It’s too late for Michael Adebolajo, but the message is extremism leads nowhere
Ghanem Nuseibeh, Muslim anti-extremism expert, says that twisted militancy only leads to a lifetime of contemplation and a six foot by four foot jail
THE murder of Lee Rigby was a major turning point culturally in our country.
It was the first tangible and palpable point where the brutal impacts of terrorism could be seen so openly and where the backlash against ordinary Muslims could be measured.
It is also a major turning point when an extremist starts to reflect and feel an ounce of compassion for the family of their victim.
What we now know is that Adebolajo, the man pictured with the blood of Lee Rigby on his hands, wants to write to apologise to Lee’s family.
This is of major significance. It is the realisation by a murdering terrorist that his Islamist extremist ideology has led nowhere.
It has led to the murder of an innocent man, to the pain of a family that rose above the violence and called for peace.
If there is any justice for the family of Lee Rigby, it is that Adebolajo will remain in prison, though he has started to realise the futility and the nihilism of the ideology that drove him.
Furthermore, his actions showed the gap between Islamist extremism and the Islam which so many peaceful Muslims follow.
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It was not Islam that Adebolajo followed but a twisted, radicalised and bizarre version of it, which had been inculcated into him.
It is clear that for someone to want to apologise in such circumstances, something has stirred in their soul.
For Adebolajo this change is too late.
However, it is important that we all highlight this change and do so for years to come.
We should shout about this, write about it and speak wherever we can. And the reason is pretty clear.
We need to send out a clear message to young people that extremism, whether Islamist or far-right inspired, leads nowhere.
For some, it leads to a lifetime of contemplation and a six foot by four foot jail.
For others, it leads to employment barriers and internet markers that reduce their life chances because they dallied with extremism.
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