The Archbishop of Canterbury has rescinded a religious-harmony award that she gave to a Muslim cleric on the anniversary of 9/11 after it was revealed that the cleric had praised Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City.
Archbishop Sarah Mullally, the senior bishop of the Church of England, presented the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation to Imam Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, citing Ashrafi’s “outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan, known for his commitment to promoting religious tolerance.”
She revoked the award on Thursday after it emerged that in 2007 Ashrafi reportedly said that the al-Qaeda leader had been “serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels” and that he intended to give bin Laden the title of “Saifullah,” meaning “Sword of God.”
“Previous comments made by Imam Ashrafi have come to light that have led Lambeth Palace to reconsider this award, and we can now confirm today that the award has been withdrawn,” the archbishop’s residence stated. “We have contacted Imam Ashrafi to make him aware of this decision.”
Ashrafi told the BBC that the comments were “taken out of context.”
Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistani Ulema Council, an umbrella group for religious scholars in the country, received the Hubert Walter Award, named for a 12th-century Archbishop of Canterbury, for his “longstanding support for religious minorities in Pakistan, particularly the Christian community.”
In giving the award, Lambeth Palace cited his intervention on behalf of Rimsha Masih, a Pakistani Christian girl who was charged under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in 2012.
Critics of the award given to Ashrafi pointed out that he has otherwise been supportive of the country’s penalties for blasphemy, which disproportionately target Christians and other religious minorities in the Islamic republic.
Nick Timothy, a Conservative member of Parliament serving as shadow secretary of state for Justice, praised the decision to rescind the award on Thursday.
“The Archbishop of Canterbury needs to learn now and stop giving succour to [those] who would destroy us,” he wrote. “The progressive dance with Islamism is dangerous and must end.”
