The murder of Asad Shah has left a huge imprint on many communities, both Muslim ad non-Muslim. The 40-year-old was deeply respected and had posted a social media post thanking the Christian nation that had given him so much. He also highlighted the role of Christ in Islam and had truly straddled and held dearly, being British and being Muslim. It seems that in many ways, he was at peace in his adopted country.

His brutal murder and the violent manner in which he was treated, means that his death is something that we should actively mark. We should mark any murder, with a desire to redouble our efforts to value the sanctity of life and when someone is violated in such a manner, we should stand together and make clear that we as a society cannot and will not accept such actions. Many have done that by standing in silence, together – people of faith and no-faith. It is testament to his personality and to his humanity.

Whatever, the motivation, we know that Police Scotland regard this murder as religiously motivated. Asad Shah was an Ahmaddiya and the murderer, another Muslim of Sunni heritage. We cannot extrapolate and we must not influence process where justice needs to take its course. Yet, the current information provided is worrying and may indicate sectarian hatred.

We will however highlight the fact that we come across anti-Shia and anti-Ahmaddiya rhetoric through the work we do in Tell MAMA. We have highlighted this before on many occasions and these can be found here, here and here and our Director has also highlighted this issue. 

The fact is that such hate against fellow citizens cannot and should not be tolerated. It is unacceptable and should not longer be regarded as an ‘intra-Muslim’ issue. They are hate incidents and are recorded as such by us and dealt with in an identical manner by the police. We must remain vigilant against such forms of intolerance and whilst people may have differences in opinion, openly stating threats against Ahmaddiya Muslims or Shia Muslims is unacceptable.  We should not tolerate such hatred and sectarianism any more.

Examples of Sectarian Material Circulated

These are some of the examples of material that we have picked up:

The post Murder of Asad Shah Has Taken Something From Us All. appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The murder of Asad Shah has left a huge imprint on many communities, both Muslim ad non-Muslim. The 40-year-old was deeply respected and had posted a social media post thanking the Christian nation that had given him so much. He also highlighted the role of Christ in Islam and had truly straddled and held dearly, being British and being Muslim. It seems that in many ways, he was at peace in his adopted country.

His brutal murder and the violent manner in which he was treated, means that his death is something that we should actively mark. We should mark any murder, with a desire to redouble our efforts to value the sanctity of life and when someone is violated in such a manner, we should stand together and make clear that we as a society cannot and will not accept such actions. Many have done that by standing in silence, together – people of faith and no-faith. It is testament to his personality and to his humanity.

Whatever, the motivation, we know that Police Scotland regard this murder as religiously motivated. Asad Shah was an Ahmaddiya and the murderer, another Muslim of Sunni heritage. We cannot extrapolate and we must not influence process where justice needs to take its course. Yet, the current information provided is worrying and may indicate sectarian hatred.

We will however highlight the fact that we come across anti-Shia and anti-Ahmaddiya rhetoric through the work we do in Tell MAMA. We have highlighted this before on many occasions and these can be found here, here and here and our Director has also highlighted this issue. 

The fact is that such hate against fellow citizens cannot and should not be tolerated. It is unacceptable and should not longer be regarded as an ‘intra-Muslim’ issue. They are hate incidents and are recorded as such by us and dealt with in an identical manner by the police. We must remain vigilant against such forms of intolerance and whilst people may have differences in opinion, openly stating threats against Ahmaddiya Muslims or Shia Muslims is unacceptable.  We should not tolerate such hatred and sectarianism any more.

Examples of Sectarian Material Circulated

These are some of the examples of material that we have picked up:

The post Murder of Asad Shah Has Taken Something From Us All. appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Nicholas Goodwin, 23, sent a Jewish mother a photo of himself with a Hitler Youth flag, after she stopped him from contacting her son.

The photo depicts Goodwin and Callum Cochrane smiling as they posed with the flag. Elissa Wilson, their target, received the vile image via Facebook on January 29 – two days after Holocaust Memorial Day.

Goodwin, admitted the charge of racially aggravated harassment, and received a six-month prison sentence. Cochrane escaped sentencing because he did not send or create the image.

Wilson praised the sentencing and told the Daily Record, “Six million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust. For anyone to glorify that is just vile. I’m delighted with the sentence. It shows that things like this are taken seriously.”

That sentence adds to an increasing list of crimes committed by Goodwin. Last month, he appeared in court after threatening to stab a 16-year-old, Goodwin and another person, hurled racist abuse at the victim. The judge noted that Goodwin was currently serving three concurrent prison terms at Low Moss Prison.

But the problem of antisemitism in Scotland is not limited to online racists.

In spite of falling hate crimes in Scotland, the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities noted that 4 per cent of religious hate crimes are antisemitic in nature. That number seems small; but Scotland’s Jewish population totals just 0.1 per cent (or 6,000).

Figures reveal that charges of antisemitism increased from 12 in 2013/2014 to 25 in 2014/2015 (an increase of 108%). That figure mirrors the 27 charges in 2012/2013.

But as the Community Security Trust noted, this rise may reflect an increased confidence in reporting hate crimes.

Islamophobic hate charges also increased by 47.9 per (a jump from 48 to 71 charges). Muslim communities in Scotland total just 1.4 per cent of the population. Yet, the number of Islamophobic charges falls just short of the 80 recorded in 2012/2013.

The post Racist jailed after taunting Jewish woman with Hitler Youth flag appeared first on Religious Reader.

We are aware that taxi drivers and take away owners suffer anti-Muslim hate incidents and crimes on a regular basis and many fail to report them in.

We recently received a phone call from a take-away owner, a Scottish Muslim of Pakistani heritage, who reported in a violent attack on his take away store. Having moved to the UK 11 years ago, the victim was shocked by the level of anti-Muslim hate and aggression shown and which was directly linked to the Tunisia attacks and murders of 30 British nationals.

The incident took place at the end of June with a 6 foot tall white male entering the take-away store, followed by a verbal barrage of racist and anti-Muslim abuse. The take-away owner was abused as a “Black b******” and this was followed by further statements which included:

“You are a Black b****** because you are responsible for the Paris and Tunisian attacks.”

“You know what, f*** your Qu’ran. F*** your Allah. You’re a P*** b*****.”

At this point the perpetrator was pushed out of the take-away by his female companion, though he subsequently returned and resumed his verbal attack on the victim. This was followed by threats of violence and food containers were then thrown in the shop and at customers and the perpetrator kicked and punched doors and then attempted to jump over the counter to assault the owner. This continued for 10-15 minutes and has left the victim traumatised and fearing for the future of his livelihood.

Offender Identified

The offender has been identified and was the step son of the former delivery man of the take away restaurant. His step father has come forward and made a statement against his step-son, adding that he was charged in the past for similar racist attacks.

The post ‘Your are responsible for Tunisia’ – Take Away Owner in Scotland Targeted appeared first on TELL MAMA.