Islamic charity head: Jews and Muslims should be allies over Islamophobia day

The founder of a grant-making foundation sponsoring Muslim students through university has appealed to the Jewish community to help persuade the government to recognise the UN’s annual Day to Combat Islamophobia on 15 March.

Asif Aziz, a businessman who established the Aziz Foundation, wants MPs to enshrine the date in statute to facilitate the flow of resources towards fighting intolerance through education.

Speaking to Jewish News in his first interview for 30 years, Aziz said the Jewish community had “always been great friends” and that Jews and Muslims “should be allies in the fight” to eradicate religious and racial hatred.

“We learned from each other. I cannot ever know what it is like to be a victim of antisemitism, but I can identify with what it is like to be targeted for my religion, my looks and what I wear.”

His foundation has spent more than £7 million putting Muslim students through university and recently launched a major campaign to have the UK officially recognise the 15th of March as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

The date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, in which 51 people were killed and 40 were injured when a 28-year-old white supremacist went on the rampage in New Zealand.

“To enshrine the UN Day to Combat Islamophobia into law is the next logical step in creating the conditions to eradicate Islamophobia from the institutions around us,” said Aziz. “This campaign at its heart is about education for all faiths and none.”

He said people “need to be honest that there has been a lack of awareness and tensions from members of both our communities about our respective faiths,” saying that “to deny this would be naïve”.

Aziz said: “My friends in the Jewish community have been – and continue to be – a tremendous source of education for me. [The slain MP] Jo Cox famously said, ‘far more unites us than divides us’, and this is why we have been engaging with other faith-based communities about our campaign.”

While Islamophobia is racism, it is often not seen as such, he argued, explaining that although the Equality Act makes it illegal to discriminate against people of different faiths, “we are seeing islamophobia run free in many areas of the UK… we believe this is mainly because of a lack of understanding and negative perceptions about Islam”.

Enshrining the day in law would send “a positive, powerful, and hopeful message; set a precedent for the treatment of Muslims in this country; and encourage the government to allocate more resources for educating young people about Islamophobia”, he said.

“We have already seen religious hate crimes increased by 37 percent, reaching 8,730 offences, of which 3,459 – or 42 percent – were targeted against Muslims. Antisemitism accounts for around 20 percent, so our two communities account for roughly two thirds of all religious hate crime in the UK.”

For years, politicians have debated the definition of Islamophobia, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish Conservatives all accepting a definition put forward by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for British Muslims.

“Abusing, discriminating, judging, or targeting someone because they are a Muslim is simply racism,” said Aziz. “Tackling islamophobia is a key part of creating a more inclusive and equal society.”

A philanthropist for more than 35 years, Aziz has supported several interfaith initiatives, such as the Olive Tree Programme in 2010, which paid for young Israelis and Palestinians to come to study at City University London.

He also supported the MuJu Crew, a Muslim-Jewish collaborative theatre group, as well as the West London Mission’s Night Shelter project in Westminster, which brought together mosques, churches, and synagogues to host rough-sleepers.

“There is a misconception that our charitable nature is confined to giving to Muslim causes, but we are committed to helping any person or community who we can support. For example, when the only synagogue in Bradford was almost sold due to financial constraints, it was the Muslim community that stepped in to help.

“Mosque representatives and local Muslim individuals not only donated themselves but also helped with a wider fundraising effort which secured over £100,000 for the synagogue to avoid closure.”

He added that interfaith cooperation in other causes “will help strengthen ties between communities”, adding: “The Equality Act makes religious discrimination illegal but unless it is reported to the police, its impact is limited. We can learn from the work CST has done for the Jewish community.”