IN SOUTHALL, a few miles from Heathrow, there was weary resignation. In the Pakistani grill restaurants, halal butchers and greengrocers, the prospect of a new wave of Islamophobia was the topic of many a discussion.

Asjad Ibn Abdussamed, the head imam of the Abu Bakr mosque, recalled that after the July 7 terrorist attacks the faithful had slept there to protect it from reprisals.

“This morning I was upset,” he said yesterday, playing with his young son in his office. “I knew that Islam would be portrayed in a bad light again. As soon as I heard that Heathrow was closed, I thought — I bet they will say that Muslims were behind it. The key word is ‘alleged’. Nothing is proven. We must accept that just because we have a beard or dress Islamically we are going to be the first targets.

“At Friday prayers we will pray that this time Muslims are not behind it. In my sermon, I will say that we all have a responsibility to live as good Muslims and show by our own conduct that it’s just a few bad individuals doing this. Islam means peace. We condemn terrorist activities. Those people have been wrongly taught and badly misguided.”

The imam estimates that about half of his 5,000-strong congregation have jobs linked to the airport. The economy of the West London suburb, where many of the people are from Asian families, is inextricably intertwined with Heathrow’s fortunes.

Samira Bajwa, 27, a travel agent, said: “My husband and another relative work at the airport, and whenever there’s a rumour of a bomb threat or a hijack plot I worry about them. But my husband does not have a beard, and when he rang at lunchtime he said people were not treating him differently today.”

Her colleague, Samir Khan, 30, added: “Whenever something like this happens, it affects our community a lot. After the police raid in Forest Gate, every Muslim there was doubted. It’s a big problem.

“At least in Southall, our neighbours are mostly Sikhs and Hindus and we all get on well.”

Mohammed Abbasi, 17, one of five teenagers eating peri peri chicken in a restaurant near the mosque, said: “Southall’s fine but its outside the borough where you know they’re going to start blaming Muslims again. The occasional lazily abusive taunt of ‘Osama’ in the street barely registers any more. We’ve heard the same thing so many times that you get used to it.”

Far more seriously, the engineering student and his friends blame suspicion of Muslims for difficulties in finding a job.

“I’ve tried to find work in high-street stores and they’re happy to talk and take my CV but as soon as they find out my name is Mohammed they give you that facial expression that means No.”

In his halal butcher’s shop Hanif Mohammed Khan, 50, reflects his hard work in building a reputation since his arrival from Pakistan 30 years ago.

“I’m sad,” he said yesterday. “It’s very bad for the reputation of Muslims and my customers are very worried. We all want peace but the problem is English law. It does not allow us to control our children so they have too much freedom to get involved in things.”

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