LONDON – Despite rising Islamophobia across Europe, London could have its first Muslim mayor soon as Sadiq Khan leads the mayoral race to become Europe’s second Muslim mayor after Rotterdam in the Netherlands elected the first in 2009.

“I am a Londoner first and foremost, but it would show the haters in Iraq and the haters in Syria what sort of country we are: a beacon,” said Khan, Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London, UPI reported on Monday, April 18.

Urging voters to vote for his, Khan made it clear electing the city’s first Muslim mayor would send a message that Londoners value diversity.

According to the YouGov polling firm, Khan has a seven-point lead over Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith.

There are better chances for Khan as Goldsmith doesn’t have the popularity of current London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Therefore, Khan would have a better chance of winning the race if he was able to reach the more liberal inner London to beat Goldsmith, who is more popular in London’s more conservative outer districts.

British Muslims are estimated at nearly 2.7 million.

Last May, a record of 13 Muslim lawmakers have been elected in one of the most unpredictable and extraordinary general elections in Britain, doubling the number from 8 in 2010.

Born in 1970, Khan grew up one of eight kids in a crowded South London apartment.

He escaped the lower working class neighborhood to study law at the University of North London, and became a human rights lawyer before he was elected to Parliament in 2005 as a member of the Labour Party.

He was appointed in 2007 as a government assistant responsible for parliamentary affairs.

Khan became the first Muslim in cabinet as Minister of State for Transport in 2009.

In the previous general election, Khan was re-elected as an MP and became Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.