more than likely than it will run after us. After some time staring at nothing, and completely helpless, we slowly moved away from where the sound was. Pheew! We were that close to making the Marseillian headlines (foreigners bitten to death near highway)! But we survived somehow and London felt so good! I was so happy to read English again, and even Chavs and drunk brits seem like brothers. So there was, a trip of a lifetime. Would do more soon.