On 21st May, Tuesday, two years from the Finsbury Park terrorist attack, Jeremy Corbyn, parliamentarians, faith and community leaders joined the neighbourhood for a community street iftar. The two local mosques, Finsbury Park, Muslim Welfare House, and the charity Muslim Aid held an outdoor iftar, to celebrate the diversity of the Islington community which has been further strengthened following the assault.
“This barbaric act sought to divide us, but our multi-cultural Islington community showed that our diversity is our strength and we chose unity over division,” said Mohammed Kozbar, Chairman of the Finsbury Park mosque.
On 19 June 2017, a white van was deliberately driven into worshippers by Darren Osborne and leaving the Muslim Welfare House mosque, tragically killing Makram Ali, father of six, and injuring twelve other people. Osborne will spend at least 43 years behind bars after being jailed for life for his “murderous attack” on Muslims in London.
“The outpourings of support of people of all faiths and none since have multiplied into positive actions and attitudes, building even stronger bonds among us. Tonight, we reconfirm our commitment to each other and to all those elsewhere who promote peace and community cohesion,” Kozbar continued.
The iftar was held on the anniversary of the Finsbury attack according to the lunar calendar observed in Islam. Ruzina Akhtar, daughter of Makram Ali, spoke to the gathering and among those who had attended were some of the victims.
"We're very happy to be part of this community and to be in this country with such a loving, diverse community around us,” she said.
Besides Jeremy Corbyn, other speakers included Reverend Stephen Coles, vicar at St Thomas’, Rabbi and founder of Muslim-Jewish Forum Herschel Gluck OBE, Toufik Kacimi, CEO, Muslim Welfare House and Imam Mohamed Mahmoud who led the community in a peaceful response when he urged the crowd to be calm and restrained following the attack.
The street gathering combined a British style summer street party atmosphere with the social ambience of an iftar, traditionally shared with a group of extended family and neighbours.Alongside breaking bread together, speakers at the event also challenged Islamophobia, bigotry and prejudice against all religions, drawing attention to the recent attacks around the world targeting places of worship.
This comes at a time when the Tory party, police, senior officials and other community leaders are seen in tethers in their attempts of adopting a “legally binding” definition of Islamophobia. Amidst such tensions there has been an increasing protest against U.S President Donald Trump's visit to the UK on 4th June where this time more than 200,000 people are expected to protest against his divisive leadership.
“During these past months we have all been devastated by the range of horrific incidents designed to sow seeds of insecurity, difference and disconnection. The Christchurch mosque shootings in March, the Sri Lankan church bombings in April, the San Diego shooting later in April and other violent attacks underscore the threat that people of faith and minority communities face from extremists who are determined to divide us,” said Muslim Aid Chief Executive Jehangir Malik OBE.
“While government and public bodies have a vital role to play, we all have a responsibility to build stronger communities which start with small steps locally. The Finsbury Park area has a proud tradition of standing together against division and living well together, and this takes work to maintain,” he concluded.
