The comments listed on the door of the mosque are simply an affront to all of the community who use the mosque and sends out a signal that they are not valued or accepted.

This case highlights how hatred and intolerance impacts on wider communities and where the perpetrator has no sense of morality in targeting a place of worship.

Judging by the language on the mosque, we believe that it has been written by someone with some local knowledge and who may reside in the area. It may also have been written by a Muslim given the language used.

We have passed this case onto Sussex Police who have confirmed that they are looking into this matter. If requested by the police, we would also be happy to provide a community impact statement if someone is arrested on suspicion of the offence. Such actions are unacceptable and we will do all we can to ensure that any perpetrator who is charged, knows that the full weight of the law will come down on them for such actions which target all users of that mosque.

The post Crawley Ahmaddiya Mosque Suffers a Hate Crime appeared first on TELL MAMA.

There are many traits of human nature that leave much to be desired. Through our work over the last 4 years we have covered a range of topics from anti-Muslim bigotry, through to intra-Muslim bigotry.

Yet, we will keep highlighting how intra-Muslim bigotry and prejudice needs to be tackled as an ongoing concern, (whilst tackling anti-Muslim hatred), if we are to promote the core principle that people in our country should live free from fear and intimidation.

Take for example, this post below which was reported into us today. The post highlights a boycott of alleged Ahmaddiya businesses and was posted on Facebook. The only reason for this boycott is that the shop owners are……wait for it…..a different belief system to the perpetrator posting the call for boycotts. In this instance, the people being discriminated against are Ahmaddiya Muslims.

Now, imagine a boycott being called against Christian or Jewish owned businesses? Rightly we would all be outraged and this would be something of real concern for social justice activists. Yet, here we have the identical thing involving the targeting of a peaceful law-abiding community through boycotts of their businesses on the basis that they are so heretical that they must be punished.

Finally, the following needs to be said. Anti-Muslim hatred or Islamophobia is mainly and predominantly against Muslims, yet we cannot shy away or brush under the carpet such toxic intra-Muslim prejudice. Where we find it, we must call it out and highlight it. For far too long, it has gone unchallenged, and just as we will challenge anti-Muslim bigotry, we will also challenge the banality of hate perpetrated against minority groups within Islam. This also goes hand in hand with challenging all forms of hatred and prejudice.

If anything, the example shown below really does reflect the vacuousness of those who think that they can discriminate against others and broadcast it across the Internet and social media. Hannah’s words still seem to carry a powerful wake up call to us all and to those who care about human rights and the future of integration and cohesion in our country.

The post The Banality of Hate – Boycotts Because of a Wrong Strand of Religion appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Having met with the young man, the extent of the assaults on him became clear. The level of anti-Shia hate and aggression were also made clear to us. Also, shocking were the You Tube videos shown to us where open calls to murder and kill Shia were being made by people in the Middle East, many of them emanating from countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen. We were also one of the first organisations to write to the Home Secretary asking that a cleric already in the UK for a series of lectures, be refused entry into the UK in the future.

We have also become aware of the level of hate targeted at Ahmaddiya communities. Recently, a youth Ahmaddiya Twitter account which had been promoting the volunteering activities that young Ahmaddiya Muslims had been undertaking in hospitals and community centres, was repeatedly abused and we know that many others have also been abused on-line. Such hate is not only unacceptable, it needs to be robustly challenged given that everyone has the right to live free from fear in our country.

TELL MAMA welcomes working with these and other Muslim communities to tackle anti-Muslim hate and we are also clear that Muslim on Muslim hate will also be actively challenged. We will also actively challenge such hate when it is promoted through You Tube and other social media channels and when it is reported to us.

The post Intra-Muslim Hate Must Stop appeared first on TELL MAMA.