DUBAI: More than 130 imams and Islamic religious leaders from across the UK have refused to say funeral prayers for the perpetrators of Saturday’s terror attack in London.
In a statement on Monday, religious figures from different schools of Islam expressed “shock and utter disgust at these cold-blooded murders,” adding: “We will not perform the traditional Islamic funeral prayer over the perpetrators and we also urge fellow imams and religious authorities to withdraw such a privilege. This is because such indefensible actions are completely at odds with the lofty teachings of Islam.”
The highest-ranking Muslim officer in the Metropolitan Police, Mak Chishty, called for a “a step-change – a different direction and a different movement to counter the scourge of terrorism, extremism and hatred that we have in our communities at present” in a statement read with leaders of London’s Muslim community outside Scotland Yard.
Chishty added: “It is the Islamic duty of every Muslim to be loyal to the country in which they live. We are now asking questions to understand how extremism and hatred has taken hold within some elements of our own communities.”
Harun Khan, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain organization, said: “That is why we agree with the prime minister that things must change. Enough is enough. We are ready to have those difficult conversations, as equal citizens with an equal stake in this fight.”
Mehri Niknam of the Joseph Interfaith Foundation for Jews and Muslims added: “To condemn is only half way. We must also actively confront loudly and clearly.”
UK imams refuse funeral prayers for London attackers
UK imams refuse funeral prayers for London attackers
Archbishop of York says he was ‘intimidated’ by Israeli militias during West Bank visit
- “We were … intimidated by Israeli militias who told us that we couldn’t visit Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank,” the archbishop said
LONDON: The Archbishop of York has revealed that he felt “intimidated” by Israeli militias during a visit to the Holy Land this year.
“We were stopped at various checkpoints and intimidated by Israeli militias who told us that we couldn’t visit Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank,” the Rev. Stephen Cottrell told his Christmas Day congregation at York Minster.
The archbishop added: “We have become — and really, I can think of no other way of putting it — we have become fearful of each other, and especially fearful of strangers, or just people who aren’t quite like us.
“We don’t seem to be able to see ourselves in them, and therefore we spurn our common humanity.”
He recounted how YMCA charity representatives in Bethlehem, who work with persecuted Palestinian communities in the West Bank, gave him an olive wood Nativity scene carving.
The carving depicted a “large gray wall” blocking the three kings from getting to the stable to see Mary, Joseph and Jesus, he said.
He said it was sobering for him to see the wall in real life during his visit.
He continued: “But this Christmas morning here in York, as well as thinking about the walls that divide and separate the Holy Land, I’m also thinking of all the walls and barriers we erect across the whole of the world and, perhaps most alarming, the ones we build around ourselves, the ones we construct in our hearts and minds, and of how our fearful shielding of ourselves from strangers — the strangers we encounter in the homeless on our streets, refugees seeking asylum, young people starved of opportunity and growing up without hope for the future — means that we are in danger of failing to welcome Christ when he comes.”
