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I WAS 16 when the terror attacks of 9/11 took place. Like most people I was glued to my TV screen in utter horror as the full scale of the tragedy unfolded before my very eyes.

Up until that age, I had been subject to the odd racist comment and each time it has caused hurt and offence.

However, at no time was I ever made to feel different to anyone else, at no point did I feel like I was anything other than Scottish.

So when I went into registration class in secondary school on the morning of September 12, 2001, I was speechless when my classmate turned to me and asked, “So why do Muslims hate us?”

This was the same friend that I would talk to every day about all the usual things teenage boys do.

I watched the same TV screen and news bulletins he no doubt had the previous evening and so had no more answers than he did.

However, due to my faith, I was somehow expected to know answers to questions I knew nothing about.

It is the first time in my life I have felt like an outsider in my own home.

(Image: Handout)

I am proud to be a Glaswegian and Scottish. Of course I respect my

ancestral roots and am proud of my parental heritage but there is no other homeland for me. Scotland is my home.

To feel like you don’t belong in your own home is something no one should have to experience.

Since the September 11 attacks, we have seen terrorists pervert Islam for their own extreme agenda and, related to this, a rising tide of Islamophobia – particularly in Europe.

The overwhelming majority of Muslims are peaceful, moderate and progressive. We have, as a community, contributed economically socially and culturally to life here in Scotland and farther afield.

Most people would be disgusted at all Muslims being labelled terrorists. Yet this is exactly what happened to me last Friday, not by a member of the public but by a fellow elected representative – David Coburn, a Member of the European Parliament for UKIP.

During a conversation with a journalist, Coburn referred to me by saying: “Humza, or as I call him Abu Hamza”

(Image: PA/Andrew Milligan)

Abu Hamza is, of course, a convicted terrorist, the hook-handed radical preacher who has been jailed for life in the US for terrorism offences.

Realising the seriousness of his Islamophobic slur, Coburn and UKIP have attempted to brush it off as a joke or even a slip of the tongue, saying that we should all just grow a thicker skin.

Can you imagine the outrage (quite rightly) if we told a member of the Jewish community to just take anti-Semitism on the chin and grow a thicker skin?

If UKIP think that I will just take this Islamophobic abuse lying down, then I am afraid they have another thing coming. Coburn’s remarks have not just insulted me but caused offence to the entire Muslim community.

This is a community that have had their loyalty to their home countries questioned and suffered physical abuse as a result – my own family included.

With one bigoted remark, Coburn has smeared every Muslim by painting us all as terrorists, simply because we have the audacity to proclaim ourselves as Muslims.

Over the past week it has become abundantly clear that Coburn is not fit to represent the people of Scotland in the European Parliament.

I know from experience that being an elected representative carries a responsibility to the electorate.

While you may not agree with every constituent on every issue, you must show them respect and Coburn has offended and disrespected 77,000 Muslim constituents with the most heinous slur.

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It would be simply unacceptable for him to continue in his current position as MEP for Scotland, which is why representatives from across the

political spectrum have joined me in calling for Coburn to resign.

This is not an isolated incident. Senior UKIP members have demanded Lenny Henry emigrate “to a Black country”, called Islam “a cancer which needs eradicating” and made a whole host of misogynist and homophobic remarks.

This is a party that doesn’t just have a few rotten apples but is rotten to the very core.

I have written to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to rule out any type of post-election deal with UKIP.

We can’t give legitimacy to a party that seeks to sow seeds of division between our communities.

I have been overwhelmed by the messages of support and solidarity I have received from across the world.

It serves to remind me that the voices of hope, peace and respect are much louder than the voices of bigotry, hatred and racism.

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