Neelam Rahim – neelam@radioislam.co.za

4 min read
21 September 2022
15:50 CAT

There have been Muslim-Hindu clashes in Leicester city in the UK. Radio Islam International is joined in discussion with Leicester Community activist and Board member of MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development) organisation committed to tackling Islamaphobia, Shockat Adam Patel.

Much of the clashes is been attributed to the cricket match between India and Pakistan on the 28 of August.

According to Shockat, that was not the time when it started but a time when it became the national, local, and even the media focus.

He said the Muslim community have been living with Hindus for over half a century, and there have not been any issues apart from the last decade when things have slowly started to cause a division between the two communities.

The division is not linked to cricket matches.

“Cricket has nothing to do with this at all, this has never happened before at the end of a cricket match which resulted in weeks and weeks of violence,” he said.

He further stated Leicester is a very diverse city, and very recently, there has been a new influx of community from the West Coast of India who moved to Leicester, which is of the practices of the Hindu faith.

This particular community has been planted in a slightly deprived social-economic environment. After that, there have been a lot of issues, most of which are social issues. These include drinking, littering, loud music outside the mosque and dancing in the park, which has aggravated the community.

Recently, there have been physical attacks against Muslims based on their faith.

“The individuals that have been attacked, and the first one on record was in May where a young boy was set upon by 30 people after having asked him what his religion was. In his reply to being Muslim, he was beaten up.”

The case was unfortunately not resolved by the police as it should have been and left to linger.

This was brewing already, which followed this cricket match and after that, everything flared up.

The Muslim and Hindu community’s delegates (Faith Leaders) will be meeting tomorrow outside a Masaajid to make a unified statement. This will be reciprocated with a joint statement outside the temple as well.

Listen below to the interview with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie and Shockat Adam Patel on Radio Islam’s podcast.