تفجيرات لندن...هل تعبر عنا نحن المسلمين???

Quote: Victim ... Shahara Islam By SHARON HENRY Sun Woman Editor EIGHT days ago, beautiful Shahara Akther Islam said goodbye to her brother at their East London home and began her familiar journey to work. The 20-year-old Muslim’s cashier job at the Co-operative Bank in Islington usually took her along the Underground’s District Line, Central Line and Northern Line. While she navigated her way through the network of tunnels, a fellow Muslim two years her junior was also making his way across the sprawling transport system. Hasib Hussain’s route began some 200 miles away. He woke in the house he shared with his brother Imran, 24, and sister-in-law Shazia in Holbeck, Leeds, before telling them he was heading for a religious studies seminar. He climbed into a car with pals including Shehzad Tanweer, 22, and Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, and headed for Luton, from where they boarded a train to King’s Cross. Unlike Shahara, Hussain did not have a job to go to — but believed he had one to do. With a rucksack strapped to his back, he arrived at the busy station shortly before 8.30am and quickly parted company with his companions. Police believe he intended to take the Northern Line. But perhaps, like Shahara, he became frustrated when he found it wasn’t working properly. Instead, they both boarded the No30 bus, sitting just feet away from one another. And amidst a flash of white light and a deafening bang, their worlds collided fully and fatally in Tavistock Square. Hussain had fulfilled his evil mission to massacre and maim British citizens in the name of Islam. But was he aware that one of his victims followed the tenets of the same religion? Shahara and Hussain were both second-generation Muslims born into a similar culture. So why did one become a bank cashier with everything to live for and the other an aimless youth with everything to die for? Their backgrounds were not dissimilar. Shahara’s dad Shamsul, 42, worked as a supervisor for Transport for London and her mum Romena, 38, stayed at home to look after Shahara, her brother Anahurul, 17, and sister Tasmeen, 13. Hussain’s dad Mahmood took a job as a factory hand and proudly bought the house he lived in shortly after his first child was born. His wife Maniza stayed home with their four children. It was at school where Shahara and Hussain’s worlds divided. Shahara was a contented child who left Barking Abbey school with a clutch of A-levels. Hussain went to Matthew Murray secondary — now the Holbeck campus of South Leeds College — but was withdrawn from GCSEs by teachers and left in 2003 with a business studies GNVQ. Shahara was known for her smile but Hussain seemed downbeat. A school worker said: “He never smiled. Behind his emotionless gaze you could see he was plotting something.” And while Shahara straddled two cultures effortlessly, Hussain struggled with both. Friends of Shahara describe her as a “thoroughly modern Muslim”. She loved her Burberry handbag as much as the shalwar kameez she occasionally wore at home. Meanwhile Hussain felt lost — with no academic or work path to follow. He found an escape in sport but two years ago the local pitch closed down. Hussain then “drifted into another world”, according to pals. His concerned dad sent him to relatives in Pakistan to instill some discipline in his life. On his return, Hussain began dressing in traditional Muslim clothes and growing a beard. While Shahara had come to call Britain home and flourish in its multi-cultural melee, Hussain had harked back to the harshest roots of his heritage. But Shahara’s uncle Nazmul Hasan said of her killers: “These people are not Muslims. They have inflicted this on everyone in London including Muslims.” Shahara’s serene smile is a permanent reminder of this. And it will surely be hers which continues to shine down from paradise — not the hate-filled boy from Holbeck who thought it was his for the taking.