Archbishop withdraws award to Muslim cleric who called Osama bin Laden 'Muslim warrior'

The office of the Archbishop of Canterbury has withdrawn an interfaith award given to Pakistani Muslim cleric Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, after earlier comments in which he praised Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden resurfaced. The office said Thursday that it was 'urgently reviewing' the award.Ashrafi received the award from Archbishop Sarah Mullally for “his outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan”. The presentation took place on September 11, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.Lambeth Palace said in a statement sent to AFP, “We are aware of comments circulating online attributed to Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi and we are urgently reviewing this matter.”Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council, had told AFP in 2007 that his organisation was giving bin Laden its “highest title for a Muslim warrior” in protest against Britain awarding author Salman Rushdie a knighthood.“We are pleased to award the title of Saifullah (Sword of Allah) to Osama bin Laden,” Ashrafi told AFP at the time, calling this “the highest title for a Muslim warrior”.Bin Laden orchestrated the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, which killed nearly 3,000 people, and was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.A spokesperson for Ashrafi said his remarks had not been “an endorsement of bin Laden” but were “made in the context of explaining the hurt felt by many Muslims over the British honour” for Rushdie.The spokesperson also stressed Ashrafi's “longstanding record against terrorism and violent extremism”.The comments have since drawn criticism in Britain. Conservative opposition politician Nick Timothy wrote on X, “The naivety of our public institutions for engaging with people like this is staggering. But not surprising.”Rushdie was targeted by fatwas calling for his execution and survived an assassination attempt in 2022 after controversy surrounding his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses.The Church of England is now reviewing the circumstances surrounding Ashrafi’s recognitionCatch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.