Whilst there can never be any excuse for the atrocities we have recently seen committed in the name of Allah, a talk given by Terry Waite, that I attended this week as part of Ilminster Literary Festival’s programme of activities, highlighted the fact that we need to look beyond the action and see the wider picture. It is only then that we can hope to understand what is the root cause behind such actions, and then find a solution.
In the wake of the latest slaughter there has been some focus on the fact that Ramadan is considered to add a piquancy to such actions, but what we must also consider is the effect that fasting has on the cognitive ability of those who do so. I was sufficiently interested to look at a study carried out by the Asian Journal of Sports Medicine. This showed that well-documented effects of Ramadan fasting include, amongst other things, physical and cognitive performance. To put this into context, we all know the effect that hunger can have on children, their behaviour, and their performance at school.
This, coupled with the extreme radicalisation of young Islamic men, brought about by a high level of tolerance and political correctness, and the failure of our efforts at integrating immigrants into our way of life, has meant that their activities have so far gone largely unchecked.
I agree that prevention is the key to avoiding the repetition of events that we have seen in recent weeks, but until we have a greater understanding of why people choose to behave in this way then we will be less likely to succeed.
I know from my own work with troubled youngsters that the only way to effectively turn their lives around is to put myself in their shoes, and not to allow my own prejudices to get in the way of progress.
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