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‘Don’t blame Islam for Helen’s death’
published on 08/09/2006 - By Deborah Kuiper
Killed: Helen Jones was travelling to work when she died in the Kings Cross bombing on July 7 last year
Against prejudice: ‘I realised I wasn’t angry at the Muslim community, far from it,’ said David Gould, who has been researching the Islamic faith since Helen’s death
THE father of a Canonbie woman who died in the London bombings has broken his political silence to say we should not blame Islam for acts that were perpetrated by terrorists.
David Gould, whose step-daughter Helen Jones was killed in the Kings Cross bomb, has always resisted talking about his political views of the suicide bombers.
But now he has spoken out to repudiate attacks on the Islamic community.
He said: “Islam is a religion and a culture of great beauty where the true believer is bound by a code of ethics that forbids both murder and suicide. The majority of Muslims are both God-fearing and law-abiding and as such deserve our respect and understanding.”
He says we must not allow fear or blind prejudice to colour our view of the Muslim communities.
“On a local level we need to reject attacks on Muslim, Jewish or any community,” he said.
“As a society we always have to have a whipping boy or bogey man. Back in the 1980s it was the IRA. The new bogey man of the world seems to be Osama bin Laden and his henchmen.
“I know from personal experience from talking with Muslims that the vast majority would have nothing to do with that at all.”
Since Helen’s death last year, Mr Gould has been researching the Islamic faith and has started to study the Koran.
He said: “I don’t want to be prejudiced. I want to find out and listen to things from their perspective.
“Initially there was a moment of blind anger but afterwards I realised that that wasn’t real,” added Mr Gould.
“Yes, I was angry – someone had just murdered my daughter. It makes you angry. But once that passed I realised I wasn’t angry at the Muslim community, far from it.
“The Muslim community have suffered as well. Five of the victims were Muslims. That shows how random this attack was and the way it was targeted completely indiscriminately. The only aim was to kill without worrying who they were killing.
“They may have thought of it as an attack on Britain, but out of 52 victims, 19 of them were from a country of origin other than this one,” said Mr Gould. “Unfortunately all religions can inspire the lunatic fringe of fundamentalist zealots, who pervert the purity of a system of beliefs and advocate violence.
“Perhaps if we tried instead to understand our fellows and reached out in friendship toward them we could move nearer to the ideals of peace both locally and nationally.”
The Muslim Council of Great Britain was among the first official bodies to condemn the July 7 bombings.
Mr Gould said, “It was committed by criminals who, to quote from the Muslim Council’s statement, have been utterly condemned.
“I am a great supporter of the peace movement. We have got to learn to listen to people before we blame them.”
Wasalam
Found something...
‘Don’t blame Islam for Helen’s death’
published on 08/09/2006 - By Deborah Kuiper
Killed: Helen Jones was travelling to work when she died in the Kings Cross bombing on July 7 last year
Against prejudice: ‘I realised I wasn’t angry at the Muslim community, far from it,’ said David Gould, who has been researching the Islamic faith since Helen’s death
THE father of a Canonbie woman who died in the London bombings has broken his political silence to say we should not blame Islam for acts that were perpetrated by terrorists.
David Gould, whose step-daughter Helen Jones was killed in the Kings Cross bomb, has always resisted talking about his political views of the suicide bombers.
But now he has spoken out to repudiate attacks on the Islamic community.
He said: “Islam is a religion and a culture of great beauty where the true believer is bound by a code of ethics that forbids both murder and suicide. The majority of Muslims are both God-fearing and law-abiding and as such deserve our respect and understanding.”
He says we must not allow fear or blind prejudice to colour our view of the Muslim communities.
“On a local level we need to reject attacks on Muslim, Jewish or any community,” he said.
“As a society we always have to have a whipping boy or bogey man. Back in the 1980s it was the IRA. The new bogey man of the world seems to be Osama bin Laden and his henchmen.
“I know from personal experience from talking with Muslims that the vast majority would have nothing to do with that at all.”
Since Helen’s death last year, Mr Gould has been researching the Islamic faith and has started to study the Koran.
He said: “I don’t want to be prejudiced. I want to find out and listen to things from their perspective.
“Initially there was a moment of blind anger but afterwards I realised that that wasn’t real,” added Mr Gould.
“Yes, I was angry – someone had just murdered my daughter. It makes you angry. But once that passed I realised I wasn’t angry at the Muslim community, far from it.
“The Muslim community have suffered as well. Five of the victims were Muslims. That shows how random this attack was and the way it was targeted completely indiscriminately. The only aim was to kill without worrying who they were killing.
“They may have thought of it as an attack on Britain, but out of 52 victims, 19 of them were from a country of origin other than this one,” said Mr Gould. “Unfortunately all religions can inspire the lunatic fringe of fundamentalist zealots, who pervert the purity of a system of beliefs and advocate violence.
“Perhaps if we tried instead to understand our fellows and reached out in friendship toward them we could move nearer to the ideals of peace both locally and nationally.”
The Muslim Council of Great Britain was among the first official bodies to condemn the July 7 bombings.
Mr Gould said, “It was committed by criminals who, to quote from the Muslim Council’s statement, have been utterly condemned.
“I am a great supporter of the peace movement. We have got to learn to listen to people before we blame them.”
Wasalam
