We were notified last week of a Facebook page to the self-confessed killer of Asad Shah, Tanveer Qadiri. The Facebook page, which has 1,621 ‘Likes’ on it, (as of the 10th of July), glorifies and attracts sympathisers who glorify the killer of Asad Shah who was brutally attacked outside his shop in Glasgow. The attack was so frenzied that the killer carried on assaulting the body of Asad Shah, after it was clear that he was seriously wounded in the knife attack.

We are deeply concerned that this Facebook page has not been removed by the social media company and we have also reported it in today. It may well be that a report has not been made on this page before and we would urge members of the public to report it in. It is simply unacceptable.

The pro-Tanveer Qadiri Facebook page also has a number of chilling pictures and rhetoric on it which come across as threatening against the Ahmaddiya movement. For example, the following picture on the Facebook page states:

“Terrorist curse on him,” (Mirza Masroor Qadiyani)

The statement also has a red cross marking out the face of the Caliph of the global Ahmaddiya community who is pictured in the graphic and comes across as suggesting that his personal safety may be in danger.

Also highlighted on the horrendous Facebook page is abuse against the father of the murdered Asad Shah. Not only does the Facebook praise his killer, it also abuses Asad Shah’s father, whom a recent Newsnight report by Secunder Karmani highlighted as having come to Scotland to flee from persecution in Pakistan. The graphic below also seems to indicate that the material may have come from the KhatmeNubowwat (KN) group which has taken a stridently anti-Ahmaddiya approach and with speakers at their events regularly using derogatory terms against the Ahmaddiya community.

Given that the Facebook page praises someone who killed another citizen in broad daylight because of religious differences, the comments and graphics are simply chilling. We, collectively, as citizens of our country must not allow such glorification of the actions of a killer to be justified. We would therefore urge members of the public to report this page in and the link can be found here.

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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.

“Love for All, Hatred for None“, is the motto of the Ahmaddiya community globally. It is a community that is openly persecuted in Pakistan where the State structures are built to discriminate against them after the dictator Zia Ul Haque introduced stringent laws into the country as a way of building up support with militant groups who regarded themselves as moral guardians of Islam.

Just last night, we were included into a range of discussions that pointed to a page on the Muslim Council of Britain’s web-site. The feelings of some individuals were inflamed by a post on the Muslim Council of Britain’s web-site which we have listed below. Coincidently the post on the MCB web-site listed the Morden mosque, (then being built), as not being a mosque on the basis of theological differences.

However, today, through what looks like an accident, the Morden mosque caught fire and what ensued on social media was intra-Muslim hatred and bigotry which is socially unacceptable. If you are targeted with what you believe are anti-Muslim comments in nature, you can and should report them into us. Hateful and spiteful language because of your faith identity should not be taking place and we urge communities to report it in.

Lastly, whilst we know that there are many good people working in the Muslim Council of Britain trying to make a difference, we would ask them to reflect on the following page which has attracted so much attention. Whilst the page is opinion based on theological decisions, we request that the Muslim Council be more vocal in its stance when Ahmaddiya communities are targeted with hateful messages that seek to demonise them and which threaten and promote hate. We also acknowledge that the Muslim Council of Britain has a role to play, which it does, in interfaith and cohesion activities. Now is the time for us to come together to tackle hate, intolerance and bigotry.

Islamophobia rampant in UK but @MuslimCouncil is long focused on pushing anti-Ahmadi bigotry https://t.co/Ek50MAjlJm @mehdirhasan @TellMamaUK

— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@MuslimIQ) September 25, 2015

@MuslimIQ What bigotry by @MuslimCouncil Shameful! @TellMamaUK @AdamWalkerGB @AJUpFront @HuffPostLive @CatrinNye @BashaNazir

— Kashif N Chaudhry (@KashifMD) September 25, 2015

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