Frankly speaking, when I got an offer to study in London, I knew that a terrorist attack would happen while I was there. I was so right but I never thought it could happen so close to where my university is, and to the tube station that I normally stop at. That was shocking.

The whole idea of targeting innocent civilians is utterly stupid and inhuman. Come to think of it, I am baffled that a fellow human being could actually plan to do something as atrocious as this. We are talking about innocent people - who have lives, families and futures - being killed with total disregard for the emotional distress suffered by loved ones.

But having said that, it is inconsiderate to point the finger on just one side of the picture. Yes, the terrorists are evil, inhumane people, but the Western governments (particularly those behind the US' 'benign' war on terror) and their foreign policies should also take the blame.

Their careless handling of relations with the Muslim world in general has been an important reason for discontent. The war in Iraq, which circumvents the powers of the Security Council, has been seen as a direct attack on Muslim dignity in certain quarters of the Muslim world.

The media and the press should also take the blame. Their careless portrayal, their social stigmatisation of Muslims as embodying a certain number of traits ie, radical, extreme, fundamentalists etc (which is, of course, condoned by their governments) fuels the anger which was already burning.

Muslims are lumped into a superficial category and thus treated in this manner. Any deviations from this category are seen, in media rhetoric, as rebels of Islam, people who act against the pure Islamic faith (albeit in a positive light), rather than being treated as proper Muslims themselves.

As such, their voices are often unheard, thrown into obscurity, while the limelight shines ever so brightly on the conservative radicals as the bodily manifestation of the Islamic faith. It is only recently that this trend seems to falter, making way for a more accommodative view of Islam. Since then, many new bright progressive Muslim scholars have shone.

To really tackle the issue of terrorism, we need to take ask a few critical, contextual questions. I had a deep discussion with some friends from London concerning the future of terrorism in their city. We all concluded that heightened security is never the real answer for such a deeply rooted problem.

All this hype about tougher immigration laws, ID cards and the like is only practical in the short run. But how do we really tackle terrorism? For this, we need to ask ourselves how we have been treating certain social groups.

How has belligerent foreign policy, which might have seemed insignificant (for the US at least), precipitated acts of terror? How has the inhumane treatment of Muslim prisoners of war affected the dignity and sovereignty of the Muslim world?

We live in a world of difference which needs to be respected, not denigrated. Equally on the other hand, we also need to ask ourselves how did we create such merciless people among our midst. Is there something in how we view our religion that has created such a superficial boundary between 'Us' and 'Them' that necessitates a confrontation?

This dichotomy of Muslims and kafir, do we really know what it actually means or are we just too lazy to think for ourselves and rather devolve the power to think to some self-appointed ulama?

My tribute to the people who have died and suffered in the London bombings of July 7, 2005. May God accept them.