London buses will display adverts during Ramadan praising Allah to try to combat the "negative climate" around the Muslim community. The decision to allow the advertisements has angered some Christian groups after an advert featuring the Lord's Prayer was banned in some cinemas. There was also a Christian advert on a bus which was banned which had angered the gay community.
A total of 180 buses in London will run the adverts for two weeks from May 23 up to June 6 when Ramadan is expected to begin. A further 450 buses will display the advert in cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Bradford.
The charity receives up to half of its income during Ramadan and hopes the campaign will draw generous donations and encourage Muslims to carry out humanitarian work.
Imran Madden from Islamic Relief UK said: “In a sense this could be called a climate change campaign because we want to change the negative climate around international aid and around the Muslim community in this country.
“We have chosen bus advertising because it allows us to put our message across cost-effectively to a wide cross section of people. "This campaign is about raising awareness as well as raising funds. We hope it will be received very positively because we have a positive message to share.”
But the head of one Christian charity said if these adverts have been allowed to run, similar space should be given for Christian ones.
Andrea Williams, Head of Christian Concern commented: “Increasingly what we see is accommodation being made for certain groups and a fear by the elite of consequence if they do not make way for certain groups. It [the ruling elite] bends over backwards to ensure that groups like Stonewall and Islamic Relief are given space but is very concerned when it comes to Christian advertising or morality, so that is where you find a certain message being censored. If these adverts are running then we should ensure that space is given for Christian adverts to run, but what we are seeing in many situations is the removal of access to public space for Christian groups.”
