Al Manaar condemns Violence

Friday 27th February 2015

Al Manaar condemns in the strongest possible terms all acts of political violence against innocent individuals of all faiths and nationalities.

This includes all the recent and brutal murders committed by ISIS such as that of British aid worker Alan Henning and the US journalist James Foley.

These are criminal acts which we condemn without exception, have no place in Islam and can never be justified under any religious authority. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these victims.

We are saddened to hear over the past year that several young people local to various west London neighbourhoods have been identified in high profile cases as individuals who have travelled to Syria/Iraq to participate in activities linked to ISIS.

On this, Saleha Islam (Director, Al Manaar) states “…we will not allow extremists and criminals to undermine the good work of the British Muslim community and to have it tainted by such shocking and depraved acts of terror which have no place in any religion – let alone ours.”

“In no way does Al Manaar condone the actions of such individuals nor should anyone reasonably expect us or our wider community to be held accountable or indeed answer for the actions of this minority – who clearly operate in a sub culture far removed from the beliefs of everyday Muslims.”

Al Manaar has a long standing reputation of developing community relations and working with the local authority to engage with the entire community, at all levels with an emphasis on social provision for youth, women and the elderly.