A month and a half after the biggest attack on British soil since the Second World War, it feels like life is returning back to normal. The number of people using the tube has crept back to the usual and most people have stopped glancing nervously at their fellow passengers before boarding. Images of injured bodies and underground carnage no longer dominate the media; in fact, in the past two weeks England has been gripped by cricket fever as the English team continues to do well against the old enemy, Australia.

Yet despite the return to normalcy, there are still some very hard questions that need asking and issues that need to be addressed by the British Government, British society, and most importantly, by Britain's own Muslims.

How is it possible that young Muslim men born and bred in this country can become so twisted with hate that they would rather kill themselves and as many others as possible than continue living a life here?

What they say

There has been an inclination by many - Muslims as well as non-Muslims - to utter phrases like "We condemn the bombings but let's not forget bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan" (to their very great credit, the various mainstream Muslim leaders who have gone on air condemned the bombings unequivocally). The prevailing sentiment amongst those who espouse this view seem to be two-fold: one, that had Britain not taken part in the Iraq War, London would have been spared; and two, that there is altogether too much fuss being made of London being bombed when others, especially Iraqis, face bombings on an almost daily basis.

Is it really true that London would have been spared if Britain had not gone to war? I think not. Up till the 7th of July, I believed that terrorists would not strike London. However, being evacuated from a tube station and finding out subsequently that what I thought was a power surge was in fact explosions caused by bombs does greatly change one's mind.

In all likelihood, London has probably always been a target. Britain is a staunch ally of the United States; it would not take much deduction to surmise that those who look upon America as the Great Satan would see Britain as the Great Satan's Little Helper. From this, it is only logical to conclude that those who want to see America grievously hurt (for instance, the perpetrators of the September 11th atrocities in New York) would have no compunction in doing the same to Britain. The Iraq war merely provided such people with another tool with which they can use to lure others to their cause.

Consider the following chronology of attacks:

26th February, 1993: attempted bombing of the World Trade Centre, New York

7th August, 1998: bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi

12th October, 2000: USS Cole bombed in Yemen

11th September, 2001: attacks in New York

Let's remember

These all occurred before the Afghan or Iraqi wars, which suggest that there were other reasons for the attacks; and we know that one of Osama bin Laden's intentions, apart from establishing some sort of worldwide caliphate (with him as the Caliph, no doubt), was to rid the Holy Land, i.e. Saudi Arabia, of the presence of foreigners - not the Filipinos and Palestinians who serve rich Saudis in their homes, but the American troops stationed there after the first Gulf war. The infidels, according to bin Laden, were polluting the Holy Land with their presence.

Let us not forget however, that the reason why those troops were there in the first place was because Saddam Hussein, having concluded the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, had cast his eyes westwards and invaded Kuwait. The troops were there because the Saudi Government, afraid of becoming Iraq's 20th province, had called in the Americans.

Historians liken the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 as something that awakened a slumbering giant. Bin Laden took the same path. Had he confined his grievances to the Saudi Government, the Taliban would, in all likelihood, have remained in power, and for all we know, Saddam Hussein too. After all, the Americans were only too happy to ignore the excesses of the Taliban's rule and Saddam Hussein's continual flouting of the UN arms inspections. Instead, bin Laden chose to attack America. Now all of us - Muslims, non-Muslims, Spanish, Iraqi, American, Afghan, British - suffer the consequences.

Then there is the question of why the bombings in London were given more prominence when thousands of Iraqis have died, also from bombs. Some wonder whether an Iraqi life is worth far, far less than a British life. Many condemnations of the London bombings came coupled with the assertion that we must not forget the dead in Iraq.

This is of course, absolutely true. However, whilst the phrase "collateral damage" is at best distasteful, people do die everyday. While you sleep in your bed tonight, someone in Darfur will probably die. Robert Mugabe's thugs will probably beat someone to death. In the Congo, many more will probably die.

If we accuse the West of ignoring or belittling Muslim deaths, then we too are guilty of the same, because for years some of our fellow Muslims in Africa have been murdered, and not a whisper comes out of us. For years our fellow Muslims killed and persecuted others - ask any Afghan woman living under the Taliban; a Kurd living under Turkish rule; or even Sarah Balabagan, the young Filipino Muslim who killed her Saudi employer when he tried to rape her, only to land herself a death sentence - yet we turn a blind eye. It seems we only care about the deaths of other Muslims when they are caused by actions taken by Western governments.

