{"id":10631,"date":"2017-05-24T14:19:43","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T13:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=10631"},"modified":"2025-07-10T08:11:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T07:11:49","slug":"didsbury-mosque-link-respectful-bomber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/didsbury-mosque-link-respectful-bomber\/","title":{"rendered":"Didsbury Mosque link to ‘respectful’ bomber"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Didsbury<\/a>
Didsbury Mosque was originally a Methodist church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A mosque and Islamic Centre south of Manchester are linked to the Manchester Arena bombing.<\/p>\n

The bomber, identified in a leak from US security as Salman Ramadan Abedi, was a regular worshiper at Didsbury Mosque. \u00a0His father is a leading\u00a0player in the mosque. \u00a0Abu Ismail Abedi regularly calls the men to prayer.<\/p>\n

Didsbury mosque is in Burton Road, Didsbury, not far from Junction 5 of the M60. \u00a0The mosque adjoins Manchester Islamic Centre. \u00a0The building was originally Albert Park Methodist Chapel. \u00a0Sadly the 19th-century chapel closed\u00a0in 1962 and was later converted into a mosque. \u00a0Didsbury Mosque has an attendance of around 1,000 people. \u00a0The Manchester Islamic Centre is a registered charity.<\/p>\n

The Guardian reported<\/a><\/strong>: ‘Abedi was known to the security services but was not part of any active investigation or regarded as a high risk. He was viewed as a peripheral figure in much the same way as the Westminster attacker, Khalid Masood.<\/p>\n

Abedi ‘quiet’ and ‘devout’<\/h2>\n

The paper found several people at the mosque willing to speak to them. \u00a0One member of Manchester\u2019s Libyan community told the Guardian about Salman Abedi. ‘He was such a quiet boy, always very respectful towards me.’ \u00a0Of course he was. \u00a0That is just\u00a0Middle-Eastern culture. \u00a0Defending Abedi’s father, equally devout, the man said: ‘his boys learned the Qur\u2019an by heart.’ \u00a0There are no surprises there. \u00a0The father is\u00a0thought to be in Tripoli, and his sons had travelled there as well.<\/p>\n

\"Salman<\/a>
Salman Abedi – devout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The interviewee went on to say,\u00a0‘Abu Ismail will be terribly distraught. He was always very confrontational with jihadi ideology, and this Isis thing isn\u2019t even jihad, it\u2019s criminality. The family will be devastated.’<\/p>\n

Didsbury Mosque sermon problem<\/h2>\n

Others recalled very differently. \u00a0Mohammed Saeed is a senior figure in\u00a0Didsbury Mosque and Islamic Centre. \u00a0He was\u00a0born in Libya and came to the UK in 1980.<\/p>\n

Saeed said he gave a strong sermon against terrorism and about the sanctity of life in 2015. He said 2,000 members of the mosque were with him; a small number were not; and a few signed a petition criticising him. \u00a0‘Salman showed me a face of hate after that sermon,’ he said. ‘He was showing me hatred.’<\/p>\n

A trustee of Didsbury Mosque lied to the Financial Times about Salman Abedi: ‘We don\u2019t know who he is. We\u2019ve never seen him’.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Didsbury Mosque has been in the spotlight before. \u00a0Worshipper Abdalraouf Abdallah, 24, was jailed for nine and a half years last year after being convicted of funding terrorism and preparing acts of terrorism. Abdallah helped a number of men to travel to Syria and\u00a0fight in the civil war. \u00a0A\u00a0family friend told the Guardian<\/a><\/strong> Abedi and Abdallah knew each other: ‘All the Libyan lads in Manchester know each other’.<\/p>\n

\"George<\/a>
George Kasimeris – propaganda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

News becomes propaganda<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, news coverage of the atrocity in the mainstream media quickly\u00a0moved into propaganda mode. \u00a0Almost every segment on the BBC’s report on Tuesday night emphasised ‘coming together’. \u00a0Political leaders especially said they were not allowing the bombing ‘to divide us’.<\/p>\n

Likewise\u00a0in the online mainstream print media. Professor George <\/span>Kassimeris holds a\u00a0<\/span>chair in security studies at the University of Wolverhampton. \u00a0He wrote on the changing face of terrorism in the Independent<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0‘Yesterday’s terrorist attack in Manchester has traumatised all of us living in the UK’, he wrote. \u00a0He\u00a0was supposed to be contrasting the nature of Islamic terrorism with the old IRA and Red Brigades. \u00a0And yet he concluded of the attack: ‘we must not allow it to poison and divide us.’ \u00a0That is propaganda.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Mayor of Manchester, Labour\u2019s Professor of Theology Andy Burnham, devalues political discourse by claiming bomber Abedi was \u2018a terrorist not a Muslim\u2019<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 That\u2019s also propaganda.\u00a0 If he was not a Muslim, what was he?\u00a0 A Buddhist?\u00a0 If they can\u2019t face the truth, how will this sort ever protect the public?<\/p>\n

