By Ahmed J Versi
LONDON, (The Muslim News): The Government is expected to appoint its long-awaited Anti-Muslim Hostility adviser later this week, Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, told Muslim leaders at a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham at 10 Downing Street on Tuesday.
The roundtable cabinet meeting marked Burnham’s first formal engagement with Muslim community leaders since taking office, with discussions focusing on anti-Muslim hatred, online abuse, attacks on mosques and how to tackle the divisions affecting Muslim communities.
One attendee said she left feeling hopeful for the first time in years.
Baroness Shaista Gohir, Chief Executive of the Muslim Women’s Network UK, said the engagement from Burnham and Rayner had felt genuine, rather than a box-ticking exercise.
“I felt that the engagement from the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State felt authentic. It didn’t feel like a tick box. It felt authentic. It felt heartfelt. I walked away for the first time in many years feeling a bit hopeful,” she said.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) also welcomed the meeting but stressed that engagement must translate into meaningful action and include the breadth of voices within the Muslim community.
MCB Secretary General, Dr Wajid Akther, said: “We welcome the Prime Minister engaging with the British Muslim community. At a time when families are facing economic pressures and concern is growing about racism, Islamophobia and division, that dialogue matters.
“But meaningful engagement must go further. The British Muslim community is diverse, with a wide range of experiences and perspectives, and the Government should ensure democratic, representative voices are heard as it develops its policies going forward.”
Burnham told those attending that Britain could not afford “another decade of division like the one we’ve lived through”, adding that Muslim communities had experienced some of its worst effects.
He also warned that hatred on social media had become “all too prevalent”.
“We want to work with you to see if we can draw that line,” he said.
Burnham said he wanted his premiership to help the country move beyond the divisions of the past decade and make clear that Muslims belonged in Britain.
“I look to be a Prime Minister that is alongside the community, visibly so, very much sending that message particularly to younger Muslims across Britain, that this is their country, this country is behind them,” he said.
Rayner welcomed the leaders and confirmed that the appointment of the Anti-Muslim Hostility adviser would be announced later in the week.
The discussions also covered the targeting of Muslim women, vandalism and attacks on mosques, online hatred spilling into real-world hostility, and the role schools should play in challenging prejudice.
Gohir said the meeting had gone beyond individual hate incidents to consider the wider narratives fuelling hostility towards Muslims, with Burnham indicating an interest in a longer-term approach.
She welcomed his emphasis on highlighting Muslims’ positive contributions to British life and raised the prospect of a Muslim Heritage Month in March to showcase their contribution.
But she stressed that acknowledging the problems was only the first step, with the Government now needing to demonstrate what it intended to do in practice.
Burnham said there were several ways the Government could develop its work with Muslim communities, including through the forthcoming adviser appointment.
Those attending also included Shabir Randeree, Chair of the British Muslim Trust; Akeela Ahmed MBE, CEO, British Muslim Trust; Bibi Khan of the London Islamic Cultural Centre; Javed Khan, Managing Director of Equi Think Tank; Sajda Shah MBE, played a senior role in community engagement and recovery within the RBKC Grenfell Recovery Programme ; Asha Affi is an independent consultant and community advocate with experience representing and supporting Britian’s Somali communities and served on Government’s independent Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia, advising on the development of anon-statutory definition of anti-Muslim hostility ; Saba Ahmed, is the Partnership Lead at the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, a long established community, cultural and educational hub in Liverpool community; Sir Mufti Hamid Patel, Chief Executive of Star Academies’.
The Government has yet to set out the adviser’s remit or detail the practical measures that will follow the meeting.
[Photo: Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. Photographer: Simon Dawson, No10 Downing Street]
