WE all know the drill.
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After every terrorist incident, anyone with a Twitter account and a high public profile pops up to announce love will conquer hate, while officials in assorted cities around the world light up monuments to “stand with” whatever metropolis has just been hit by carnage.
It’s all quick, easy, predictable and done from the comfort of a favourite armchair or cushy office.
But there are always real heroes who rise in these incidents.
Some of them we can predict: Passers-by and emergency responders who risk their lives to help others, or a few politicians willing to make hard decisions, but real heroism comes from unexpected places.
And there is no better example of this than in Mohammed Mahmoud, the imam of London’s Finsbury Park mosque, which was allegedly struck by a terrorist attack this week.
When Darren Osborne, the man accused of driving a van into a crowd of people outside the mosque was caught by an angry group of worshippers, Mr Mahmoud is said to have saved the father-of-four’s life.
As Osborne was on the ground, and being attacked, Mr Mahmoud is said to have put himself between the angry mob and the accused man and said simply, “do not touch him”.
Reports from the scene say this was enough to stop the attack, and allowed Mr Mahmoud to press home his point, “there is no point in hurting him. We will let the police deal with him”.
One cannot imagine the strength it took for Mr Mahmoud to act as he did.
He had just been told a van had driven into pedestrians outside his mosque, and to accept the horror that it appeared to have been deliberate. Then, he had to put himself in harm’s way to protect a man who, it will be alleged, wished Mr Mahmoud and those around him dead.
Mr Mahmoud and others from the mosque were not only able to protect Osbourne and ensure the injured were receiving attention as they also had the presence of mind to flag down a police car and beg that the accused man be taken into custody.
Mr Mahmoud has told reporters in the UK that: “it wasn’t me alone. There were a group of brothers. They were calm and collected and managed to extinguish any flames of anger or mob rule that would have taken charge had this group of mature brothers not stepped in”.
Imagine the bravery it took for Mr Mahmoud and his friends to stand up to group of bewildered people who have just realised that the mayhem around them was a deliberate attack, not an horrific accident.
Even as he deplored the actions of a vigilante mob, it would have been understandable if Mr Mahmoud did not want to risk his own life for someone who had seemingly wished harm on those at the mosque. But he didn’t. He stood firm, and he probably saved the accused man’s life.
The world is struggling to identify how best to deal with the new era of terrorism, where the bomb and the gun have been replaced with as innocuous an item as the family car or a sharp knife.
Debate rages among our leaders over the best approach to “win the war on terror”, but a handful of men were able to demonstrate what could be the way forward: Dignity, strength, compassion and a refusal to allow anger and hate to cloud good judgement.
JODY LINDBECK,
jody.lindbeck@fairfaxmedia.com.au