Islamic Human Rights Commission, 26 June, 2007

An unprecedented number of British Muslim umbrella organisations have come together to issue a joint statement deploring the conferring of knighthood on Salman Rushdie.The letter, published in today’s Guardian, describes the conferral as a "deliberate provocation" and designed to "sow seeds of division". The full text of the letter and the names of signatories are printed below.

Dear Editor

We, the undersigned, strongly deplore the recent conferring of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie. We see this as a deliberate provocation and insult to the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. The "honouring" of Rushdie at a time when the British government claims to be trying to build bridges with the Muslim community can only be seen as duplicitous. We regard this as a conscious effort not only to offend Muslim sensibilities but also to sow seeds of division. In honouring Rushdie, the Prime Minister has demonstrated how little regard he has for Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Signed:

Ali al-Hadithi (Federation Of Student Islamic Societies), Bashir Maan (Muslim Council of Scotland), Dr Abdul Wahid (Hizb ut-Tahrir), Dr Ahmad ar-Rawi (Muslim Association of Britain), Dr Mamoun Mobayad (Northern Ireland Muslim Family Association), Dr Muhammad Abdul-Bari (Muslim Council of Britain), Massoud Shadjareh (Islamic Human Rights Commission), Maulana Faiz Siddiqui (Muslim Action Committee), Muhammad Sawalha (British Muslim Initiative), Saleem Qidwai (Muslim Council of Wales), Sheikh Abdulhossein Moezi (Islamic Centre of England), Sheikh Shafiq-ur-Rahman (United Kingdom Islamic Mission)