7/7: Seeking the Souls of Green Birds
is a compelling and courageous memoir that confronts one of Britain's darkest moments through the eyes of someone who lived its shadows from within. Mohammed Azam, a former youth leader and educator in Beeston, Leeds, shares his personal and painful account of knowing Shehzad Tanweer-one of the four men who carried out the 7/7 London bombings. Azam reflects on the missed opportunities, the ideological grooming, and the emotional and spiritual voids that allowed extremism to take root in young British Muslims.
Drawing on first-hand experiences, theological insight, and years of community work, Azam unpacks the layered roots of radicalisation: identity crises, political rage, social isolation, and religious misguidance. This book is not an attempt to justify terrorism-it is a call to understand it, prevent it, and break the cycles of silence and fear that fuel it.
Part memoir, part warning, and part call to action,
challenges communities, institutions, and policymakers to take safeguarding seriously-not just in policy, but in presence. It is a vital contribution to Britain's post-7/7 literature: emotionally raw, ethically grounded, and unflinchingly honest. A must-read for anyone committed to peace, prevention, and truth.