A growing number of Muslim scholars and imams have joined worldwide protests supporting Black Lives Matter campaign after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, and many other Black guys.
In Burton, Lincolnshire, for instance, the local mosque imam gave his backing to hundreds of people going out in support of a Black Lives Matter march, saying Islam supports equality and respects diversity.
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“Indeed in Islam equality and diversity play a vital role and all humans are treated with respect regardless of race, religion and culture,” Imam Attiq Hussain Qadri, imam of the Central Jamia Mosque Rizvia in Uxbridge Street, told Derby Telegraph.
“I am, as a faith leader, committed to create and sustain a positive and supportive environment for all our Burton community.”
“We as a Muslim community stand united with all of our brothers and sisters from the Afro-Caribbean background in support for Justice,” he said.
Burton Imam Attiq Hussain Qadri, is backing the Black Lives Matter campaign (Image: Attiq Hussain Qadri)
Worldwide Support
Imam Qadri is not the only Muslim imam to join the fight against racism.
In Canada, a local imam’s speech went viral as he spoke to a Black Lives Matter protest earlier this month.
In the US, American Muslims are among those leading the protests, following the example of Black American Muslim activists who led the fight for equality decades ago.
Earlier this week, a coalition of more than 90 American Muslim community organizations from 25 states, DC and Puerto Rico, issued a joint statement of support and solidarity with Black victims of police violence and the ongoing, nationwide protests.
Imam Zaid Shaker also supported the ongoing protests.
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Imams’ Statement
Moreover, a galaxy of imams and Muslim scholars also released a statement denouncing the murder of George Floyd.
“This brutal killing has set in motion a chain of events that hearken back to dark days in American history – a time when racism supported by rogue policing were lethal weapons used against people of color, especially African Americans,” the statement read.
“As slavery was the original sin, racism continues to permeate throughout our criminal justice system and the social fabric of the country we all love.
“Therefore, as leaders of Muslim communities across the United States, and as Americans, we call for immediate and comprehensive criminal justice reforms.”
Islam with its universal concept of this brotherhood rejects all artificial and man-made marks of distinction.
The Glorious Quran has abolished racism in a clear-cut categorical manner. In Surat Al-Hujrat, we read: {O mankind! We have created you from a single male and female and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know each other. The most honorable of you in the sight of Allah are surety the righteous.} (Al-Hujurat 49:13)