Ahmadiyya Muslim leaders in Glasgow say ‘we must not let mindset of hate and violence take root’ after murder of shopkeeper, by Tanveer Ahmed

Glasgow’s Ahmadiyya community have called on all Muslim leaders and imams in Britain to publicly condemn Asad Shah’s killer, who defended the fatal stabbing of the popular Glasgow shopkeeper because he “disrespected” Islam.

Describing the killer’s words as “deeply disturbing”, community leader Ahmed Owusu-Konadu said: “It justifies the killing of anyone – Muslim or non-Muslim – whom an extremist considers to have shown disrespect to Islam.”

Tanveer Ahmed, a 32-year-old from Bradford, released a statement taking responsibility for the killing through his lawyer, John Rafferty, following his second court appearance on Wednesday.

In it he warned: “If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world.”

Ahmed was charged with murder, which police have described as religiously motivated, after Shah was found with serious injuries outside his newsagent’s shop in the Shawlands area of Glasgow, a few miles south of the city centre on 24 March.

Reading the statement on behalf of the Ahmadi community, of which Shah was a well known member, at the Baitur Rahman mosque in Glasgow, Owusu-Konadu continued: “In some countries Ahmadiyya Muslim members, Christians and people of other faiths are routinely attacked and murdered by extremists for accusations of blasphemy. Such killings are completely against the teachings of Islam.

“We must not let the same mindset of hate and violence take root here in Glasgow and for that matter UK and anywhere in the world.”

The minority Ahmadiyya community faces persecution and violence in some parts of the world, and is treated with open hostility by many other Muslim sects because it differs from their belief that Muhammad is the final prophet.

Urging the government and law enforcement agencies to take all possible measures to root out religious hatred, intolerance and sectarianism, the Ahmadi community warned: “If extremists are given a free hand, we will come to see the same levels of religious hatred and persecution here in the UK that we see in some Muslim countries.

“We urge all religious bodies especially all Muslim Leaders and imams to come out in public to condemn this statement made by Tanveer Ahmed, so that all Muslims know this is never accepted in Islam. This will go a long way to help eliminate all extremists.”

The killing of Asad Shah, whose final Facebook update posted a few hours before his death offered Easter greetings “to my beloved Christian nation”, shocked the multicultural community of Glasgow’s south side.

Over the Easter weekend following his death, tributes flooded in for the much loved shopkeeper, who moved from Pakistan to Scotland in the 1990s and was the eldest of seven siblings. An online fund set up by neighbours of the Shah family raised more than £100,000 in donations.

Shawlands residents who knew Shah described him as a gentle man who cared deeply for his community and every year would print out his own Christmas cards with personal messages for customers.