British Prime Minister Tony Blair was unequivocal: "We know that these people acted in the name of Islam," he said just hours after a series of bombs had ripped through London's Thursday morning rush hour. "But we also know that the vast majority of Muslims both here and abroad are decent and law-abiding people who abhor this kind of terrorism every bit as much as we do," he continued. In Iran, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani praised Blair for making a distinction between radical Islamists and mainstream Muslims.

But in Britain, it is not yet clear which half of Blair's sentence is going to have the most resonance.

For Karim Mohammed -- who runs a small Lebanese restaurant located fewer than 100 meters from the Edgware Road subway station where seven people were killed by one of the four deadly blasts on Thursday -- it is clear that London's Muslim community is suddenly a target of suspicion. His restaurant, normally full on Fridays, was almost empty the day after the attacks. "After this alleged letter from al-Qaida came out claiming responsibility," Mohammed said, "all Muslims are once again seen as terrorists."

30,000 hate mails

And at first glance, it seems that Mohammed has good reason to be worried for the 1.6 million-strong Muslim population in London. Within 24 hours of the attacks, which killed more than 50 people, the city's Muslim communities had received over 30,000 e-mails filled with bile, hate and threats -- so many that a number of their computers crashed under the load. Hundreds of anonymous telephone calls likewise flooded in, threatening Muslims with revenge for the bloody attacks. Mostly though, they are afraid of the future, and concerned that London could quickly turn into the paranoid metropolis that New York became after Sept. 11.

The directors of the London Central Mosque, the city's largest and located near Regent's Park, are taking no chances. On Friday, anticipating the hordes of reporters who showed up during the holy day's "Jumma" prayers, the Mosque went into a public relations overdrive of which any blue-chip company could be proud.

Security guards were on hand to give out registration forms to journalists wanting to visit the mosque, and an effort was made to keep reporters apart from worshippers. Although interviews were promised for later -- interviews which never actually materialized -- Muslim officials were obviously concerned about the effect a few careless words could have. Memories of the post 9/11 threats and unpleasant, anti-Islamic incidents in Britain were clearly still fresh in their minds. "Please don't interview people outside the mosque and present that as the official view of the community," the mosque's general director, Ahmad Al-Dubayan, pleaded.

"This attack is an attack on us all"

The service itself -- attended by hundreds of bare-footed worshippers beneath an enormous, blue-tiled dome dangling a gigantic chandelier the size of a small car -- began with a 20 minute sermon in English. "Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go towards the victims," the imam intoned. "We call on the Muslim community to be fully cooperative. ... This attack is an attack on us all."

It is a point that many in London seem to have forgotten. After all, some of the worst areas to be hit are those most densely populated by Muslims. Edgware Road is famous for its Arabic cafes and shops. Aldgate, another tube station which was attacked, is right by Brick Lane, a street which has almost iconic status for hosting some of the best Indian and Pakistani-owned curry restaurants in the city. Even if the terrorists were not targeting Muslims, they were certainly far from concerned about harming them.

Yet despite that fact -- and ignoring the warnings of both London police chief Sir Ian Blair and London Mayor Ken Livingstone for London to maintain its liberal attitude toward all religious groups -- some local radio talk shows featured people calling in blaming immigrants for the bombings. British tabloids were likewise full of speculation that the perpetrators of the attacks could have come from Islamist circles in London itself. The clear suggestion from the country's lower-brow media was that the authorities should finally increase their vigilance of the city's Muslim population.

On Friday, though, some of the city's Muslims, in addition to worrying what the future may hold for them, were frantically looking for loved ones who had been missing since Thursday morning. In the second row of a mosque on Friday, an older man was gripping a small photo of his smiling granddaughter Shahara in both hands. The 21-year-old hasn't been heard from since the Thursday morning bombings. "These people acted in the name of Islam," Shahara's uncle said bitterly of the bombers. "But there is no such thing as murder in the name of God."

Looking for the survivors

Over at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies -- located just meters away from where the Tavistock Square bus was shredded by one of the bombs -- a similar waiting game was being played out. The 22-year-old president of the Student Union, Fran Hawley, was busy on Friday frantically trying to find out whether any of the school's students -- almost one-third of whom are registered on the Islamic Society's mailing list -- had been hurt.

"The Number 30 bus comes from Hackney, where a lot of our students live, and the Piccadilly Line services the northern areas also popular with our students," she says. Both lines were hit by explosions on Thursday. Outside the building, photos of missing friends and relatives are pasted onto trees and lampposts.

Yet despite the Muslim baiting going on in the city's more sensationalist media outlets, many are hopeful that traditionally tolerant London will be able to weather the storm. In the smoky bar in the basement of the Student Union, students were celebrating -- or commiserating -- their end-of-year results on Friday.

"I don't think there will be anything really serious -- maybe in areas where there are already tensions, like Dagenham," says 23-year-old Gabrielle Johnson, a young Muslim woman who has just graduated with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies. "But I do think there will be a lot more low-level abuse, like spitting, shouting and throwing sticks. We saw that after 9/11."

Blaming Islamists may be premature

Mohammed Mir, 40, a post-graduate student who is specializing in radical Islamism among British young people, says that so far he has not felt any difference in the way he is being treated. "I travelled by bus today and I had a heavy bag, but I didn't feel that people looked at me particularly. I don't think that there will be a big backlash."

And so far, speculation on what the attacks may mean for London's Muslim population may be a bit premature. After all, despite the rush to tag Islamists for the deed, the influential Arabic daily al-Quds -- which is based in the British capital -- points out that nothing has, so far, been proven. "The authorities should be keeping an eye on all possible directions," wrote Editor-in-Chief Kahlid Alshemi. He doubts that the purported al-Qaida letter claiming responsibility is authentic. Still, he calls on all Muslims to go public with their horror at the violent attacks.