Young Muslims took part in the memorial service

MADRID, April 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – One month after the bombing of four commuter trains in Madrid, Spanish Muslims joined a memorial service with their eyes set on more integration to improve a much-tarnished image, hoping for the government's support.

Moroccan immigrants were arrested on suspicion of carrying out the March 11 bombings on four commuter trains in Madrid, the worst terror attack on Spanish soil in which 191 people were killed.

Feeling the pinch of associating their religion with terrorism in the aftermath, Muslims face an uphill battle; a one of integration and political participation.

The Muslim community is being proactive, as they are calling for support from the Socialist government, even before it formally takes power this week, the Financial Times reported Sunday, April 11.

In a country whose schools have taught children about the "reconquest" of the Moorish civilization since the days of the Inquisition, they are discussing the terminology newspapers use, the need for wider religious education, and what supervisory role the state should hold.

A Muslim will be on the Socialists' list for the European elections in June, according to the British daily.

Jadicha Candela, a Socialist and reverted Muslim, is being put forward to head a new arm of government to supervise Islamic affairs.

The Socialists have already promised to suspend a plan by the previous Popular party government for Catholic education in schools.

Discussion now will center on how to introduce Islam into the curriculum and the possibility of offering specific classes to young Muslims, reported the Financial Times.

Mansur Escudero, a psychologist and a reverted Muslim, is writing newspaper articles discussing the implications of branding the attack as "Islamic terrorism". Distinguishing the terms Islamic, Islamist, fundamentalist and extremist is important.

Why Eta, the Basque separatist group initially blamed for March 11 blasts, is not branded "Catholic terrorism", Escudero told the Times, in reference to the church's support for the nationalist cause.

Eager To Integrate

Escudero's voice is that of moderate Islam, eager to integrate.

The most controversial call for reform, the paper said, comes from ATIME, an association of immigrant workers. They want more supervision for the mosques and the imams.

Spain has more than 200 mosques, though many immigrants continue to meet in converted garages or storefronts.

"People are intimidated when they come out of the small prayer meetings," says Kamal Rahmouni, deputy chairman of ATIME.

"The lack of understanding, breeds fear. If we can help end that, we have done a great service for the entire community".

Joining Memorial Service

In the meantime, several hundred Muslims joined mourners at a memorial service at Madrid's Atocha station, the site of two of the four train bombs on March 11.

"We Are With The Spanish People Against This Massacre" read one banner.

Organizers of the event Sunday, April 11, read the name of every victim of the rush-hour attacks and lit a red candle for each of them, Reuters reported.

Clad in hijab and holding pictures of a young Moroccan girl killed in the attack, a dozen young Muslims were in tears.

"Today we tell every terrorist and extremist: 'We are strong and united against terrorism'," said Munir El-Wesseimi, the imam of  Madrid's Islamic Center Mosque.

"Islam, the religion of peace, criminalizes any attack against innocent souls," El-Wesseimi told Reuters.

"We are one people, in the same boat. We share the same country and the same destiny."

Young Muslim men attending the memorial service raised up banners reading: "No To Terrorism".