“We thought this was our home but now it feels like Muslims are being shown the door. The decent people must stand up and extinguish this fire of hatred before the flames engulf us all, ” writes commentator Anila Baig.

Our country is on fire but I am frozen to the core. Like an insidious virus, the unrest is spreading faster than Covid- towns and cities across the land have been infected- mass rioting, attacks on mosques, the police, hotels, libraries, shops and businesses.

Why? Because someone, who wasn’t a Muslim, committed a heinous crime. We have already had misinformation spread a few times before this incident: Trump’s shooter was initially believed to be a Muslim, he wasn’t.

Then the riots in Harehills were blamed on Muslims, it turned out to be nothing to do with us but Nigel Farage, leader of Reform Ltd aka Hatred Unlimited, still milked the lies for all they were worth. And now this. The murders of the little girls in Southport was an unspeakably-horrible crime but it was NOT carried out by a Muslim.

The facts don’t matter though – all Muslims are being held responsible. As I write, rumours are feverishly swirling that the yobs are heading up to my home city of Bradford. Council workers and staff at other businesses are being sent home amid fears there will be bloodshed on our streets.

I am having flashbacks to the devastating riots of July 2001 when our city went up in flames and youths went on the rampage. Businesses were destroyed and along with them, our reputation. Then 9/11 happened and again Muslims were thrust into the spotlight. A man in a turban was stabbed, Muslim women had their headscarves pulled off. I was screamed at in the street by a white man.

The same is happening now. Friends are talking about cancelling holidays to Cornwall or the Lake District. Women are telling their headscarf-wearing relatives to stay home. I even told my 28-year-old son not to go out in case there is any violence. I do not want him caught up in any violence just because of the colour of his skin.

To be subjected to self-imposed curfews in 2024 is mind-blowing. It beggars belief. And yet, is it really surprising? For years the likes of Tommy Robinson, Katie Hopkins and Nigel Farage have been allowed to spew their racist bile on social media.

The Tory government didn’t clamp down, it actively encouraged Islamophobia with Home Secretary Suella Braverman also proudly spouting racist rhetoric. Peaceful anti-war protests were labelled ‘hate marches’ and it felt like the world had gone mad. Unhindered and unchallenged, Robinson et al were almost seen as harmless comedy figures. Well, now those chickens have come home to roost.

We know the rioters are not the brightest and their stupidity is being exploited. Their beef is with immigrants who don’t work then, in the next breath, they say ‘immigrants are taking our jobs.’

There was the blonde woman screaming that England is sinking like the Titanic because there are too many people in it. Er, no, it sank because it hit an iceberg. It’s almost hilarious. Except it is no laughing matter.

It feels horribly like we have gone back in time to the 1970s where it was okay to be openly racist, when Enoch Powell did his ‘rivers of blood’ speech, when casual racism was the norm.

My poor parents had to endure horrific discrimination seeing notices on the doors of rental properties saying ‘No dogs, no Irish, no P**is’. Have we really gone back to those dark days? We are third generation British born Muslims. The majority of us barely know a few words of our mother tongue, having eschewed it all to embrace English. I have an English husband and English stepchildren.

The thought of them growing up in a world which discriminates on grounds of skin colour, religion, race just breaks my heart. We thought this was our home but now it feels like Muslims are being shown the door. The decent people must stand up and extinguish this fire of hatred before the flames engulf us all.