‘Plots and paranoia are mainstream views for Muslims of Sparkbrook’

“To wander the streets of Sparkbrook yesterday, from shabby corner shop to proud, white-domed mosque, was to enter a world where conspiracy theories are the breath of life. Many ordinary Muslims did not believe that Wednesday’s arrests were an act to foil a terrorist plot aiming to visit unspeakable barbarity on a young British soldier. Rather the entire operation was a giant con trick. This fits a growing perception of a post-9/11 world in which innocent Muslims are demonised, and the terror threat manufactured to suit the dark designs of the West’s Judaeo-Christian elite.”

Times, 2 February 2007

See also “Angry Muslims urged to stay calm” – an informative article despite its condescending headline: BBC News, 2 February 2007