In the long and difficult work of building bridges across faith traditions, the Archbishop of Canterbury found himself this week navigating the gap between a person's present commitments and their past words. Lambeth Palace withdrew an interfaith reconciliation award given to Pakistani cleric Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi just days after presenting it, when 2007 remarks surfaced in which he praised Osama bin Laden as a defender of Islam and called him the 'Sword of God.' The episode, unfolding against the solemn backdrop of the 25th anniversary of September 11, asks an enduring
Archbishop of Canterbury withdraws interfaith award after cleric's bin Laden praise emerges
Previous comments have come to light that have led us to reconsider
Mark
So the Archbishop gave this award on Friday, and by Thursday it was withdrawn. What happened in between?
Mimi
The BBC reported that Ashrafi had praised Osama bin Laden back in 2007—said he was fighting for Islam, called him the Sword of God. That came to light after the award ceremony.
Mark
And Ashrafi says those comments were taken out of context?
Mimi
Yes. He said he made them in response to anger in the Muslim community over Salman Rushdie being knighted. He was expressing that hurt, not endorsing bin Laden.
Luke
But here's the thing—we have what he said in 2007. We don't have the full context of that 2007 statement, or what he meant by it then. The BBC reported it; we're taking their reporting as accurate. But Ashrafi's claim that it was misrepresented—we can't verify that from what's in the record.
Mimi
Fair point. What we know is the Archbishop's office decided the award couldn't stand once those comments became public.
Mark
Why did they give it in the first place if they didn't know about the 2007 remarks?
Mimi
That's the real question. They cited his work protecting Christians in Pakistan and promoting religious tolerance. Presumably they vetted him, but they missed this, or didn't know about it.
Luke
Or they knew and thought it was old enough, or sufficiently explained, that it didn't matter. We don't know what their vetting process was or what they knew when.
Mark
So what does this say about interfaith work?
Mimi
It suggests there's real tension between engaging with people across differences and drawing lines about what past statements are acceptable. The Archbishop's office tried to do both and ended up doing neither well.
Luke
And we should note—the palace didn't say Ashrafi was wrong to do the work he's done in Pakistan. They just said they couldn't give him this particular award. That's a narrower claim than condemning him outright.
Der Puls
- An award meant to honor interfaith reconciliation was handed to a Pakistani cleric at Lambeth Palace on the very anniversary of September 11 — a symbolic weight that quickly became a liability.
- Within days, BBC reporting surfaced 2007 remarks in which Ashrafi praised bin Laden as a fighter for Islam and bestowed on him the title 'Sword of God,' directly contradicting the principles the award was meant to celebrate.
- Lambeth Palace moved swiftly and without ambiguity, withdrawing the award and contacting Ashrafi directly — a rare and pointed reversal for an institution that had just publicly celebrated him.
- Ashrafi pushed back, insisting his remarks were taken out of context and framed as a response to Muslim outrage over Salman Rushdie's knighthood, calling the backlash an unfair campaign against him.
- The palace's closing statement neither condemned Ashrafi nor shut the door on future engagement, but made clear the award itself could not stand — leaving the broader question of his legacy and interfaith role unresolved.
In the long and difficult work of building bridges across faith traditions, the Archbishop of Canterbury found himself this week navigating the gap between a person's present commitments and their past words. Lambeth Palace withdrew an interfaith reconciliation award given to Pakistani cleric Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi just days after presenting it, when 2007 remarks surfaced in which he praised Osama bin Laden as a defender of Islam and called him the 'Sword of God.' The episode, unfolding against the solemn backdrop of the 25th anniversary of September 11, asks an enduring question: can a record of good works coexist with words that once celebrated violence, and who gets to decide when the distance between the two is too great to hold?
On a Friday laden with symbolic significance — the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks — Lambeth Palace presented Pakistani Muslim cleric Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi with the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation. The Archbishop of Canterbury's office cited Ashrafi's documented work defending religious minorities in Pakistan, particularly Christians, and his reputation as a voice for interfaith harmony.
The honor lasted three days. BBC reporting brought to light remarks Ashrafi had made in 2007, in which he described bin Laden as having fought for Islam against Western powers and said he would grant him the title 'Saifullah' — Arabic for 'Sword of God.' The comments stood in stark contrast to everything the award was meant to represent.
Lambeth Palace responded with a measured but firm statement, confirming the award had been withdrawn and that Ashrafi had been informed. The palace acknowledged the complexity of interfaith work — that it necessarily involves engaging across deep differences — but concluded that his past statements made the honor untenable.
Ashrafi contested the framing, telling the BBC his words had been taken out of context and were made in response to widespread Muslim anger over the British government's decision to knight Salman Rushdie. He called the resulting backlash an unfair campaign.
The episode left Lambeth Palace in a careful posture — neither condemning Ashrafi outright nor endorsing him, but affirming its continued prayers for Christians in Pakistan and for all those working toward interfaith understanding. The swift reversal laid bare one of the central tensions in reconciliation work: the difficulty of honoring a person's present commitments when their past words tell a more complicated story.
The Archbishop of Canterbury's office moved swiftly to undo what it had just done. On Thursday, Lambeth Palace announced it was withdrawing an interfaith award it had presented to a Pakistani Muslim cleric just three days earlier, after past comments praising Osama bin Laden came to public attention.
Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi had received the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation at a ceremony held Friday at Lambeth Palace. The timing was deliberate and symbolically weighted—the event coincided with the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. According to the Archbishop's office, Ashrafi was being honored for his longstanding work defending religious minorities in Pakistan, particularly Christians, and for his reputation as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in the country.
But within days, the context shifted. The BBC reported that in 2007, Ashrafi had made remarks about bin Laden that contradicted the very principles the award was meant to celebrate. According to the reporting, Ashrafi had said that bin Laden had "been fighting for Islam against the Russians, Americans and British." He had also said he would bestow on bin Laden the title "Saifullah," an Arabic term meaning "Sword of God."
Lambeth Palace's statement withdrawing the award was measured but direct. "Previous comments made by Imam Ashrafi have come to light that have led Lambeth Palace to reconsider this award and we can now confirm today that the award has been withdrawn," the palace said. The statement emphasized that interfaith work requires engaging across differences, but that the cleric's past statements had made the award untenable. The palace said it had contacted Ashrafi to inform him of the decision.
Ashrafi responded by contesting the characterization of his remarks. He told the BBC that his 2007 comments had been "totally taken out of context" and described the backlash as an "unfair campaign." He explained that he had made those statements in response to what he called "the hurt felt by many Muslims" over the British government's decision to knight author Salman Rushdie, whose novel "The Satanic Verses" had provoked outrage in Muslim communities worldwide.
The reversal exposed a tension at the heart of interfaith work: how to navigate the gap between a person's past statements and their present commitments. Lambeth Palace's initial decision to honor Ashrafi rested on his documented work protecting Christians in Pakistan and promoting religious tolerance. Yet the emergence of his 2007 remarks suggested a more complicated record. The palace's swift withdrawal signaled that it could not sustain the award once those comments became public, regardless of Ashrafi's explanation or his subsequent work.
In its final statement, Lambeth Palace said it continued to pray for Christians in Pakistan and for all those working toward interfaith dialogue and harmony there and globally. The language was careful—it did not condemn Ashrafi or close the door entirely on future engagement, but it made clear that the award, once given, could not stand.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Previous comments made by Imam Ashrafi have come to light that have led Lambeth Palace to reconsider this award and we can now confirm today that the award has been withdrawn.— Lambeth Palace statement
My remarks had been totally taken out of context and the backlash against me is an unfair campaign.— Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, to the BBC
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