Although I am quite willing to agree with the statement that not all Muslims are terrorists, as it is quite plainly a truthful one, I also cannot deny that there is a significant amount of support for Islamic terrorism among British Muslims. This can be shown not just by the actual terrorist attacks that have been carried out by British Muslims in the UK and by the members of this community who have travelled overseas to fight for groups like ISIS, but also by those who express support for terrorism.

There have been a number of cases in recent years where it has come to light that some Muslims are expressing support for Islamic terrorism or who have been caught out preparing for acts of terrorism. The latest case to come to the public’s attention concerns two Muslims who were not only caught out praising the Manchester Arena bombing but also distributing ISIS propaganda and being involved in a robbery plot. The Daily Mail have covered this story in some detail and it does make for shocking reading. Here we have a family that is fully onboard with the idea that Islamic terror is a good thing and it gives me a great deal of concern that this family’s terrorist sympathies only seem to have come to light by chance when the police investigated an attempted robbery on a jewellers shop in Ilford, Essex. Here’s part of the Mail article, as is usual policy for this blog the original text is in italics whereas my comments are in plain text.

The Daily Mail said:

A terrorist who gloated that the Westminster attack was ‘the decree of Allah’ claimed she did not realise her messages could get her into trouble.

Asma Aweys, 30, had copies of the jihadi magazine ‘Rumayah’ with advice about how to make napalm and Molotov cocktails as well as an article about the ‘perfect knife’ for murder.

While discussing the Westminster incident in 2017, which left four dead, she said: ‘This was by the decree of Allah.’

Messages discussing the terror attack at the Manchester Arena were also found on her phone, including one which read: ‘It was the shaytaan [Arabic word for devil] Ariana Grande‘s concert.’

Aweys, from Edmonton, north London, was jailed for 19 months today alongside her brother and husband, who shared sickening messages in a family WhatsApp group.

The judge jailed Ahmed Aweys for 25 months and Asma’s husband Abdulaziz Abu Munye for 15 months, after all three pleaded guilty.

I am disinclined to believe the terrorist supporter’s claim that she did not realise that possession of ISIS propaganda and instructions how to make weapons would get her into trouble. I believe that these Muslims knew exactly what they were doing . This belief is strengthened because of this family’s history of involvement in Islamic extremism and I fail to see how they could have reasonably claimed that they had this information for innocent purposes. The Daily Mail goes on to say how members of the family had been killed whilst fighting with Islamic extremists in Syria in 2015 and that these members of the family who had been killed were held in high regard by some in this family.

This case as I said previously is similar to many other cases where Muslims in Britain have been caught with Islamic extremist propaganda or who have expressed support for Islamic terrorism. However, what gives me a great deal of concern about this particular case is the fact that this family’s adherence to Islamic extremism only came to light because of chance. The family’s connection to Islamic terrorism was revealed when the police received a tip off that one of the family members was connected to a robbery plot.

The Daily Mail added:

The family’s extremist views were revealed after a tip off that Ahmed Aweys and his two half-brothers were planning to break into a Muslim-run jewellery shop in Ilford Lane, east London.

They were caught red-handed and during searches of their homes police also found £60,000 in cash and £10,000 in gold.

Messages found on their phones showed Ahmed Aweys discussing fraud with his brother-in-law Abdulaziz Abu Munye, a former street robber, and telling him he was entitled to take from the ‘kuffr’ [infidels].

As part of Operation Be Pretty 2, police discovered that the family, who are of Somali origin, were sharing ISIS propaganda and messages of support in a family Whatsapp group.

Prosecutors said some other members of the family appeared to be of ‘like mind-set’ and either actively supported or were at least ‘quiet in response’ to extremist chat.

I find it extremely worrying that this family of religious extremists and terror supporters were not uncovered earlier. If the robbery plot had not come to light then neither would this family’s support for extremism. It is only by chance that the connections between some members of this family and violent extremism were uncovered. It makes me wonder just how many other Islamic families there are in Britain where this sort of pro terrorism attitude may be found?

If it was only the leak of information about the robbery plot that brought this family’s extremism into the open then it suggests that this sort of terror support may be much more widespread than some may assume. Like I said at the beginning of this piece, I don’t believe that every Muslim is a terrorist or a terror supporter but there does appear to be a significant minority of Muslims who are terror supporters. It is time for both the security agencies and the more moderate and integrated elements among Britain’s Muslims themselves to do more to investigate and bring to justice those Muslims who, as in this case, gleefully describe themselves as ‘the enemy within’.