Today will mark the 10th year anniversary of one of the most tragic and inhumane acts of terrorism the world has ever encountered. Thousands of innocent lives were lost to the atrocious attacks that took place today ten years ago which shocked the world. As the Dialogue Society we would like to express our heartfelt condolences to all victims and their families and express our solidarity through honouring the work of all people from around the world who have worked hard to repair the damage done by those heinous attacks.

As the Dialogue Society we would like to state that terrorism can never be justified whatever the circumstances and conditions; that terrorism, as demonstrated by the recent Oslo attacks, has no race, religion, culture or background and that we must unite against terrorism and murderous ideologies as a single human race.

We would like to send a message to all those who have and continue to resort to indiscriminate violence to further their goals, that they have failed to divide us. History proves over and over again that in the end the human spirit and soul will not yield to fear and intimidation and the terrorist threat symbolised by 9/11 and 7/7 is no exception.

As an organisation founded by second generation British Muslims we believe that Islam necessitates diversity, dialogue, respect, cohesion, freedom and loyalty to the lex loci and that those who believe in dialogue cannot believe in terrorism since they are mutually exclusive. The Dialogue Society was founded before the 9/11 attacks and has worked tirelessly since then to spread belief in and practice of dialogue among communities.

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Notes

1. The Dialogue Society (www.dialoguesociety.org) is a registered charity, established in London in 1999, with the aim of advancing social cohesion by connecting communities through dialogue. It does this by bringing people together through discussion forums, courses, capacity building publications and outreach. It operates nation-wide with regional branches across the UK. It was founded by British Muslims of Turkish background inspired by the teachings and example of Fethullah Gulen. The Dialogue Society is not a religious or ethnic organisation. It aims to facilitate dialogue on a whole range of social issues, regardless of any particular faith or religion. It stands for democracy, human rights, the non-instrumentalisation of religion in politics, equality and freedom of speech.
2. For Dialogue Society’s policy reflection paper titled Deradicalisation by Default: The ‘Dialogue’ Approach to Rooting out Violent Extremism (2009) please click here.