An imam of the London's flagship Islamic Cultural Centre in Regents Park, one of the UK's most important mosques, was attacked brutally on early morning of Friday, the 10th of August, 2007, by a 40-year-old white man who claimed he wanted to be converted to Islam. The 58-year-old Imam suffered heavy blood loss and damage to both eyes and had to have two emergency operations on his eyes after the unprovoked attack. "The Imam was taken to hospital and subsequently the attacker was arrested. Injuries sustained by the Imam were found to be extremely serious mostly around the eyes," a press release of the Islamic Cultural Centre (ICC) said.

I interviewed the Director-General of the Islamic Cultural Centre (ICC) and the Regents Park Mosque, Dr. Ahmed al-Dubayan. He narrated the incident, "A security man found a man about 40, here in the Centre early in the morning of Friday. The security man asked him what he wanted. The man replied, "I want to see Imam and I want to become Muslim."

Dr. Dubayan said, "The man was escorted to the Imam who recognized him because he met him one day before. He talked about his wish that he wished to be a Muslim. Then the Imam gave him some dates, talked with him and explained to him about Islam. Suddenly the man threw himself on the ground and began saying something the Imam did not understand. Then he got up and began punching the Imam on his forehead several times. The Imam tried to avoid him and run away from him. The man followed the Imam until he fell down on the floor. The men then sat on the top of the Imam and began punching him again and again and damaged his eyes."

Dr. Dubayan said, "The Imam tried to save himself; tried to run away but he could not free himself."

About the motive of the assault, Dr. Dubayan said, "We are now doing the investigation; we are replaying the camera. We are also trying to find out, how he came in, where he was; who saw him at that time. What is the motivation we don't know exactly, but it could be a case of racial hatred or whatever; I don't know. According to some sources, the man could be mentally ill. So we cannot give the final reading what happened, the police are investigating, they will confirm this."

In this connection, Dr. Dubayan mentioned about the "recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme "Britain under attack", articles and news on Muslims and Islam in the press and Muslims as non-integrated part of the society, those who always describe them as the others and also the Channel 4 "Undercover Mosque" programme."

Speaking about the security system at the ICC, Dr. Dubayan said, "The hiring of security guards is not correct. We are now working on making improvements in the security system here at the ICC, considering whether we will bring more guards, more security procedures. Definitely we are going to do more procedures but it is not decided of what kind. We have to improve the level of security, having more guards; we are doing now the procedures."

In this connection, Dr. Dubayan mentioned about the financial difficulty of the Muslim organizations and Mosques. He said, "Muslim organizations, financially, do not have enough budgets for excellent security system. In order to have very excellent security system you need camera, you need 24 hours guards; CCTV. This is not available in Mosques and in most of the organizations. I believe Muslims themselves need more awareness; every organization must think now the security procedures and systems and the policy they are following."

Dr. Dubayan also spoke of close cooperation and link with the police. He said, "Muslim organizations have to be always in link with the police exchanging of information and providing the police and the Home Office about anything that is suspected. I mean we have to not forget that Mosques are public places; sometimes like streets. You cannot protect everybody; it is difficult; all you can do is to make new policies and better security. That's it. I believe more cooperation with the police will make it better."

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) was appalled to learn of yet another violent assault on a UK Imam this time at the Islamic Cultural Centre. It issued a press release on 12th August, 2007 under the caption, "Yet another violent attack on a UK Imam".

The printed broadsheet newspapers also carried the news. The London Times, reporting on 13 August under the caption - "Mosques hire guards to protect worshippers as imam is attacked" interviewed Inayat Bunglawala, Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra and Abdulkadir Barkatulla.

The Times wrote, "Inayat Bunglawala, the assistant secretary-general of the council, said that there was a "real sense of concern and even fear" among Muslims. "It is a growing problem. Clearly some people are trying to find a scapegoat for the recent terror attacks we've seen," he said. "The very word Muslim seems to be associated with violence and terror." Muslim leaders said that attacks by an intolerant minority were putting their community on edge."

The Times carried on to say, "Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, the chairman of the Inter-Faith Relations Committee, said that he was shocked when fearful worshippers asked him at the weekend to install security guards at the Leicester mosque where he acts as imam. "Deep inside there is a degree of fear, a degree of uncertainty," he said. "But then [with security guards] the place of worship ceases to be that free place where everybody comes to be peaceful."

Reporting in The Independent on 14 August, 2007 under the caption "Imam attacked as anti-Muslim violence grows", Nigel Morris wrote, "A brutal assault on a London imam has highlighted fears that Muslims are suffering a sharp increase in race attacks after the failed car bombings in June."

Considering rise in Islamophobic attacks, racially and religiously motivated attacks and rise in prejudice against Muslims, blamed by 4, Muslim leaders to the media, with their repeated T use of such phrases as "Islamic terrorist" or "Muslim terrorist", for creating "an atmosphere of Islamophobia" in the past year, Muslim communities are feeling a degree of fear and anxiety and Muslim leaders are thinking to improve their level of security system and enlisting more volunteers to guard the places of worship. A spokeswoman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "Any crime motivated by a prejudice against a person's race or religion is deplorable and we are committed to doing all we can to support the police in this matter."

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