The true picture

Britain is not perfect - what country is? Some Muslims and mosques have been attacked because of the London bombings. The BNP have been quick to capitalise on the bombings. Yet for all these, Britain remains peaceful, if a little uneasy. This can probably be attributed to a few facts - the Prime Minister and many members of the establishment were quick to distance Islam and Muslims from the atrocities. In addition, many leading British Muslims explicitly denounced the attacks and stated in the strongest possible terms that Islam abhorred murder and attacks on the innocent. Furthermore, regardless of the BNP and some mindless racists, Britons are, by and large, aware that British Muslims are generally peaceful and law-abiding.

In fact, Muslims have it good in this country. We are free to go about our business. Girls can wear the hijab to school; some schools even incorporate the Pakistani shalwar khameez as part of their school uniform. Some Islamic schools receive state funding. It is easy to find halal food in Britain, and most employers are happy to grant Muslims time off for prayer as long as their work is not affected.

Although we form a tiny minority in this country (Muslims make up only 3% of the total population), the Government has tried to find ways to accommodate our beliefs and our concerns. Thanks in part to the persistence of the Muslim Council of Britain, the Government is to shortly make it criminal to instigate acts which could be interpreted as causing "religious hatred".

Yet there are still some sections of the British Muslim society that refuse to recognise the benefits that Britain has conferred on them. Too many British Muslims still regard themselves as being victims - of Islamophobia, of discrimination, of racism. Some of this is doubtless justified, but a lot of the hardships faced by large sections of the British Muslim community are down to poverty and lack of education rather than discrimination and racism.

If we are to truly tackle the scourge of suicide bombers amongst our midst, then education must be our top priority. Too many young Muslims finish formal education without the proper qualifications. A report by the Open Society Institute stated that nearly 50% of Bangladeshis, 27% of Pakistani men and 40% of Pakistani women in Britain have no qualifications. In 2002, 40% of Pakistani children and 45% of Bangladeshi children obtained five or more GCSEs with grades A*-C, compared to a national average of 50%. A lack of education, coupled with parents who either hold low-paying, menial jobs or are reliant on benefits, breeds a lack of opportunity, thus these youngsters remain stubbornly mired in poverty.

Trapped amongst the underclass and feeling misunderstood by what is seen to be an uncaring or even hostile society, these youngsters can be rich pickings for a persuasive voice telling them they are part of an ummah. Young people can be intensely tribal, small wonder then that some young British Muslims prefer to identify themselves with the ummah than with their fellow Brits.

Nonetheless this is not the only thing that needs doing. After all, many people live in poverty without ever feeling the need to blow themselves up and kill as many as possible.

We have to face this

One of the main reasons why suicide bombers tend to be Muslim is because we have allowed our religion to become politicised. There are two typical responses for problems that beset Muslims, whether in the Middle East or elsewhere, one is that it is the West's fault; and two, that we "feel" the pain of our Muslim brothers everywhere.

Let's get one thing straight - the West is not out to "get" Islam and Muslims. The we-are-victims attitude that a lot of Muslims have with regards to the West (even the ones living here) is nonsensical. America and its allies have certainly made some spectacular blunders in the Middle East in recent years. However, it is farcical to think that only the Western nations have had a hand in shaping events in the Middle East.

In recent months, the bombs that have torn Iraqi lives apart have been bombs detonated by insurgents; perhaps they were intended for Western troops, nevertheless innocent bystanders, some of them babies, have become "collateral damage" (we vociferously condemned the bombing of Fallujah, but where is our condemnation of these bombings?).

One Saturday last month, Al-Jazeera reported that a Shia mosque had been attacked - bombed whilst the people inside were praying. Bombs have been let off near markets, hospitals and even schools. Yet many Muslims - outside Iraq at least - continue to laud the perpetrators of these heinous acts as "freedom fighters", when in fact, sectarian violence - Sunni v Shia - is increasing so much in Iraq that the spiritual leader of the Shias has called it "this genocidal war". Western troops could pull out tomorrow, but don't delude ourselves into thinking this will bring peace to Iraq.

The West has also been accused of arming and supporting tyrants like Saddam Hussein and regimes like the Saudi and Egyptian Governments. But what, in honesty, were they supposed to do? During the 1980s Saddam Hussein was fighting the Iranians; given that these were the same people who kept Americans hostage in Tehran for 444 days after the Revolution, the Western world was hardly likely to support Saddam's enemies, were they? As for arming bin Laden himself, so what - they were fighting the Russians during the Cold War, again, who did you think the West was going to support in that conflict?