It is as if the Establishment are truly fearful of anyone\u00a0joining up the dots. \u00a0People\u00a0might consequently criticise the multi-cultural paradigm. \u00a0Broadcasters will therefore deny any link between Islam, Muslims, Mosques, the Quran and Terrorism. \u00a0Ordinary voters must never make that connection. \u00a0 But, as the reports coming out of the mosque show all too well, Islam is a religion of works and\u00a0those works include jihad. \u00a0Moreover,\u00a0Jihad, in the hands of a significant number of Muslims, means death to unbelievers.<\/p>\n

Duty of the state to maintain peace<\/h2>\n

The state’s fundamental duty is to keep its people safe. \u00a0That means firstly defending the realm from external attack. \u00a0Thank God, that is not remotely our problem today. \u00a0But secondly, the state’s duty is to maintain peace and security inside the realm. \u00a0Here is where the problem lies<\/p>\n

The Apostle Paul makes the duty of the state very clear in his letter to the church in Rome:<\/p>\n

Rom 13:4b …\u00a0he (the ruler) is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. \u00a0…\u00a06 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his letter to Timothy, he makes a similar point, urging prayer for leaders and giving a reason:<\/p>\n

1Tim 2:2 \u00a0(pray) For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And this is no more than what Jeremiah told the Jewish captives in Babylon:<\/p>\n

Jer 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What price security?<\/h2>\n
\"Dame<\/a>
Dame Stella Rimington, former Director General of MI5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peace and security are good things and they are what the state is God-ordained to bring. \u00a0Here we have a big problem. \u00a0Too many Muslims in Britain are intent on terrorism.<\/p>\n

In addition, the security services knew Salman\u00a0Abedi and Westminster killer Khalid Masood. \u00a0Nevertheless, they had neither as part of any active investigation. \u00a0They did not regard either as ‘a high risk’. \u00a0The ‘spooks’ viewed both as ‘peripheral figures’. \u00a0MI5\u00a0also had\u00a0Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale on the list, but allowed them to carry out the murder of Lee Rigby.<\/p>\n

If peripheral figures can cause such mayhem, what\u00a0can central figures achieve? \u00a0Last year we learnt<\/a><\/strong> MI5 have 3,000 suspects on a terror watch list. \u00a0 It was previously 2,000. \u00a0But MI5 need around 25 officers to keep tabs on every one of them round the clock.<\/p>\n

Dame Stella Rimington\u00a0told the BBC<\/a><\/strong>: ‘And if 2,000 people were to be followed like that, we’d be talking about 50,000 full-time spies doing nothing but following suspected terrorists. That’s more than 10 times the number of people employed by MI5. The numbers don’t add up.’<\/p>\n

We want to be protected, not ‘reassured’<\/h2>\n

What are the alternatives? \u00a0It appears a choice between internment and regular substantial loss of innocent life. \u00a0What are our politicians going to suggest in this general election campaign, when it gets going again? \u00a0Senior police officers have been on camera in the last few days. \u00a0Deploying the Army on the streets is a good thing if it releases police officers for something more important. \u00a0Soldiers will\u00a0be more useful\u00a0here than in Estonia anyway.<\/p>\n

Some policemen and government ministers told the media\u00a0deploying troops is about ‘reassuring the public’. \u00a0 It is not. \u00a0Or if it is they have their priorities very wrong. \u00a0We don’t desire\u00a0to be ‘reassured’, thank you. \u00a0We want to be protected.<\/p>\n

Click on the links below to share this:<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mosque and Islamic Centre south of Manchester are linked to the Manchester Arena bombing. The bomber, identified in a leak from US security as Salman Ramadan Abedi, was a regular worshiper at Didsbury Mosque. \u00a0His father is a leading\u00a0player in the mosque. \u00a0Abu Ismail Abedi regularly calls the men to prayer. Didsbury mosque is 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Britain<\/a> UK Christian Constitution<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"A mosque and Islamic Centre south of Manchester are linked to the Manchester Arena bombing. The bomber, identified in a leak from US security as Salman Ramadan Abedi, was a regular worshiper at Didsbury Mosque. \u00a0His father is a leading\u00a0player in the mosque. \u00a0Abu Ismail Abedi regularly calls the men to prayer. 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