THE country's most radical Islamic cleric said yesterday he doubted whether the London bombers were Muslim, saying their actions were un-Islamic. Melbourne's Sheik Mohammed Omran said he would reserve judgment about the religious identity of the London bombers until more evidence emerged about them. Sheik Omran said earlier this week that September 11 was not committed by Muslims and Osama bin Laden had no involvement, comments that John Howard branded yesterday "extraordinary and irresponsible". While he described the London bombings as evil, Sheik Omran doubted they were carried out by true Muslims, since millions of Londoners marched against the Blair Government's involvement in the war in Iraq. He said it was more likely the attacks were orchestrated by the US to justify its war on Islam. "That is absolutely what I believe it is," he said. "It could be (to initiate a war) against Islam, it could be against Muslim countries, just to give them a free hand to do whatever they want."
Sheik Omran said that while Australian imams should, and do, teach their congregation against committing such attacks, they could not be held responsible if a similar attack occurred here. "Imams are teachers, we are teachers, but you have in your class hundreds of people and how can you know what they are all thinking?" he said at his Islamic centre in Melbourne's Brunswick yesterday. He said if a member of his controversial prayer hall, which follows a fundamental strand of Islam, wanted to become a suicide bomber, "I would tell them you are a foolish person".
The leader of the Sydney arm of Sheik Omran's group also condemned the attacks as unacceptable. Sheik Abdul Salam Zoud said all members of the Australian community needed to play roles in preventing attacks in future. He said some younger Australian Muslims might think that becoming suicide bombers was a last-resort attempt to correct the many injustices against fellow Muslims around the world. But this was incorrect and he discouraged such thinking.
Sheiks Zoud and Omran, both from the Al Sunna Wal Jamah organisation, have attracted controversy in recent years after several followers were charged with terrorism offences. ASIO closely monitors their Sydney and Melbourne prayer halls and services. Sheik Omran has also been linked in court documents to Spanish al-Qaeda leader Abu Dahdah.