And let's not forget - the West has saved our brothers on at least three occasions. Who came to Kuwait's (and Saudi Arabia's) rescue in 1990? Who provided help to the Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to come to an accommodation with them? And who came to the rescue of the Kosovan Muslims?

Who's really guilty?

Muslims' sense of victimhood means the West is never treated fairly - do nothing, and the West is accused of propping up despotic regimes. Go to war, and the West is accused of killing Muslims (and "hurt" their own Muslim populations). Support a faction, and they're interfering in the internal affairs of a country.

We are not victims of the West; all too often, our fellow Muslims had a hand in shaping events. The West may have made mistakes, but the Muslims involved are not always innocent. We should not be seduced by the arguments of one side simply because they share our religion.

Then there is the insistence that we "feel" our fellow brothers' pain. Yes, seeing footage of the tortured, whether in Chechnya, Kashmir or Iraq, is distressing. It makes one very angry to see fellow Muslims being maltreated in some other part of the world.

Yet many, it seems to me, take this feeling to such extremes that they forget the society in which they live. Many young Muslims in Britain are only too happy to assert their membership of the ummah and speak contemptuously of Britain. If the ummah is the most important thing to them, then why are they not living amongst fellow Muslims elsewhere? After all, there are plenty of countries where Muslims are the majority. There are countries that uphold syariah law; countries that tightly regulate the mixing of the sexes; countries that severely prohibit alcohol; why do these people condemn the supposedly amoral culture of the British, yet continue remaining here?

If a true ummah exists, we Muslims should be able to live wherever we want in the Muslim world (after all, as we tell the West, these are "our" lands) without worldly concerns like visas, permits and being accepted by the locals, shouldn't we? Yet for all the cries of belonging to an ummah, I would hazard a guess that British Muslim women are treated better by their fellow citizens here than they would be by their own fellow Muslims in a country like Saudi Arabia.

Living in Britain

Feeling one is part of an ummah is in itself not a problem, but we need to be realistic about it. For a very long time Indonesia was hugely suspicious of its Chinese community. The Chinese were forced to assimilate and compelled to take Indonesian names yet as recently as 1998, they were blamed for Indonesia's economic difficulties. What do you think the average Briton feels if Muslims keep on holding demonstrations with placards saying "Stop killing our brothers and sisters", "Islam will dominate the world", or "The flag of Islam will fly over 10 Downing Street"?

I am not a religious scholar. Neither am I an academic expert on Islam. I'm just an ordinary Muslim woman living in Britain. I expect many will disagree with the things I've written, but we all need to take a deep, hard look at ourselves. If suicide bombing is truly un-Islamic (and I have no doubt it is), we need to debate these issues honestly.

Islamophobia does exist in certain quarters, but it would be wrong to believe that it is rampant in British society. Muslims in Britain need to recognise, and believe, that we are a part of British society. Where it is justified, speak out against Islamophobia, racism and discrimination. But stop thinking Muslims are victims, because we are not. Muslims are British too, and, to paraphrase JFK, Muslims need to ask what they can do for Britain, not what Britain can do for them.

We also need to stop being our own worst enemy. We cannot afford to stifle debate by calling other Muslims un-Islamic (or worse, infidels) when they ask hard questions about our religion and ourselves. We need to stop seeking refuge in our teachings. You and I know very well the Qur'an expressly forbids murder, suicide and rape; but still our co-religionists quote the Qur'an when they murder people, and our co-religionists conveniently forget the Qur'anic injunction against rape when they take turns raping young women whose family members have "dishonoured" theirs.

It is simply no longer enough for us to quote the Qur'an and hope that that will do; as the MP for Dewsbury (where three of the bombers came from), Shahid Malik said: "The knowledge that the bombers were British Muslims has sent us a signal we can no longer ignore, that there is indeed an 'enemy within' either we confront the voices of evil, or we sit back and allow wider British society to regard us as a community that condones such evil".

Yet the picture is not all bleak. Ten days after the first London bombings, a young British man won his first professional boxing fight. After his victory, he held aloft a Union Jack with the word "London" inscribed on it and dedicated his win to Londoners. He is 18, the same age as one of the bombers. In an interview with The Times Magazine, he expressed a hope that he would be able to "maybe stop some problems". He is a devout Muslim who regularly attends Friday prayers and prays at his corner before every fight. Amir Khan shows us that it is indeed possible to be both British and Muslim.

FARAH FAHMY is a consultant working and living in London.